Electric scooters

[Dustydog]

They are all big “ifs” and probably just as difficult to enforce amongst those who currently run the gauntlet day in day out.

👍👍Imagine shopping on one with two heavy bags slung over the small handlebars🙀One way ticket to A&E🤪

 

[Buckman]

They are all big “ifs” and probably just as difficult to enforce amongst those who currently run the gauntlet day in day out.

The police being under staffed have issues catching errant motorists so catching these scooter riders who know all the "off road" short cuts would be even more difficult! So even with legislation in place we are back to square one.

Maybe if there was a severe fine, compulsory community service at the local morgue and scooter crushed, maybe it could be a wake up call for some!

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I see the London cabbie's are now up in arms as 1 of their taxi ranks has been rendered virtually unusable having been taken over by a whole fleet of the blooming things.

 

[otherclive]

I see the London cabbie's are now up in arms as 1 of their taxi ranks has been rendered virtually unusable having been taken over by a whole fleet of the blooming things.

One rank being taken over isn’t exactly a big issue in the grand scheme of things. Uber represents a bigger threat to income. I recall leaving a Dinner in the City around 0100 time and there wasn’t a black cab anywhere. Long walk till we found an all night bus.

 

[Tobes]

👍👍Imagine shopping on one with two heavy bags slung over the small handlebars🙀One way ticket to A&E🤪

True, but shopping with a decent sized rucksack and front pack would be entirely possible. Of course its horses for courses. If I lived in a town or city and wanted to live without a car, this would be a great option.

 

[trevormonty]

Escooters (legal ones when legalised) are great accessory for campervans. Compact, light and ideal for small shopping trips and exploring.

 

[JTQ]

Escooters (legal ones when legalised) are great accessory for campervans. Compact, light and ideal for small shopping trips and exploring.

Except, if one you take around in a campervan, can't be legal in the UK. Here the only legal ones that can access shops, is a hired one, used within its trial zone. Probably we will struggle to find more than a very few campsites that fall into these zones.

If they [ privately owned] should be legal to use in public access areas etc, is quite a different point, presently they are not in the UK.

 

[Buckman]

Escooters (legal ones when legalised) are great accessory for campervans. Compact, light and ideal for small shopping trips and exploring.

I think campsites are regarded as areas to which the public have access so they may not even be legal on campsites? I think an electric bicycle is different?

 

[JTQ]

Yes, just as carparks, etc., I agree a campsite is likely in any arising litigation to have been regarded as somewhere the rider might expect to meet other, public third parties. Not "private land with the land owner consent".
I most definitely would not want to be the one testing the legality, either as the rider or site owner, post a third party making a serious injury compensation claim against me.

E-bikes that conform to EAPC* rules can be used as a normal "push bike", so if they are allowed then without specific notice to the issue, so I expect the use of e-bikes would be deemed acceptable. Plus, these being legal we can get liability insurance for our e-bikes, as we can for our cycles.

Also, the confines of the campsite hardly afford much of the stated "shopping trips and exploring" as claimed assets for an E-scooter.

LINK*

 

[trevormonty]

Except, if one you take around in a campervan, can't be legal in the UK. Here the only legal ones that can access shops, is a hired one, used within its trial zone. Probably we will struggle to find more than a very few campsites that fall into these zones.

If they [ privately owned] should be legal to use in public access areas etc, is quite a different point, presently they are not in the UK.

They aren't legal but sounds like will be by end of 2024.

 

[Buckman]

They aren't legal but sounds like will be by end of 2024.

A campsite can still ban their use even if they are legal. Too many accidents waiting to happen. Not E-scooters but there have been deaths on campsites due to children ignoring road signs when on cycles or push scooters. Each time the driver has not been at fault. Very tragic!

 

[otherclive]

Came across a youngster on an e-scooter at Whitemead Park. He was with a group on conventional bikes, mainly mtb styles. They were all doing circuits around a looped roadway. What surprised me was the sheer acceleration of the e-scooter compared to those on the bicycles. I doubt even a legal electric bike could match the e-scooters rate of acceleration. Needless to say all were going well in excess of the site’s 5 mph limit.

 

[JTQ]

They aren't legal but sounds like will be by end of 2024.

Possibly, but very probably not an open specification that embraces some of those privately owned at present?

As E-bikes, I suspect only to a reasonably tight specification, one with power and speed limits nearer those scooters the trials.