E Scooters soon to be allowed on UK roads?

[untakenname]

Police have been busy this week in London
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57609...

[pincher]

Article said:

Rental e-scooters, with front and rear lights, can be hired in several London boroughs as part of a trial.
To hire a scooter customers must first complete an online course.

So if my scooter has front and rear lights and I do the online course, then why can’t I use it?

What exactly is the difference? Having seen the state of some of the Boris Bikes recently, I’m pretty confident that my scooter, at two years old, will be in a better condition than a 3 or 6 month old hire scooter.

The whole thing is nonsense.

[eldar]

untakenname said:

Police have been busy this week in London
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57609...

Excellent, we can all sleep soundly in our beds, knowing serious crime is now being tackled.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15150114/london-stab...

[PF62]

eldar said:

untakenname said:

Police have been busy this week in London
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57609...

Excellent, we can all sleep soundly in our beds, knowing serious crime is now being tackled.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15150114/london-stab...

At it may well be.

Plenty of people up to no good are using escooters as they are quite handy for their nefarious activities and if you ride around on one you are giving the police and invitation to stop you and see what they can find - no I wasn't stopping and searching that young man because he looked like a drug dealer, I stopped him for riding an illegal escooter.

Sure not everyone riding illegal escooters are drug dealers or out to stab someone, but getting caught up in the sweep is the risk you run when you do something illegal.

[eldar]

PF62 said:

At it may well be.

Plenty of people up to no good are using escooters as they are quite handy for their nefarious activities and if you ride around on one you are giving the police and invitation to stop you and see what they can find - no I wasn't stopping and searching that young man because he looked like a drug dealer, I stopped him for riding an illegal escooter.

Sure not everyone riding illegal escooters are drug dealers or out to stab someone, but getting caught up in the sweep is the risk you run when you do something illegal.

Indeed, similar to dodgy number plates. The amount of police time for that week of focus must be pretty high in terms of police hours and costs from planning, implementing and transport/disposal of the scooters.

Means its a one off, so back normal next week when the focus well be misbehaving cyclists or similar.

Meanwhile another kid stabbed to death this morning.

[Short Grain]

Seems our travelling community like them, a lot!! Caravans cover the whole of a reasonably large park near me, not just a corner like last year!! The whole park, football pitches for Sunday Leagues etc. Covered in caravans with loads of scooters whizzing around, the ground seems to be hard enough and the grass short enough for them and a road and pavement runs the full length of the park. Saw loads of them yesterday when I drove past!! The tts have even hung their washing from the goalposts in a total "fk You!" to the teams that would have been playing today!! I really pity the residents who live opposite the park!
This is all despite a large police station at one end of the road!!

[Laurel Green]

E-scooter casualties in London soar by 570% as number of pedestrians hurt DOUBLES in a year - putting pressure on Sadiq Khan over rental trial scheme.

[robuk]

Not 570%! That is LOADS.

"It went from 13 to 26, a Freedom of Information legislation has revealed" oh.

[techguyone]

robuk said:

Not 570%! That is LOADS.

"It went from 13 to 26, a Freedom of Information legislation has revealed" oh.

This seems quite significant though.

Figures show the number of riders injured in collisions in the capital leapt from 27 in 2019 to 181 between January and November 2020.


Not entirely sure if that's just scooters or bicyclists though.

[LargeRed]

I visited my local Tesco this week, on leaving, two kids tried to enter the store on eScooters !!

I told them they were not allowed in the store.

Was it a dare to see if they could enter and do a lap, before exiting ??

Take their Go-Henry cards off them.!!!!!!

[Dog Star]

untakenname said:

Police have been busy this week in London
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57609...

I’m still at a loss to understand why the sort of person who is on PH (therefore we can assume drive a car/motorbike) has one of these things and dares ride it in public. All it takes is a copper to see you and just like that you’ve got six points. Let’s hope there aren’t any points on there already. And I assume the points are for having no insurance - what’s the score with your motor insurer declaring that offence come renewal?

Is the risk/benefit of these things so beneficial that you’re prepared to ride one in public?

[jakesmith]

Dog Star said:

untakenname said:

Police have been busy this week in London
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57609...

I’m still at a loss to understand why the sort of person who is on PH (therefore we can assume drive a car/motorbike) has one of these things and dares ride it in public. All it takes is a copper to see you and just like that you’ve got six points. Let’s hope there aren’t any points on there already. And I assume the points are for having no insurance - what’s the score with your motor insurer declaring that offence come renewal?

Is the risk/benefit of these things so beneficial that you’re prepared to ride one in public?

I rode mine daily for a year before a policeman stopped me and sent me home with no further action. I haven't ridden in since as I think it's being looked at now more and I don't want to risk the penalty but it's a shame as I take the car now for the journeys

[Dog Star]

jakesmith said:

I rode mine daily for a year before a policeman stopped me and sent me home with no further action. I haven't ridden in since as I think it's being looked at now more and I don't want to risk the penalty but it's a shame as I take the car now for the journeys

I don’t have any doubt that they’re good fun and I’d like one myself, but with six points up for grabs I’d not go near one.

It’s crazy really - your average scally can just crack on and ride one, they’re not going to give a st because they won’t pay the fine, have no licence to worry about and will just get another one. Zero consequence.

[lyonspride]

They'll be legal once the govt figures out how to tax them.

[MB140]

lyonspride said:

They'll be legal once the govt figures out how to tax them.

Ain’t that the truth. Right now all these companies renting them out are no doubt employing people to collect/repair etc (all earning a wage, paying tax/NI etc.

There all making a profit so paying business rates/corporation tax etc.

All a nice tax earning revenue. Once they allow jo blogs to go and buy one

a) There losing the tax from the business side of it.
b) people paying for public transport or cars etc are no longer paying all the fuel duty, road tax etc.

The government clearly want us to stop using cars. They just need to figure out how to legislate it so they don’t lose all there income when we shift to an alternative.

[egor110]

lyonspride said:

They'll be legal once the govt figures out how to tax them.

Why tax scooters but not electric bikes ?

[Toltec]

egor110 said:

Why tax scooters but not electric bikes ?

You certainly pay vat when you buy one, council tax goes towards maintenance of facilities and then of course there is insurance tax. Cycle shops pay tax, you also pay vat on those parts and services,as well as on any clothing or other gear you buy.

Electric scooters will be taxed just as any other consumer goods are.

I think they are more worried about condoning something that could lead to higher ksis.

[Gareth79]

Toltec said:

I think they are more worried about condoning something that could lead to higher ksis.

The question is, do the injuries directly offset those caused by motor vehicles, and from knock-on pollution effects?

[bmwmike]

Get em legalised on side streets and minor roads, hefty fines for pavement use, and increase fuel tax to reduce short trips

Edit insurance is an interesting prospect. Third party cover should be mandatory,and they can tax via the route.

Edited by bmwmike on Sunday 27th June 21:48

[Toltec]

Gareth79 said:

The question is, do the injuries directly offset those caused by motor vehicles, and from knock-on pollution effects?

That doesn't work that way, the loss of aggregate lifetime due to slower speed limits is not offset against the potential saving in whole lives.

The statistics you chose will depend on what argument you are trying to make.

To be clear I am, on balance, for legalising electric scooters for road use.