6 points for riding an electric unicycle on the pavement

[Vipers]

Cat said:

Vipers said:

I always thought disabled powered scooters are supposed be insured, is this true, and if so, do the police ever stop one to ask if it is.

The RTA requires motor vehicles to be insured if they are used on a road or other public place.

Invalid carriages are specifically excluded from the definition of a motor vehicle so don't need insurance.

Cat

'Tis.

[anonymous-user]

This has got me thinking; are any laws being broken when we take my daughter's battery-powered car to the park nearby?

She drives it along our street (which is narrow and has no pavement) then along a footpath for about 200 yards then into the park where she potters about on the grass.

I really don't want her doing time for a road traffic offence; she's only 4 and will miss school.

[anonymous-user]

Pothole said:

Jim1556 said:

Utterly fking ridiculous!

My 9 yr old daughter has an electric scooter that she rides in our quiet cul-de-sac. Technically, it's probably illegal on and off the path, but seriously? She could probably be charged or at least have it confiscated...

Laws need updating... A battery assisted toy/cycle is NOT a motor vehicle in any reasonable sense!

Doubtful she could be charged, she's below the age of responsibility. Why did you buy it for her without knowing the legality of her riding it?

It's better to live your life than just worrying about what you can and can't do ?

[heebeegeetee]

Loyly said:

The bloke got what be deserved. He broke the law and received fair punishment.

Do you think the same about the millions of drivers who park their cars on the pavement?

(And I will explain, because this is PH, that its not possible to park on the pavement without driving on the pavement, and it's illegal).

I do think this is evidence of the laws being skewed to make sure we get as many cars on the roads as possible, and laws again being skewed in favour of the motorist. Drivers by the million on a daily basis will drive on pavements, leave the evidence in the form of the car parked on the pavement, the car has id linked to the owner who must know who the driver is, yet nothing ever gets done. It's really not right.

[7795]

It's the law and that's that.

Daily a guy speeds past me whilst i'm in traffic (the South Circular road in London) on exactly one of these contraptions. I'm impressed by his ability but at the same time they are FAST. I don't know if his is modified but it does 20mph easily; an accident waiting to happen...

As an aside, if you're outraged at this you'll be outraged to find out that you can also be convicted of drink driving on a push bike on the Queens highway and lose your driving license.

[rampageturke]

Loyly said:

I could forgive pedal cycles riding on the pavement as it's simply a safer alternative to them riding on the road.

and a far safer alternative for this man on an electric unicycle would be on the road

[Vaud]

7795 said:

As an aside, if you're outraged at this you'll be outraged to find out that you can also be convicted of drink driving on a push bike on the Queens highway and lose your driving license.

Really?

http://www.slatergordon.co.uk/media-centre/blog/20...

http://www.bikehub.co.uk/featured-articles/cycling...

Are they both wrong?

[tigger1]

rampageturke said:

and a far safer alternative for this man on an electric unicycle would be on the road

Like Segways, in the UK you can't use a motorised unicycle either on the pavement or on a public road, as neither device fits into any of the appropriate laws. The law is trailling behind the technology (again) or, more likely, choosing not to keep up.

Maybe it shouldn't be legal to ride a motorised unicycle in a public place - perhaps these things cause a danger.

The penalty here seems harsh - and I'm guessing this wasn't the chaps first time being caught using the thing, otherwise it's VERY harsh, but it's certainly not unfair. He'll have bought it knowing it wasn't going to be legal to use, but did so anyway.

[Magic919]

Dr Doofenshmirtz said:

Laurel Green said:

Janluke said:

The latest update of the ebike rules also mean no throttle, the motor only cuts in when the bikes being pedalled
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/electric-bike-guides/uk-...

Thanks for the link.

Is good to know that they have gone along with the EU in rating 250 watts as the limit for assisted power and the none requirement of registration, ETC.

It's been 250 watts since at least the Sinclair C5 was around in the 80's

I'm not sure this is correct. I'd read 200 watts was the limit until recently. A significant factor here is that the C5 was a tricycle, not a bicycle. Tandems and tricycles have had a 250 watt limit, whereas bicycles were 200 watts.

[Vaud]

Magic919 said:

I'm not sure this is correct. I'd read 200 watts was the limit until recently. A significant factor here is that the C5 was a tricycle, not a bicycle. Tandems and tricycles have had a 250 watt limit, whereas bicycles were 200 watts.

Here is the EU law:

http://www.bike-eu.com/laws-regulations/nieuws/201...

It used to be 200watts and that was the 1983 regulation.

[Pothole]

speedyguy said:

Pothole said:

Jim1556 said:

Utterly fking ridiculous!

My 9 yr old daughter has an electric scooter that she rides in our quiet cul-de-sac. Technically, it's probably illegal on and off the path, but seriously? She could probably be charged or at least have it confiscated...

Laws need updating... A battery assisted toy/cycle is NOT a motor vehicle in any reasonable sense!

Doubtful she could be charged, she's below the age of responsibility. Why did you buy it for her without knowing the legality of her riding it?

It's better to live your life than just worrying about what you can and can't do ?

Of course. Does that also extend to the same kind of parents who buy ICE pit bikes etc. and allow their progeny to ride those on the road, pavement, park, anywhere else they please?

[The Mad Monk]

7795 said:

you can also be convicted of drink driving on a push bike on the Queens highway and lose your driving license.

Don't think so, seeing as how you haven't got a driving license.

[anonymous-user]

7795 said:

you can also be convicted of drink driving on a push bike on the Queens highway and lose your driving license.

No, you can't.

[heebeegeetee]

7795 said:

It's the law and that's that.

yet completely ignored by drivers and nothing is ever done. The police will have travelled past cars parked on the pavement to and from this incident and done nothing about them.

The law is supposed to apply to everybody.

(And just for clarification, it's not illegal to park on the pavement but it is illegal to drive on the pavement).

[tigger1]

Spumfry said:

7795 said:

you can also be convicted of drink driving on a push bike on the Queens highway and lose your driving license.

No, you can't.

Max fine of £1000 I think, a lot less than the max fine for dangerous cycling. Irrelevant that no license required to ride a bike, but no points / ban directly for this offence (although there's wider legislation that allows driving bans for non-motoring offences isn't there?).

[NormalWisdom]

Jim1556 said:

A battery assisted toy/cycle is NOT a motor vehicle in any reasonable sense!

Aside from the fact that it is a vehicle with a motor ;-)

Seriously, I do agree, the law is in need of a makeover (in many,many areas!), which bit first?

[anonymous-user]

tigger1 said:

Spumfry said:

7795 said:

you can also be convicted of drink driving on a push bike on the Queens highway and lose your driving license.

No, you can't.

Max fine of £1000 I think, a lot less than the max fine for dangerous cycling. Irrelevant that no license required to ride a bike, but no points / ban directly for this offence (although there's wider legislation that allows driving bans for non-motoring offences isn't there?).

You could be fined £1K for cycling while under the influence of alcohol or drugs but it's not a driving offence, so has no impact on your license.

I've always thought it would be tricky to pursue, as plod can't breathalyse you. So you could have say three pints (or enough to be over the drink drive limit but not obviously drunk) and if you're not breaking any rules of the road I'm not sure what they'd do (or would want to do) - it would be easier for them to politely/firmly suggest you walk your bike home than try to prove intoxication.

Obviously if you've fallen in the gutter because you'd had nine pints and were trying to eat your kebab and cycle at the same time it's going to be easier to prove you were under the influence.

I can't find any info about driving bans for non-motoring offences.

[Vaud]

Spumfry said:

it would be easier for them to politely/firmly suggest you walk your bike home than try to prove intoxication.

That is what happened to me when I was much younger under threat of being taken home by them and waking my parents up... v effective!

[DRFC1879]

heebeegeetee said:

yet completely ignored by drivers and nothing is ever done. The police will have travelled past cars parked on the pavement to and from this incident and done nothing about them.

The law is supposed to apply to everybody.

(And just for clarification, it's not illegal to park on the pavement but it is illegal to drive on the pavement).

What's the rule on driveways with dropped kerbs then? Does the stretch of pavement from residential driveway to road count as part of the highway? And should someone decide to knock down part of their front wall, concrete over half the garden and stick a plank of wood up against the kerb (as my old man did in my childhood 3 bed semi) no doubt there are numerous heinous crimes being committed!

[heebeegeetee]

DRFC1879 said:

What's the rule on driveways with dropped kerbs then? Does the stretch of pavement from residential driveway to road count as part of the highway? And should someone decide to knock down part of their front wall, concrete over half the garden and stick a plank of wood up against the kerb (as my old man did in my childhood 3 bed semi) no doubt there are numerous heinous crimes being committed!

I can't recall how its worded but there are laws that allow accessing from a dropped kerb but I suspect what your old man did was illegal.