E scooters

[Bob McC]

I see that the trial of e scooters in Coventry has been dropped after 5 days !

Let’s hope everywhere follows soon or the next thing will be a load of handwringing and blaming of lorry drivers when some moron on an escooter pulls up inside an HGV at a junction signalling left and gets squashed.

 

[SteveG]

Previously I'd only seen e-scooters being used in the bigger cities like London (both on the pavement and on-road) but for the first time I saw one being used where I live, on the outskirts of Edinburgh (far enough out from the centre that no-one is ever likely to commute into Edinburgh on one). That was on Sunday and was quite odd as the user (in his mid 20's at a guess) started off by riding it on the pavement (including through a group of people waiting near a bus-stop) then proceeded to ride it up and down the wrong side of the road (mostly in the middle of the lane but sometimes right down the centre of the road) even when there was traffic coming - all the while chomping into what looked like a sandwich. Very strange. By the looks of it he had been to the local shops and was just messing about on (he did quite a few laps up and down the road).

While not really a typical use case I'd be pretty sure he won't have helped the cause for making e-scooters legal with anyone who saw him.

Where I live there is no suitable infrastructure for their use - there are some cycling lanes (including an off-road shared pedestrian/cycling route all the way to the centre of Edinburgh) but they're far too bumpy for an e-scooter to be effective on them.

 

[Barrymagrec]

Escooters are not the main problem, they are a new problem that ought to be sorted out in the early stages, I don`t think anyone is saying that cars parking on pavements or cyclists pushing pedestrians out of the way are not also problems.

Arsoles are Arsoles whatever mode of transport they use.

 

[Thorn]

Hilarious!

It is not whataboutery it is an observation that none of you ‘concerned citizens’ ever seem to complain about the motor car.

I agree with what you say about cars, but this is a thread about e-scooters. Do you agree that they do pose a potential and additional threat?

 

[Woodface]

Escooters are not the main problem, they are a new problem that ought to be sorted out in the early stages, I don`t think anyone is saying that cars parking on pavements or cyclists pushing pedestrians out of the way are not also problems.

Arsoles are Arsoles whatever mode of transport they use.

But an arsehole in a car can do more damage than an almost infinite number of cyclists or scooters. Even car drivers who are perfectly law abiding still make 1000’s of unnecessary journeys each year adding greatly to pollution etc.

76% of car journeys are leas than 6kms!

But, yes, let’s stamp on the largely imaginary problem of e-scooters, does that really make sense?

Look at how motorists have reacted to Low Traffic Zones in London, they have moved barriers etc. It is madness.

The only way we can make room for active & green travel options is to reduce car traffic.

You cannot legislate just for morons; there are over 1million uninsured drivers on the road & this why we should concentrate on these areas.

 

[Woodface]

I agree with what you say about cars, but this is a thread about e-scooters. Do you agree that they do pose a potential and additional threat?

But they are indelibly linked, they are a means of transport. I object to the disproportionate nature of this thread, it’s run to many pages & is largely negative.

I really don’t see them as an ‘additional threat’; we need better infrastructure & only the car can really give way.

 

[TheDecameron]

Used on pavements by the type of users I’ve seen ( overweight reckless blokes in their 20s) weaving through pedestrians at speed, then they are a manifest threat. No problem with them in cycle lanes, roads but not at 15mph+ on pavement.

 

[Cav]

Used on pavements by the type of users I’ve seen ( overweight reckless blokes in their 20s) weaving through pedestrians at speed, then they are a manifest threat. No problem with them in cycle lanes, roads but not at 15mph+ on pavement.

Some people misuse all sorts of motor vehicles and pushbikes but that is an enforcement issue not an issue with the vehicle itself.

 

[Bjork67]

This will all be sorted once they finally release the hoverboard, I believe it's just behind a few audio devices in the soon to be released schedule.

 

[TheDecameron]

Some people misuse all sorts of motor vehicles and pushbikes but that is an enforcement issue not an issue with the vehicle itself.

Quite agree, I see similar idiots cycling through pedestrians on the pavement. I think the scooters are great. I’ve seen people commuting to work on them in other countries.