I guess everybody has seen the news of the first London electric scooter fatality near Battersea Park;
Can’t say im surprised
About a month ago - riding down to a T-Junction with Garratt Lane, lights green in my favour. as I turned left at the lights I just saw something in the corner of my eye coming towards me on the right.
Arsehole on an electric scooter had gone through a red and whizzed past my front wheel doing approx 20-25mph…I braked and the bike stalled and I manged to catch it as it fell to the left.
Shitbag whizzed on and raised an arm to wave at me, either to say “Sorry” of “fuck off” I don’t know, he then mounted the pavement and dissapered down an alley into a housing estate,
In some ways i wish I had hit him since his protective gear was , a beret, a vintage suit, an orange cravat, and trainers
The current state of play is that they are illegal to ride on the roads and pavements. I wish there would be a clamp down. If the law changes then that’s something different but for now it’s black and white. No shades of grey.
True, I was drinkinking outside a pub in Waterloo and a woman on an ordinary “foot” scooter, travelling at half the speed, hit a bump in the road…because she is standing up she fell straight forward over the handlebar and hit her nut on the concrete…blood everywhere,concussion and the ambulance had to cart her off.
Unlike a bike or cycle where you can brace yourself there is nowt to stop you falling flat on your face… add to that no helmet,gloves , leathers etc it looks like a lot of these scootah pricks will soon get the taste of hospital food if they don’t kill someone else first…add to that the idea that red lights and traffic signs don’t apply to them and that they can zip between road ,pavement and walkways…bloody hell - Bloodbaths everywhere!
It’s worst in the winter. Even if someone is on a pushbike without lights, there’s at least some sort of movement by the rider to give them away. But on these things they’re just stood still as often as not in dark clothing, so really hard to notice. Even if there is a back light, it’s a little LED right down on the rear mudguard.
There’s no way these things should be allowed on either the roads or the pavements.
I had to jump out of the way of a petrol powered scooter on the Ebury Way in Watford. Thing must have been going 25mph. Very quick and noisy, and the guy on it 18ish didn’t give a shit.
I think they’re a good idea if I’m honest. I think they should be legalised, however I also think they should be registered as motorised transport, with numberplates of some description, basic cbt style testing compulsory and insurance. The more alternative styles of transport in cities, the better.
Can’t really go off of a few tales of how a few lunatics on these scooters have jumped lights etc. and slam them all. Over my years of riding I’ve met every single type of vehicle driving/riding like a lunatic and almost causing an accident.
A government select committee was looking into this question today.
I think they are a good thing. Whether you agree with me or not the fact is they are here to stay, they can’t be uninvented, we have to decide how we accommodate them. Banning them doesn’t work, they are currently banned in all circumstances and there aren’t enough cops to enforce the ban.
I hope they are classified like cycles, ie as carriages for the road, thus regularising their use on the road. Once that happens their use on the footway becomes the same question as the use of the footway by cyclists. And the answer to that is to build cycle lanes. I happen to be typing this from Amsterdam and they aren’t a problem here because there are plenty of dedicated cycle lanes for them to use.
I sincerely hope HMG doesn’t decide to require them to have VRM, VED, insurance and helmeted riders as that will put off their adoption. I am all in favour of their increased use because each one of them is one less dopey Uber car blocking your journey.
And yes, Triang had an unfortunate encounter with one but badly driven cars do a hell of a lot more damage.
I cycle to and from work nowadays and have almost noticed an increase in people using these the past week or so. The people that ride them seem to be quite keen on using dedicated cycle lanes and around only half of the people I’ve seen wear helmets. I saw a fella on the way home tonight who had a GoPro strapped to his helmet. I’m assuming it was for evidence in case of an accident but if it’s illegal for him to be riding it on the road in the first place what use would it be?
It would if you ban the selling of them. Cut off the supply then very few people will go to the effort of getting one.
But it seems to me that authorities in countries where they are legally ridden are investigating their use because they come with a rise in accident rates. And most countries seem to limit their legal use to 15 mph or less, which are then frequently ignored that only compounds safety concerns about mixing them with slower riders on cycle infrastructure.
I know that road, long open not much traffic and downhill! so imagine he was probably going some but i’m not speculating. Either way hope he pulls through.
Oh gawd, just what we didn’t need. A moron using one on a motorway. This is guaranteed to have the if-it-saves-one-life brigade calling for their immediate banning.
