Escooter rant

[marypoppins38]

Originally Posted by Orlandobelle

Encountered two kids riding one, no helmets, on a busy arterial road in Cardiff recently. On the wrong side of the road making cars swerve around them. No trials here - totally illegal.

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Dear god! Why on earth do parents buy them? You wouldn’t sit a baby in bath water and leave the room and it’s akin to that. Incredibly dangerous.😢

[YorkshireT]

I haven’t got one but am a fan. I think we should de regulate them entirely but crack down on fast pavement riding. We have to move with the times. People ride bikes on pavements, e scooters are no more a risk as they travel a maximum of 15 mph which you can get on a manual one.
Kids who ride the wrong side of the road no helmet would probably be doing exactly the same on their pushbike. Not taught road sense.

[Floridatilly]

My daughter and I almost got took out by one in Liverpool the other day. The user was 20+ so not a child but he had head phones on and was singing along on the pavement, he went wizzing round a corner straight into us. Luckily we heard him singing and jumped out of the way. That would not have been so easy if I had been pushing my youngest in his wheelchair.
There were quite a few of them in Liverpool actually, if I remember rightly they were yellow so much be hired?
We watch SAS and one if the guys had bought his girlfriend one. She sadly died in an accident due to it which has left him with guilt and depression.
If these are going to be a way forward they need a proper risk assessment and user safety rules. Maybe create or use bike lanes 🤷 That way they are separate from automobiles and pedestrians.

[mickey house]

Originally Posted by YorkshireT

I haven’t got one but am a fan. I think we should de regulate them entirely but crack down on fast pavement riding. We have to move with the times. People ride bikes on pavements, e scooters are no more a risk as they travel a maximum of 15 mph which you can get on a manual one.
Kids who ride the wrong side of the road no helmet would probably be doing exactly the same on their pushbike. Not taught road sense.

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People do lots of things they shouldn’t including riding bikes on pavements, but bikes aren’t illegal and are much safer than escooters. I don’t usually have an issue with bikes on the pavement and people rarely ride them fast when they are on the pavement.

An escooter travelling at 15mph can cause a very serious injury to a fit/ healthy adult, but I dread to think of the damage it would cause an elderly/infirm person or a small child especially when taking into account the weight of the rider and the escooter hitting them at that speed

Although I think they are very a dangerous/unsafe mode of transport at least the legal ones can only been hired by 18 year olds with a licence (provisional or full) and they are probably not the cheap rubbish ones the parents around her buy their school kids to illegally and dangerously ride on roads, around parks and on pavements.

[sprocket]

In my local area we see kids on the all the time. Sooner or later there is going to be a serious traffic accident and sadly the car driver will found at fault. Not the kid riding the e-scooter dangerously and illegally. Then it will be the mother running to the paper, and nothing will be written that she gave her child an escotter and let them use it illegal ly.

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by mickey house

People do lots of things they shouldn’t including riding bikes on pavements, but bikes aren’t illegal and are much safer than escooters. I don’t usually have an issue with bikes on the pavement and people rarely ride them fast when they are on the pavement.

An escooter travelling at 15mph can cause a very serious injury to a fit/ healthy adult, but I dread to think of the damage it would cause an elderly/infirm person or a small child especially when taking into account the weight of the rider and the escooter hitting them at that speed

Although I think they are very a dangerous/unsafe mode of transport at least the legal ones can only been hired by 18 year olds with a licence (provisional or full) and they are probably not the cheap rubbish ones the parents around her buy their school kids to illegally and dangerously ride on roads, around parks and on pavements.

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Injury for third parties is often related to mass and speed (physics).
An e- scooter is less mass than most push bikes never mind an ebike.
I can easily ride faster than 15mph on my pushbike, and I regularly see bikes being ridden on pavements (mostly legally), precincts etc. 15mph is pretty slow and I regularly see them being ridden faster and do so myself.
Maybe they could be more dangerous to the user- but that’s their lookout- I don’t agree with a nanny state, and people should be able to do their own risk assessments.
If people are being injured left, right and centre hitting people on these (in a country of 70m I’ve personally heard of very few cases but maybe hundreds are being injured a week- we have risk and injuries and societal cost with everything) then legislate to keep them off the pavements and enforce. Not ban them.
I have mainly seen them being used in towns and cities (mainly London) and if they take cars off the road, that must be a good thing with zero emissions.
If cars, motorbikes, etc were invented today I doubt they’d be permitted to get going due to perceived risks we seem to have become mega risk averse to everything.
It reminds me a bit of people wanting to ban drones etc.
The Luddite movement is said to have started a mile from my house ! Sorry MH only pulling your leg

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by sprocket

In my local area we see kids on the all the time. Sooner or later there is going to be a serious traffic accident and sadly the car driver will found at fault. Not the kid riding the e-scooter dangerously and illegally. Then it will be the mother running to the paper, and nothing will be written that she gave her child an escotter and let them use it illegal ly.

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No car driver will be found to be at fault if they were not at fault. That’s not how the law works.

[marypoppins38]

Originally Posted by YorkshireT

No car driver will be found to be at fault if they were not at fault. That’s not how the law works.

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If a driver collided with one, despite it not being the car drivers fault, would they not have to claim on their insurance for repairs and pay excess etc though? Although I guess this would be the same if the collision was with a cyclist and the driver was not at fault also?

[sprocket]

Im talking about insurance claim fault. Most car accidents involving pedestrians or cyclists go against the driver. Unless you have a witness or dash cam, then its very hard to prove what happened and the insurance will side with the pedestrian/cyclist. Wrong but its what happens.

Originally Posted by YorkshireT

No car driver will be found to be at fault if they were not at fault. That’s not how the law works.

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[Orlandobelle]

Not to mention the psychological impact of an incident- even if it wasn't your fault 😔