Escooter trial to start

[Tangled Metal]

There's a muppet on an escooter near where I work. Not exactly quiet, I would compare the buzz to a moped at cruising speed if not a bit louder. You hear him coming often before you see him. Just as well because he has no regard for anyone else. I've seen him ride on the pavement, drop onto the road then across to ride against the traffic on the wrong side of the road on the pavement. I'm doing probably up to 20imph downhill and he's left me for n dust. Round here I seriously doubt any escooter round here is limited like ebikes and they facilitate those most prone to not know about it not care about the rules regarding ebikes or escooter to ride like in the past they'd do on push bikes. Of course now they're doing it faster.

I think they're a credible option for personal transport in towns and cities but not if there's no enforcement or control. My personal opinion would place the starting point at controlling retail of them. It's not acceptable for halfords to sell escooters that are only legal on private land to most potential users without better controls. A tiny sign explaining the legality isn't good enough.

Are you sure it's an e-scooter? Scooters with little petrol engines are also quite common.

Well I can't see an ICE. There is a hefty platform that looks like a battery pack in size. Like those you see under a rack on shopping bikes in Holland. Also a display on the bars. Usually that seems to be on escooters.

In Holland you'd hear ebikes of the shopper type and they could be quite loud buzzing noise. Whether outright loud in decibels or subjectively loud I cannot say. (Subjective loudness as used by advertisers on TV to make adverts more obvious than the programmes between.

[Bmblbzzz]

Interesting. Plenty of ebikes here with batteries under the racks, of course, and yes they can make a buzzing noise but I've never thought it sounded anything like a (petrol) moped. It could well be that we're perceiving a similar sound differently, but also it could be that the trend for artificial engine noises has spread from boy racers to e-scoots!

[Tangled Metal]

I don't know why it was louder than it should have been but it could have been due to him going fast. Perhaps everything was running at its limit?

Stupid git hasn't been seen on it for a few months now. He changed shifts once so I saw him a we were going the other way. He took a turn into a mixed use path at a high speed from the pavement next to a high wall as I was coming to the junction. I nearly did an injury stopping to not get hit by him as he just took the bend and carried on. Ahole of the highest order.

Like the guy on a single wheel thing who used to take a steep downhill at speed and turning left at the bottom. Over 30mph at times. Anyway, he disappeared for a few months then came back with a leather coat on, boots not trainers, gloves, helmet and elbow pads. His new apparel in the height of a heat wave must have been following an accident.

[simonhill]

Found this in my newsfeed, from ebikestips.road

"The Transport Bill that will legalise e-scooters through the creation of a low-speed, zero-emission vehicle category has been pushed back until late next year at the earliest. Responding to the postponement, the CEO of one UK micromobility firm warned that the continued uncertainty meant that investment in the industry was being “choked off” and could mean some firms would go bust."

and

"This is set to change with a new Transport Bill, which was introduced in the 2022 Queen’s Speech. This was originally due to be put to parliament in the current parliamentary session, which runs until spring 2023. However, it’s now been reported that it will be pushed back until the next year-long session at the earliest."

[Jdsk]

"National evaluation of e-scooter trials report":
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... als-report

Jonathan

[simonineaston]

As winter surrounds us with early gloom, the roads are simply awash with all sorts of folk doing their own thing. Historically, there were broadly speaking three groups of travellers abroad after dark in town - motorised traffic, 99% of which had their lights on; cyclists - 50/50 whether they had lights on or not but who were mostly slow, and pedestrians who stuck to the pavement.
Now, it's chaos. Scooters form two groups: Voi with their reliable lights, and all the others, most of which don't have lights. Cyclists haven't changed much from the pov of their lights except now there's e-bikes which travel much faster. These vehicles pop up in all sorts of unexpected places, as many of the users choose not to stick to the cycle path infratructure. Private scooter users in partic. appear to engage in road postioning that can confuse - they travel at speeds high enough to compete with cars - at least in built up areas - and the users see no benefit in sticking to cycle paths. (see too parked cars in cycle paths)
The upshot of all this after dark in town is that the roads are filling up with all sorts of vehicles, large and small, lit and unlit, slow and fast, silent and not-so-silent, emerging from left and right, cutting in and out of each other, on road, cycle path and pavement. It's turning into a freakin' nightmare...
I don't resent these folks their right to travel how they see fit - as do I - but it's getting dangerous.

[Jdsk]

"National evaluation of e-scooter trials report":
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... als-report

Government response:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... ion-report

Jonathan

[Bmblbzzz]

I'd say in my observation the majority of cyclists now have lights. It's definitely risen over the past decade or so. Presumably due to the easier and cheaper availability of lights (and longer lifespan of batteries).

[UpWrong]

"National evaluation of e-scooter trials report":
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... als-report

Government response:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... ion-report

Jonathan

A response to the response, https://www.pacts.org.uk/wp-content/upl ... c-2022.pdf

from https://www.pacts.org.uk/the-safety-of- ... -research/


"PACTS will comment in detail in due course. For now, a few points stand out.
• Rental e-scooters have proved popular with some people, predominantly males under the
age of 35. [p44]
• The casualty rate per mile for e-scooter riders is considerably higher (three times) than the
rate for pedal cyclists. [p61]
• The casualty rate for e scooters is much higher than for walking and public transport – the
main modes that people would otherwise have used. [p35]
• The impacts on pedestrians (pavement riding, obstruction, clutter etc) are acknowledged.
[p68]
• e-scooters mainly reduce trips by active travel modes yet the health implications of this are
given only cursory attention while the active travel elements of public transport are
downplayed. [p91]"

[PH]

The upshot of all this after dark in town is that the roads are filling up with all sorts of vehicles, large and small, lit and unlit, slow and fast, silent and not-so-silent, emerging from left and right, cutting in and out of each other, on road, cycle path and pavement. It's turning into a freakin' nightmare...
I don't resent these folks their right to travel how they see fit - as do I - but it's getting dangerous.

Could it be that the growing number of unpredictable road users might result in increased caution from others, particularly those capable of doing the most harm? Local observation is that the young scooter riders prefer the road as opposed to the footway preferred by the same group when cycling. I assume because the smaller wheels don't cope so well with kerbs and rougher surfaces. Their presence does seem to have an impact on driver behaviour, if not attitude.
Anyway, it seems lots of people haven't waited for the law to catch up, judging from the numbers seen out in the last couple of days, they've been a very popular Christmas present.

[UpWrong]

The PACT recommendations try to address the safety issues, https://www.pacts.org.uk/the-safety-of- ... -research/
"f the Government decides to legalise use of private e-scooters, PACTS recommends it should adopt regulations for their construction and use as set out below:
• Maximum possible speed of 12.5mph (20km/h)
• Maximum continuous rated motor power of 250 W
• Anti-tampering mechanisms should be included in construction. Tampering should be prohibited
by law
• Minimum front wheel size of 12 inches (30.5cm) and minimum rear wheel size of 10 inches
(25.5cm)
• Two independently controlled braking devices, one acting on the front wheel and one acting on
the rear wheel
• Lighting to be mandatory at all times
• Maximum unladen weight of 20kg
• An audible warning device to be mandatory
• Helmet wearing to be mandatory
• Riding on the footway (pavement) or footpath to be prohibited
• Rider age limit of at least 16 years
• Carrying of a passenger to be prohibited
• Drink driving, dangerous or careless riding, and handheld mobile phone use to be prohibited
• In-person rider training and third party insurance are recommended"

[Bmblbzzz]

Some of those recommendations seem sensible: the anti-tampering provisions, the independent brakes, not riding on footways, the minimum wheel size.
Some seem incredibly obvious: no drink-driving or phone use.
Some seem odd: why is the maximum speed 20km/h as opposed to the 25 for e-bikes?
Some seem worrying: mandatory daytime lighting, audible warning and helmets. In fact the mandatory audible warning could be downright anti-social.

[Bmblbzzz]

Curious that the reported casualty rate per mile is so much higher than for cycling. I'd like to know if these are mainly collisions with cars (etc) or single-vehicle accidents. And as this relates to the hire schemes, what about the rate for private e-scooters?

[PH]

The PACT recommendations try to address the safety issues, https://www.pacts.org.uk/the-safety-of- ... -research/

However likely it is for any of those to make it into any regulations, the chances of any enforcement are likely to be much less, there's almost no enforcement of the current situation where none of the private ones are legally used in public.
I disagree with some of the recommendations:
I see nothing wrong with traveling two up on a platform, if the power has been restricted the extra weight slows them down considerably, I think it's quite a social way to travel.
Helmets, reluctant to go there, but the chances of falling on your head from a standing position will be even less likely than from a bike.
Different speed to other light powered vehicles doesn't make much sense.
Restricting to 16+ riders isn't going to work.

I suspect there's a fair degree of wait and see what other countries do, at least in the EU. We're likely to end up with the same standards, because that's what will be manufactured.

[simonineaston]

I don't know how we're going to cope with the vehicles that are near the edge of the envelope - ie grey imports, already at the limit of the legal spec., then souped up by owner - just like limited mopeds were in the '70s, so nothing new there... lots of potential for accidents - see this:

itv news screenshot

These two riders not legally compliant, will probably melt away into anonymity. Poor woman leg broken in more-than-one place according to the newspaper.https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/20 ... fled-scene