E Scooters soon to be allowed on UK roads?

[hyphen]

giantdefy said:

untakenname said:

The for hire E-Scooters will have been tested before being placed out for hire and speed limited along with carrying compulsory insurance as well as an identifying mark if they are involved in a collision.

Additionally if they are like my local ones they are geofenced to prevent their use in the town centre pedestrianised areas.

Thanks, that's interesting.

Looked it up and some companies are using gps location to vary maximum speed too, so if a busy area, you can't go so fast.

[Graveworm]

CoolHands said:

Thing is, why should it be legal if you hire through one of the back-hander companies, but illegal if you buy your own? Bullst

Because the hire schemes are a pilot to see if they work and ensure that the hirers have a driving licence etc.
After that they will have more information to make a decision. If the pilot involved privately owned scooters it would be pretty harsh if eventually they decided not to go ahead.

Edited by Graveworm on Wednesday 4th August 18:55

[bmwmike]

Donbot said:

IMO road registering them misses the point. Might as well get a motorbike / scooter.

Unless you have to keep it indoors both ends of the journey (and have the space) to stop your bike from getting nicked. I would have thought thieves would be all over the registered one above.

care to elaborate? I dont follow what you mean. I am not sure registration is the right approach either, but i do think they should be on the roads the majority of the time.

[jakesmith]

Donbot said:

IMO road registering them misses the point. Might as well get a motorbike / scooter.

Unless you have to keep it indoors both ends of the journey (and have the space) to stop your bike from getting nicked. I would have thought thieves would be all over the registered one above.

They are much smaller than normal scooters and can easily be folded / kept indoors. On a trip to the supermarket they can be wheeled round in the store rather than all the messing about of locking them up

They are the perfect answer to environmental concerns and smaller homes etc

[PF62]

jakesmith said:

They are the perfect answer to environmental concerns and smaller homes etc

Or just catch the bus.

[eldar]

Donbot said:

IMO road registering them misses the point. Might as well get a motorbike / scooter.

Unless you have to keep it indoors both ends of the journey (and have the space) to stop your bike from getting nicked. I would have thought thieves would be all over the registered one above.

Or indeed an E bike. Legal, heavier, no worries about insurance, licences or fripperies like that.

All good.

[jakesmith]

PF62 said:

Or just catch the bus.

Try not to be a buffoon if possible

[Donbot]

bmwmike said:

Donbot said:

IMO road registering them misses the point. Might as well get a motorbike / scooter.

Unless you have to keep it indoors both ends of the journey (and have the space) to stop your bike from getting nicked. I would have thought thieves would be all over the registered one above.

care to elaborate? I dont follow what you mean. I am not sure registration is the right approach either, but i do think they should be on the roads the majority of the time.

I think they should be legalised as well.

If you register it you cant use cycle lanes, have to insure it, wear a helmet etc. The same with registering an e-bike as an electric motorcycle. The same rules apply.

A petrol scooter is a lot cheaper, and I think the only benefit is being able to keep an electric scooter indoors.

[LargeRed]

those of us, of a certain age, will remember the Sinclair C5 electric 'vehicle-car'/'3 wheeler bike'



it was slammed by the press as being "dangerous on the road"

[Donbot]

It's not any more dangerous than any other recumbent is it?

Regardless, some people think getting about in anything other than a massive SUV is dangerous.

[eldar]

LargeRed said:

those of us, of a certain age, will remember the Sinclair C5 electric 'vehicle-car'/'3 wheeler bike'



it was slammed by the press as being "dangerous on the road"

I seem to remember someone upgraded one with modern motors and batteries. Added performance made it look even more dangerous...

[JQ]

LargeRed said:

those of us, of a certain age, will remember the Sinclair C5 electric 'vehicle-car'/'3 wheeler bike'



it was slammed by the press as being "dangerous on the road"

I've got one of those sitting in the garage at home. We had it when I was a kid, but was very unreliable hence it's sitting unused. My 13 year old son wants to get it back on the road, which we'll hopefully do in the next 12 months.

It was fine for pottering round our village, the danger came from taking corners too quick - I rolled it on more than one occasion, speed matters!!

[Newc]

hyphen said:

giantdefy said:

untakenname said:

The for hire E-Scooters will have been tested before being placed out for hire and speed limited along with carrying compulsory insurance as well as an identifying mark if they are involved in a collision.

Additionally if they are like my local ones they are geofenced to prevent their use in the town centre pedestrianised areas.

Thanks, that's interesting.

Looked it up and some companies are using gps location to vary maximum speed too, so if a busy area, you can't go so fast.

I tried one of the central London trial ones this week. All the above is correct. You have to register your driving licence to your account, and then you sign out on a specific scooter, so there's a trace of who has which scooter where at any time.

There's GPS fencing. Certain areas are speed capped. Certain areas are no entry at all. You can only terminate the hire at specific marked parking points.

Overall, it was utter toss. The poor state of the roads plus no suspension is extremely uncomfortable over any distance.

There's no warning on the speed restriction areas, so all of a sudden you are going slowly and instead of keeping up with the traffic flow it is all zipping past you, because it of course is not speed restricted. Same with the no go areas. I crossed into one and the thing died about a minute in, so I had to push it back out of the zone to re-start and then divert around. Meanwhile bikes and unofficial scooters were zipping by.

And then when I got to my destination it was pleased to tell me it had charged me slightly more than an Uber would have cost. Shan't be doing that again.

[anonymous-user]

JQ said:

I've got one of those sitting in the garage at home. We had it when I was a kid, but was very unreliable hence it's sitting unused. My 13 year old son wants to get it back on the road, which we'll hopefully do in the next 12 months.

It was fine for pottering round our village, the danger came from taking corners too quick - I rolled it on more than one occasion, speed matters!!

With the serious advancements that have taken place in battery technology and motors over the last 35 years, I would be tempted to carry out a few mods and improvements if it was mine.

I saw a nicely 'modernised' and upgraded one on Ebay the other day: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274879878102?hash=item4...

The C5 was an interesting Idea, it was just 40 years too soon. In another few years we will all be buying some form of personal electric urban transport.

[Disastrous]

I just spur of the moment bought a scooter this afternoon.

Ridiculous really, and I have no idea what to do with it, but it was fun.

We live pretty rurally so probably not that worried about being caught going on it, but honestly, mad that these aren’t ubiquitous congestion-easing, pollution-solving commuter machines. Brilliant for around town and I’d deffo go to work on it on a nice day.

As other posters said, they need to be restriction free otherwise what’s the point? I’ll go by motorbike instead.

Typical of joyless UK to fuss about ‘the rules’ for anything new.

[bigothunter]

Disastrous said:

I just spur of the moment bought a scooter this afternoon.

Ridiculous really, and I have no idea what to do with it, but it was fun.

We live pretty rurally so probably not that worried about being caught going on it, but honestly, mad that these aren’t ubiquitous congestion-easing, pollution-solving commuter machines. Brilliant for around town and I’d deffo go to work on it on a nice day.

As other posters said, they need to be restriction free otherwise what’s the point? I’ll go by motorbike instead.

Typical of joyless UK to fuss about ‘the rules’ for anything new.

Have you bothered to read any of the genuine concerns expressed in this thread?

[Disastrous]

bigothunter said:

Disastrous said:

I just spur of the moment bought a scooter this afternoon.

Ridiculous really, and I have no idea what to do with it, but it was fun.

We live pretty rurally so probably not that worried about being caught going on it, but honestly, mad that these aren’t ubiquitous congestion-easing, pollution-solving commuter machines. Brilliant for around town and I’d deffo go to work on it on a nice day.

As other posters said, they need to be restriction free otherwise what’s the point? I’ll go by motorbike instead.

Typical of joyless UK to fuss about ‘the rules’ for anything new.

Have you bothered to read any of the genuine concerns expressed in this thread?

None at all. They’re excellent fun!

[eldar]

bigothunter said:

Have you bothered to read any of the genuine concerns expressed in this thread?

Genuine concerns? The ones in fear of anything invented after 1922, that form of transport that is more environmentally friendly than cycling or walking?

[bigothunter]

Disastrous said:

bigothunter said:

Disastrous said:

I just spur of the moment bought a scooter this afternoon.

Ridiculous really, and I have no idea what to do with it, but it was fun.

We live pretty rurally so probably not that worried about being caught going on it, but honestly, mad that these aren’t ubiquitous congestion-easing, pollution-solving commuter machines. Brilliant for around town and I’d deffo go to work on it on a nice day.

As other posters said, they need to be restriction free otherwise what’s the point? I’ll go by motorbike instead.

Typical of joyless UK to fuss about ‘the rules’ for anything new.

Have you bothered to read any of the genuine concerns expressed in this thread?

None at all. They’re excellent fun!

Pleased you are enjoying the experience and hope the novelty doesn't wear off too soon. But your lack of background research puts the value of your comments in perspective.

[sealtt]

I use the ones in the city centre outside our offices to go to lunch etc, they are very nice to ride I love it.

Only safety features that I would like to see would be indicators (finger operated on handle bars); and mirrors on handle bars somehow.