E-bike and E-scooter - ongoing issues and discussion (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

The worst yet, appearing in the Evening Standard via MSN:

E-scooter boy, 16, ‘killed by driver on wrong side of road’ in Bromley
John Dunne 

A teenage e-scooter rider was killed after being hit by a car travelling on the wrong side of the road at high speed, witnesses claimed on Monday.

The 16-year-old was thrown 30 yards down the street after the collision in Southborough Lane, Bromley, south London, at 1.20am on Sunday,

An off duty nurse tried to save his life but he died later in hospital. His e-scooter was stolen from the scene.

(Continues at source)
 
It is awful for the poor lad's family and friends. It also shows the lows that people will stoop to, when someone will stop to steal the dying boy's scooter. I read elsewhere that the driver of the car that hit him has apparently been arrested, and blew a positive alcohol test. The vehicle that stopped to take the scooter, which does not seem to be otherwise related to the incident, is being sought.

[TaplowGreen]

Blind and visually impaired groups calling for trials to be stopped.

https://news.sky.com/story/e-scooters-campaigners-for-blind-and-visually-impaired-groups-demand-an-end-to-city-trials-12359475

[TaplowGreen]

Another awful incident......."life changing" often means amputation. Wonder how long the trial will continue?


https://amp.lbc.co.uk/news/girl-3-life-changing-injuries-hit-e-scooter-south-london-lambeth/?__twitter_impression=true

[rogerw]

No indication that this was a rental scooter. Just as likely to have been an illegally ridden private one. My sympathies go to the girl and her family.

[broadgage]

Hired E-scooters are about to become available in Minehead. One hopes that the standard of scooter riding will exceed the standard of car driving, which seems very low in Minehead.

[broadgage]

One of the parking places for the new Minehead scooters is adjacent to the harbour and a busy pub, not perhaps the best choice. I foresee problems.

[Surrey 455]

Shock headline news in Slough - An elderly gentleman has been filmed deliberately knocking the scooters only!

The Slough Observer is on the case.

https://www.sloughobserver.co.uk/news/19572517.e-scooters-pushed-elderly-man-walking-stick-slough/

I'm not entirely sure what qualifies as news these days but I suppose it makes a change from photos of angry residents pointing at things they don't like. 

[Lee]

Shock headline news in Slough - An elderly gentleman has been filmed deliberately knocking the scooters only!

The Slough Observer is on the case.

https://www.sloughobserver.co.uk/news/19572517.e-scooters-pushed-elderly-man-walking-stick-slough/

I'm not entirely sure what qualifies as news these days but I suppose it makes a change from photos of angry residents pointing at things they don't like. 

I don't beleeeve it!

[grahame]

Shock headline news in Slough - An elderly gentleman has been filmed deliberately knocking the scooters only!

As even, the real depth of public opinion on the story is exposed in the comments

This is so shocking I don't think I will ever be able to sleep ever again. What has the world come to, when someone can knock over an inanimate object, just because some inconsiderate person chooses to dump the scooter in the middle of the pavement, what kind of monster is he. This is the start of the breakdown of society, in 10 or 20 years we will have people stabbing and shooting each other indiscriminately. Thank you Observer for bringing this important shocking horrific incident to our attention. With such brilliant journalism hopefully we can save humanity.

There's a very well coordinated smear campaign against escooters going on across all UK^▸ (United Kingdom) media for at least a year now. Rarely do I see anyone praising this new form of pollution-free transport. The bias is so heavily against them that it seems the goal is to turn public opinion against them to prevent legislation being passed in favour of their use. And from the actions of this man and the earlier comments in this thread and others in many online articles it seems that are being successful. Ask yourself - who gets to benefit if escooters remain illegal and we are forced back into our cars for even the shortest journeys? Based on the news you've seen over the last year, would you say that you find yourself turning more and more against them even though you personally haven't had any negative experience with them that would have made you feel that way. There's an agenda here folks. The purpose of all these articles against escooters seems very much to be to control how you think about them. Is it working?

[Red Squirrel]

The second comment is thought-provoking. Events of the last few years show how a constant drip-feed of misinformation and biased reporting can, over time, persuade the majority of people to follow a path which only benefits a few vested interests.

But we can't pretend that the implementation of scooter schemes is perfect:

• They get left in dangerous places;
• Riders may be inconsiderate, drunk or on drugs;
• Unqualified or underage people use them.

All these things are true of private motor cars, of course, but when cars are involved we tend to point the finger of blame at the driver rather than their mode of transport. Funny, that.

We ought to be able to do something about parking though. Isn't the right place to store these things on the road, in adapted car parking spaces? A car parking space could easily accommodate a dozen or so scooters without obstructing the pavement.

[broadgage]

I largely agree with the second comment, regarding a hidden agenda against E scooters.

Not certain WHY this should be though ? They seem to tolerate electric cycles which are in many ways comparable. Why is a car licence required to operate an E scooter but not an E cycle ?

Anyone can purchase and use an E cycle, so why the restrictions on the E scooters ?

[Bmblbzzz]

In Birmingham and I think also Liverpool, where Voi run the schemes, all the scooter parking is now in docks. Although these are placed on the pavement rather than on the road carriageway, it does mean they don't block the pavements. It's especially helpful for the blind and wheelchair users, but for everyone really. The scheme in Bristol is also run by Voi but for some reason we don't have docked parking yet. One disadvantage of the docked parking is that it limits the usefulness of the scooters – they become only dock to dock, not door to door – but this is already the case in Bristol as they are geofenced; just that the geofencing isn't as precise or as neat as a physical dock.

[IndustryInsider]

I largely agree with the second comment, regarding a hidden agenda against E scooters.

Not certain WHY this should be though ? They seem to tolerate electric cycles which are in many ways comparable. Why is a car licence required to operate an E scooter but not an E cycle ?

Anyone can purchase and use an E cycle, so why the restrictions on the E scooters ?

This was answered last time you asked the same question:

Electrically assisted cycles require you to do some of the work by peddling. Electrically powered cycles are classed as motor vehicles as no human power input is used. There is a very significant difference. Escooters are solely powered by electricity and are thus motor vehicles in law.

[broadgage]

But ARE E scooters propelled solely by electric power ? The ones that I have seen are also propelled by the rider applying one foot to the ground and pushing backwards as with a non powered scooter.

Many electrical assisted cycles can be moved by electricity alone without use of the pedals. AFAIK^▸ (as far as I know) this design is legal subject to a limit on maximum speed under power.

[Red Squirrel]

But ARE E scooters propelled solely by electric power ?

Yes.

You push with your foot to get it going, but after that speed is controlled by buttons on the handlebars. With (legal) e-bikes, on the other hand, their speed is related to the speed at which you pedal.

This may seem to some extent a nice distinction, but it actually makes quite a difference.