Electric scooters ?

venomx

Car_54 said:

venomx said:

lordmountararat said:

A young lad shot out in front of me yesterday on one of these lethal electric scooters. I didn't have the opportunity to remind him that riding these wretched things is only legal on private land. If the government does change the law, I hope it insists on age limits, helmet, insurance and training.

No different from riding a push bike like an idiot though ?

There is a major difference. Riding a push bike carelessly or dangerously are offences.

Simply using a scooter on the road at all is an offence.

I meant in terms of safety if/when it’s legal 

Jackmydad

I've got a feeling that once this scooter thing is out of the box, and it appears that it already is, then it's going to be pretty hard to put back in there.
And whether you license these things, apply laws to them, actually apply the laws that are already in place to them, or just let people get on with it, then you're still going to have a percentage of idiots.
Look at bikes, and for that matter cars and any other vehicle.
A small percentage ignore the rules.

Car_54

Jackmydad said:

I've got a feeling that once this scooter thing is out of the box, and it appears that it already is, then it's going to be pretty hard to put back in there.
And whether you license these things, apply laws to them, actually apply the laws that are already in place to them, or just let people get on with it, then you're still going to have a percentage of idiots.
Look at bikes, and for that matter cars and any other vehicle.
A small percentage ignore the rules.

Agreed. But at least most drivers have read and been tested on the rules.

Cyclists and scooterists haven't.

Goudy

There seems to be some confusion over what is what.
You have:
Electric Motor Scooters, like petrol Vespa's etc but electric. You need a licence, insurance etc just like the petrol version and to be ridden on the road.

Electric Scooters as in electrically powered "child's toy". Off road/street/pavement/cycle lane use only at the moment, but there are plans to review this.

Electrically assisted bicycles (as in the pic, even though it looks like a Motor Scooter). Law catching up at the moment, but basically allowed to assist up to speeds of 15.5 mph on the road/cycle lanes. (higher in the US though). Motors are around 250w.
Off road you can have as much assist/speed as you like and some come with thumb throttles so there is no need to pedal at all. You see these advertised as dual watt, either 250/500w or 250/1000w.
Some of these are finding their way on the road illegally, I see quite a few every day around London.

There's a grey area when it comes to thumb throttles and 250w "kits" to convert standard bicycles to electric.
You obviously can't fly around the streets on a 1000w bike with a throttle unless it's registered as a Motor Scooter (with license, insurance etc), but there isn't anything yet that stops you fitting a throttled 250w kit to a bicycle and using that on the road, but you won't get far or go very fast on throttle alone.
New bikes built as Ebikes are only pedal assist.

Jackmydad

Car_54 said:

Jackmydad said:

I've got a feeling that once this scooter thing is out of the box, and it appears that it already is, then it's going to be pretty hard to put back in there.
And whether you license these things, apply laws to them, actually apply the laws that are already in place to them, or just let people get on with it, then you're still going to have a percentage of idiots.
Look at bikes, and for that matter cars and any other vehicle.
A small percentage ignore the rules.

Agreed. But at least most drivers have read and been tested on the rules.

Cyclists and scooterists haven't. 

I agree with you, but as I said, "you're still going to get a percentage of idiots"
Go and drive around in traffic for an hour or so, and see how much evidence there is of some of the people driving who have been tested on the rules, actually having any knowledge of those rules.
The test for a car driving licence, in it's present form only pays lip service to testing for any real knowledge or ability.

AdrianC

There should be a law against people doing stupid things with motorised conveyances!

Jackmydad

AdrianC said:

There should be a law against people doing stupid things with motorised conveyances!

There should be enforced laws against people doing stupid things with motorised conveyances. . . 

twhitehousescat

the "new" electric bike 

1932 philips of holland 
13 mph 50 mile range 

452

Goudy said:

There seems to be some confusion over what is what.
You have:
Electric Motor Scooters, like petrol Vespa's etc but electric. You need a licence, insurance etc just like the petrol version and to be ridden on the road.

Electric Scooters as in electrically powered "child's toy". Off road/street/pavement/cycle lane use only at the moment, but there are plans to review this.

Electrically assisted bicycles (as in the pic, even though it looks like a Motor Scooter). Law catching up at the moment, but basically allowed to assist up to speeds of 15.5 mph on the road/cycle lanes. (higher in the US though). Motors are around 250w.
Off road you can have as much assist/speed as you like and some come with thumb throttles so there is no need to pedal at all. You see these advertised as dual watt, either 250/500w or 250/1000w.
Some of these are finding their way on the road illegally, I see quite a few every day around London.

There's a grey area when it comes to thumb throttles and 250w "kits" to convert standard bicycles to electric.
You obviously can't fly around the streets on a 1000w bike with a throttle unless it's registered as a Motor Scooter (with license, insurance etc), but there isn't anything yet that stops you fitting a throttled 250w kit to a bicycle and using that on the road, but you won't get far or go very fast on throttle alone.
New bikes built as Ebikes are only pedal assist.

Are you saying you can use an electric scooter on the pavement? If you are then you're wrong as according to the Road Traffic Act that's part of a road. 

Car_54

452 said:

Are you saying you can use an electric scooter on the pavement? If you are then you're wrong as according to the Road Traffic Act that's part of a road.

The Road Traffic Act(s) says nothing of the kind.

However, riding anything on the pavement (footpath) is an offence under the Highways Act 1835.