It's embarrassing. Being British used to mean something once, at least I think, before I was born anyway and I'm 33. Government is a joke and ever since Brexit we've become a laughingstock to the rest of the world.
The most frustrating thing about this limbo is the mixed messages given to and by the police forces, who seem to arbitrarily decide when they're going to enforce this old legislation and when they aren't. I ride my one wheel every day in London without hassle, but every now and again they decide they're gonna stop people on cycle paths and confiscate! Make your mind up...
This further more this is reinforcing what sadiq Khan is enforcing ULEZ is simply about money and a total scam! because why is he not letting commuters use electric vehicles that are zero emissions?because its about him and his corrupt friends taxing us and controlling us!
@@johnhartmann5875 Nothing mixed in germany anymore, at least regarding to e scooters. In germany i would have to drive illegally a Surron Dirtbike or similar and run from cops if needed, just poor legislation and a poor/bad/anti-human government in action. Since i am that lucky to live in austria, the cops dont even care about my 2000W peak e scooter going 40-45 km/h, and most kids on really high powered scooters (4000W+, 70km/h +,...) also pass the polices looks when they are not driving too fast or doing dangerous stuff. Ohh, and thats without a helmet or any insurance! Poor germany, i hope we dont get the same troubles (aka bad, dangerous and expensive legislation) in austria as poor germany.
The trouble with partially enforced laws is that it luls people into a false sense of security, assuming everyone is on the same page. But as soon as a quota needs to be met or an officer has a bee in their bonnet and wants to harass someone, suddenly it's applied. The same thing happens with cannabis usage, massively disproportionate on how it's handled on a case by case basis.
This if frustrating and absolutely mad! I got 3 convictions, criminal record, 2 years driving ban and in total £1300 penalties for riding e scooter on a public road! When I was stopped by the Police, I was polite and fully cooperative, yet end up in a court! Now I'm struggling to get a job because of my convictions, not to mention car insurance premium! Only gravity keeps me in this backward country!
@jish194 The court day was given to me the same day at the police station, I can't remember how long I was waiting for the so-called "hearing," but it was about 2-3 months. Make no mistakes, you don't go to court to defend yourself, you just go there to hear the sentence.
I rode a seat scooter with 2 car batteries on it and got stopped by police who told me to push it home or get it seized. I was only a couple of streets away.
I've owned an Inokim Ox Super for 3 years. I ride it with respect to those around me at all times, always with a helmet and high vis vest on. 4 years of data collected by the Government and yet still at least another 2 years before any decision will be taken about this mode of transport is simply appalling
its a genius move by the car lobby. By keeping things in limbo - nothing goes forwards or backwards. In limbo can take years more to "analyse properly" the results of the study before making a conclusion. Just a nice way to keep the status quo - priority cars! Also the car industry advertises, so dont expect the newsless papers to warm any time soon.
*As Wales now has a mandatory 20mph limit in Urban areas it would be a great time to allow 20mph scooters providing they have indicators , Insurance and a numberplate and the operator wears a helmet .... this could be the ideal trial situation!*
On my own experience of riding an ebike and scooter in a less Victorian country for the last 8 years, and over the age of 50: Power limit up to 2kW, speed limit 50 kmh Ability to ride on pavements up to 10 km/h and defer to pedestrians By law, require shops, malls, cinemas, public offices and workplaces to provide secure facilities to store ebikes/scooters while shopping and doing business etc, and allow scooters to be used/pushed in malls and shops to help carry shopping etc. This is already possible in most places I go to, such as malls and Tesco in Hungary. They have a better attitude to scooters than most places, especially the UK. There are already laws that can be used governing antisocial behaviour to regulate ULEVs. We should use those as well as regulate quality. Insurance and helmets should be at the users' discretion. Government resistance is more likely dominated by fear of losing revenue from the displacement of fossil fuel usage as ULEVs popularity grows. Our lungs and environment are far more important.
I had the misfortune yesterday of going on the train with my electric scooter that I was unaware of them being banned. I went through no problem and got off at Canterbury and they saw me with it and said nothing when I went through. A few hours later when I went to go back home on the train they decided to stop me and then tell me. Didn't care that I was stranded, no explanation it felt so horrible to suddenly realise the situation I was in and that I was stranded unless I just abandoned it to get home. Luckily I had enough for a taxi and the nice driver accepted the ride but I had been stranded before and it was not something I wanted to be in that was just a rude awakening. Maybe it was my fault but I went through both stations and no one said a thing and I went to return to the same station to go home. This system is a joke and the only reasonable ban is because of the battery fire safety which is the same as e-bikes that are supposed to be allowed anyway.
I use my Jeep E-scooter which I bought from Electroheads to traverse the local roads between two housing estates. It's only a few mile round journey but I ride with respect and courtesy towards other road users and pedestrians. Judging by the way that parents scoop up their children as soon as they see an E-scooter means the MSM has done a pretty good job of scaring the population. E-scooters are a lot of fun to use and are a perfect way to reduce your carbon footprint, especially for those short journeys to the shops for essential items,
They're classed as motor vehicles, yet they cannot be registered or insured as they don't meet the requirements for motor vehicles... Confused much.. they need to make their minds up
Well, i like the situation in austria.... i drive for free and somewhat "legal", even without a helmet, a "slow" performance scooter with 1000W /45 km/h and suspension. It counts somewhat as a e-bike, and as long the police dont see me going 45 km/h i am pretty fine. For anything above 35-40 km/h a full helmet is anyways needed, the wind affects vision at this point. I got once pulled over, the cop first wanted to make his "legality" standpoint and that i get a fee for it, but in the end i showed him my driving profile in the bicycle app that i drive only like 15-25 km/h mostly, for seconds maybe 30 km/h but barely more. He was also test driving my scooter and realised its by far one of the weakest possibel "performance" scooters he saw (well, 1000W single motor, should be expected) I bought this scooter btw 2nd hand and its pretty old (also visible when you look at many parts, the wear and the design), at one police control i got thru by saying i have this scooter that long and it was once legal and i drive anyways not above 25-30 km/h. The ODO also told them like over 7k km on it... so they somehow knew im fine and i know what i do. But as much i enjoy 1000W/2000W peak and its probably also the cause i didnt get caught yet, my next scooter will be for sure Dual Motor, something like 2x2000W and with a big battery unlike the one i have now (48V 10Ah, 10-30 km range). At a tour with a friend around our village with some hills, muddy/bad ways and little offroad fun i realised how WEAK my "2000W peak" scooter is. The friends 2x2000W (2x3600W peak!!!) scooter was just going anywhere you wanted it to with power all the time even in single motor, mine struggled nearly everywhere on bad ground and uphill on bad surface was impossible at all. Dont allow stupid regulations and the people regulate it their own way, as in austria. Its hard to get caught even on a 70 km/h+ scooter if you drive approperiate and by the "rules" in austria, now compare this performance scooter on the streets situation against germany where they have "modern" rules, impossble! Meanwhile we in austria drive safer with our "illegal" scooters.
It's likely they fail a bunch of MSVA criteria in terms of lights, mirrors, sharp or protruding edges compared to a "moped" style step scooter you can get when you are 16.
Absolute madness!! Surely taking cars off the road and replacing them with personal clean vehicles is something they (law makers) should be falling over themselves to do. I cannot see how e-scooters pose any different risks in practice than a standard push bike
They do, at least how they are supposed to be driven. Anything in closer range to a car on the road, should be capable of MORE THAN 25 km/h. 20 or 25 km/h and that crazy power limit are dangerous unless you allow it to drive anywhere (except roads with cars etc) I have just a 1000W scooter going 40-45 km/h, and in some occasions uphill, i become a traffic obstacle because i cant go 30 km/h uphill this short path i have to share with cars and the cars there (30 zone) go typically anything from 28-40 km/h
@@harrison00xXx thanks for the input. What is your sauce for this information? Is this part of the road traffic act? Also, the situation your describe is extremely common in the case of pushbikes, especially when going up hill. And they’re expected to be on the road. So I fail to see how scooters pose a different risk than bikes.
As an American, I don't always watch TH-cam videos about UK electric scooter laws. But when I do watch TH-cam videos about UK electric scooter laws, the TH-cam videos about UK electric scooter laws I watch are presented by Electroheads. Come on, UK government, let these quirky & loveable Brits ride their electric scooters. We get to ride them in America. I'm just saying, you don't want us loutish Americans getting to do something your citizens can't do, do you UK government? I mean, it kinda makes you look pretty silly, UK government.
LOL. There's the same confusion in Spain. Two sets of policemen have told me on separate occasions that: a) I mustn't ride my 27 mph road-legal e-seated-scooter on the pavement, and b) I mustn't ride it on the road. I have to sneak about back roads in peak traffic, which is a pleasure anyway... 😎
Its funny since even in austria we are just fine with proper scooters, meanwhile the island monk.... erm "brits" are that messed up, same goes for germany, our neighbours btw! Officially most of our e scooters are illegal, but realistically the police dont mind people on scooter driving safe and "slow", even if we talk about scooters going 70 km/h and more. In germany the experience we have in austria would be impossible because you would have to pay a huge fee, your (expensive) scooter would get confiscated and probably even lose your drivers license as soon any police controls you. Who in his right mind even thought about power limits and stupidly slow 20 km/h instead of making a proper legislation including something like a small license (or A/B license) needed. With such a "controlled" legislation where you have to make a small course/training including a PROPER (2000W+!) scooter/EUC you could easily allow them to go 45 km/h which would make it much safer since you sometimes have to share roads with cars going from 30 km/h in the best case to 50-60 km/h in the worst. I just hope that we can some day register any electric vehicle, doesnt matter if high powered scooter going 45 km/h or 70 km/h or a electric dirtbike going nearly 100 km/h, as long we can enjoy a silent, fast and fun way for transport.
I am an old man living on a Spanish-speaking atlantic desert island who committed to two electric seated fat tired scooters with the last of his stash. Safe, one would have thought, but the fuzz are well-equipped and alert. I am always stopped if traffic is off peak hours. I am told "don't ride it on the pavement". The next time it will be "don't ride it on the road". And so on. Registration is even more troublesome, obviously. @@harrison00xXx
This is kinda funny to see because in Germany the problem is mostly seen in rental/sharing e-scooters that are "parked" (aka thrown away) on the pavement. So local administrations are starting to only allow these services with designated stations in contrast to parking where you where you like to. I remember this uncontrolled parking being one of the hot topics in Paris as well. But restricting private usage? What a weird idea when rentals are legal. Private owners dont tend to park their scooter in the most annoying places or throw it in a nearby pond or river. I guess a certain speed level might be a valid point to demand insurance and licences as it is common with pedelecs above 25 km/h.
"I guess a certain speed level might be a valid point to demand insurance and licences as it is common with pedelecs above 25 km/h." Yes, but in germany you have demanded insurance and license plates, yet they are allowed to go 20 km/h. I would love if i could register any high power e scooter or electric dirtbike (surron), even if i need a A license (which i have anyways), sadly thats not possible yet so i have to drive illegally with a 45 km/h scooter. Luckily the police in austria dont care even if i drive 40-45 km/h beside them (without helmet...), i guess they are just happy that not every scooter is a traffic obstacle if they have to share short paths of their way with cars.
Used to ride a e scooter to work and back which was a 30 mile round trip, always rode on the road and wore helmet etc and never once had a problem with police. I've been next to officers at lights and the only time I was spoken to was foe the officer to ask how fast it goes.... now moved on to a electric motor bike for legal reasons
It's madness Eilis............. Truth is, I have owned mine since Covid closed downn the UK and I needed something for work that was a little fun. I live a 10 min walk from work, so an E-Scooter was a great call and I am more than happy to pay for tax/insurance etc but we are still in the dark ages sadly
Its madness to accept insurance/tax for a TOY. Those 15-20 km/h scooters were once kids toys sold for 200€ and they were driven daily on the pedestrian walks with like 5 km range (lol, toys, yes!) I would accept insurance/tax only in the case of a registered HIGH POWER e scooter, e bike or elecric dirtbike (such as Surrons). I would love to drive my scooter for cheap legally with 45 km/h or upgrade to a faster scooter with 5000W+ and 70 km/h top speed since i have anyways the motorcycle license. Its just a shame that the actual legislation in austria doesnt allow anything beside air tires when it comes to anything faster than 25 km/h, something i want to avoid entirely (i have only front air tires, back is honeycomb airless). Good suspension makes airless tires also acceptable for high speeds and increases reliability a lot.
How long does it take to gather data" about 2 bits of rubber on the tarmac .... surely 1 year is no different to the next ....come on legalise these brilliant little forms of transport
Ive owned and rode my e scooter for about 3 and a half years around the sutton coldfield area (north birmingham) and not one of the many police officers ive passed in that time has said a word about it.
I'm in Manchester and fortunately can say the same. 3+ years myself, too. My brother however who also lives here had his taken from him with a £300 fine and 6 points on his licence. The main difference being he rode his daily though the city centre to work and I don't. So avoid city centres anybody who reads this, they've always been a hotbed for e-scooter crackdowns.
In most cases, they won't bother you, but it's that chance of getting a fine or your scooter being confiscated that puts a lot of us off buying an e-scooter. It doesn't help that the rules on them are not that clear for most that it's become a gray area. If we had clearer understanding on the rules on e-scooters, more of us would likely buy them and that would help to free up the roads for car users, especially as many trips that are quite local of just a few miles are fine on an e-scooter. The current rules scare a lot of us off even thinking about buying an e-scooter, and until there are some clearer rules in place where they can be used in public space where they would be far more useful than on private land, then the government is kinda making it difficult for the people to clean up their act when it comes to the environment. The shocking thing is on all this is how slow the UK government is on all this, many other governments are coming up with clearer rules on e-scotters, the UK it feels it's falling well behind other, so until we have some clean, easy to understand rules that you can use e-scooters in public places, where it more useful, then I've got no interest in buying one, because being able to only use them on private land makes them almost useless and being a gray area in public where you can get a fine or have your scooter confiscated from you, doesn't exactly encourage its use. Everyone is being punished because of a few reckless people out there, and in my case, I don't mind if there's an age limit, 16 or 18 to ride them, I don't mind being tested with it or wearing a helmet, but until we know where we stand, I'm not interested in them.
@@paul1979uk2000 The rules are quite clear .if your not on private land or if your not rideing a rented scooter .You are breaking the law.Their is no ''gray area ''....It's not fair .I agree ....i ride an ei-ke which is totaly legal . But the law not difficult to understand .as soon as they are legal i will buy one ,but untill then i will remain a law abiding citizen .
Sorry, are you complaining about them not upholding the law, or thanking them for being incompetent? I’m confused. (As a keen fan of E-scooters myself I suggest you keep your head down buddy).
It is madness! And maddening 😊 I'm also disabled and while I do have an ebike I can't always use it as my condition stops me when it flares up. But an escooter would be perfect and get me out of the house. I have heard of rumours of people managing to register their e-scooter with the DVLA. If I did manage that would I then be legal to ride on the roads?
@philtucker1224 no, our house just doesn't have enough space for one and also we have high steps so that would be an issue. However an escooter could just go behind the dining room table or in the spare room.
@@riggedforepic6293 Hi Buddy, just a tip (if you are already a blue badge holder) your local authority should be able to construct an access ramp for you suitable for an invalid buggy or wheel chair, you may not need it yet, I don’t know but you may be glad of it as you get older and it should be supplied without any cost to you. Just saying but best wishes to you either way.
Langweilig. ich komme auch mit meinen 1000W (2000W peak) E Scooter der 45 km/h geht und fast jede Steigung schafft. Leider nur ein 48V 10Ah Akku, also ziemlich klein. Da ich sowieso mehrheitlich "nur" 20-30 km/h fahre weil der Akku sonst nur für 10 km taugt bei Topspeed und Dauervollgas, hat mich bisher auch kaum eine Polizeistreife schneller als 25 km/h fahren sehen, vielleicht mal 30,... Bei 20-25 km/h Durchschittstempo mit 40 km/h peaks und 50-70m Steigung komme ich schon um die 15-20 km, wenn ich nur im 1. Gang mit 20 km/h Limit rumgurke mit auch stark reduzierter Beschleunigung auch locker 30 km auf ebener Strecke. Die wenigen Situationen wo mich Polizisten kontrolliert haben am Scooter waren: 1) Sie wollten mir nur sagen wie toll sie die Nachbau Blinker eines Mopeds finden welche am Tag sichtbar sind im Vergleich zu den originalen (zu dunklen) Blinkern bei den meisten Rollern 2) Andere Polizisten, andere Zeit mit bereits mehr "Anbau" am Roller. Namentlich Lautsprecher (Stereo!), DC DC Wandler (zum schnellladen des Rollers oder den Rollerakku als Energiequelle mit Variabler Spannung und Stromgrenze zum anzapfen), 2 Handyhalterungen, Werkzeugakkus etc. Die wollten mich nur aufmerksam machen dass es gefährlich sei mit lauter Musik mit dem Roller zu fahren und haben sich für die Werkzeugakkus, die vielen Schalter und eben wie ich Radio/Verstärker/BT Empfänger etc fix an dem Ding verkabelt habe (so eine Class-D Verstärker/BT/Radio/3,5mm Line In Receiver Einheit, simpel, billig, klein, braucht kaum Strom) 3) Einer meiner ersten Begegnungen am Roller mit der Polizei... er hat mich nur darauf hingewiesen dass der Roller illegal sei und gefragt ob ich das nicht wüsste. Da blieb es bei einer mündlichen Verwarnung, vor allem weil er gemerkt hat dass der Roller nicht mal sooo stark ist (darf der Polizist überhaupt einen illegalen Roller fahren auf öffentlichen Wegen?!) Ich habe auch meine Routenaufzeichnung im App beendet und dem Polizisten gezeigt dass ich bestenfalls kurzzeitigst (und das auf Radwegen ohne irgendjemanden in der Nähe...) 28, vielleicht 30 km/h gefahren bin, sonst wegen Reichweite und Akku schonen eigentlich kaum über 25 km/h komme bei der täglichen Nutzung. Er muss ja nicht wissen dass ich öfters doch mal etwas Spaß will und auch habe, sofern es die mickrigen 1000W Dauerleistung erlauben (eh nicht so toll!) Und ich muss dazu sagen, mein Roller hat den Look der Performance Scooter jenseits der 4000W peak und der großen Federung, nur eben das billigste Modell mit kleinstem Akku, LEIDER NUR Single Motor nicht wie üblich Dual Motor sowie auch praktisch die "geringste" illegale Leistung welche maximal so schnell wie ein Moped/45 km/h geht. Meistens komme ich trotzdem durch bei der Polizei und die beachten mich nicht während ich mit 10-25 km/h fahre.
As we hopefully all know by now, public disobedience is the only solution, if you have a fast enough EUC/Scooter you ride sensibly but if the po po try and pull you, refuse to give any information and do a runner if necessary, ain't no diesel peugeot catching a Veteran Lynx through a city
I think that electric scooters should be allowed on footpaths and bike lanes but not in roads and that they shouldn’t need insurance or a driving licence to use
It is complete madness that we still can't legally use privately owned escooters, especially when other countries sorted this out a decade ago! FFS, 15-20mph is nowhere near as dangerous as flipping cars that can exceed 60mph in seconds.
In the UK they ride them in the pavement where its 1 meter wide. They are not ridden on the street, if you crash into a pedestrian at 20 mph you can break their leg.
The government have adopted EU laws covering cars and HGV's, but not the “Défaut de permis" for lightweight, low speed vehicles. This allows anyone over 14 to use a lightweight vehicle capable of less than 48kmph with 8 hours basic training. It's the one good thing we need to adopt from the EU.
100% yes to upping the max assistance speed on e-bikes to 20mph; non-assisted bikes travel at these speeds routinely (except up hills!) and if we’re going to be forced to mix with cars/lorries due to lack of cycling infrastructure, for safety’s sake, let’s move at the same speed and so reduce the need for drivers to overtake.
While getting fit enough to maintain 20mph most used to gain experience. The stronger muscles and ligaments help reduce damage during crashes (the endorphins also helped with the pain). If at 17 folk can buy that speed without doing a CBT or even a cycling proficiency test I fear e-scooters and e-bikes will become the new 'donor cycles'.
30 mph, but yes! I drive a 45 km/h (so about 30 mph?!) scooter daily, partially on the road, mainly on bike ways. Since i live in hilly areas, there is no way around a stronger scooter than allowed anyways. Damn, even police saw me once going 45 km/h where 50 is allowed, no helmet, no license plate because its a "e bike"... well they didnt care. They were probably happy that i was not a traffic obstacle as the legal scooters are. But where i live we have much hills, barely anyone drive legal scooters here except the city rats. Most scooters go at least 40 km/h, majority of them have like 3000W total power minimum and go mostly between 50-90 km/h (and yes, they also pass the police check, without helmet or license plate!). I guess in the city its a different story, but again... I need the scooter as well for my hometown where i need, again, more power than allowed! City cops cant expect me to buy 2 scooters, one for trips at home and one "toy" scooter to take into the city.
Superb video as always. If the government have any sense they will have already reached out to you guys for insights on how to implement laws which are sufficiently robust to avoid misuse without being so archaic that they strangle this brilliant form of transport.
You are talking about the British government under a Tory leadership with 5 prime ministers in as many years? We are in this mess because they do NOT reach out, or think, or make any attempt for a decision that could even remotely make a positive impact for the population. Especially if there is nothing in it for them personally. Scooters have no lobby to grease the process.
UK onewheel rider here, I have mixed opinions about the scooter law. Part of me is saying good, people should certainly be able to ride what they want so long are they don't run anyone over with it. The other part says, it doesn't matter because they'll never say onewheels meet the standards anyway. I do like a little outlaw spirit as well, you see another rider and think, yep, he ain't stopping for the pigs either. It's like a bit of community spirit IMO.
But what good is "not stopping for the pigs" as you so eloquently put it, when you are limited to 15mph & an unmarked police car spots you? in reality your chances of evasion by "putting your foor down" is hardly likely to help you ..we need a blind eye to well ridden, observant, escooter road users who are limting themselves to 15.5mph, polite & not presenting themselves as a future problem, unfortunately we don't get the opportunity to do that based on the "illegal everywhere" mentality of the law which only favours those it draws licensing money from (baby cash cow) the longer this plays out (the it's a fad that if ignored will go away, wait them out mentality) the harder it becomes to resolve, also not helped by the fact that it is overseen by tory chair whose only connection is the fact they represent Milton Keynes (thus a very planned regulated city with bikeways & alt transport access from day one, which is pretty much standalone in city design over a time period of 1000 years here in the uk, it is far more advanced than the 1930's garden city design(ation) & the numpties neither talk, nor consider E-scooters outside of built up areas which as a countryside user is a completely different animal in terms of safety (oft relating to the limiting max speed compared to slower moving ice vehicles in built up towns & cities) ..time to refresh your heads with the 2 parlimentary PED recorded meetings from several years ago now, as that is all we have to go on for supposed "progress" the videos are archived & are presumably available still.
Austrian E scooter rider here. The law is unclear, the police knows those "legal" scooters suck and are dangerously slow - so they just accept "illegal" e scooter drivers going moderate and "within the law" on the road and bike paths. I drive since 3000 km a 1000W / 45 km/h e scooter and im fine, police looks at you typically because its a bigger scooter with suspension, but they realise fast enough that its not anything particularly "fast" they see, Single Motor, lighter build, thin deck,...
Not once police have "overseen" me going 40 km/h without a helmet on the bike path beside them, they have just accepted defeat on e scooters, especially because of the ridicilous laws, at least yet.
Hi Eric, ( -10 points 🤣 ) I'm on my second scooter now, my first one was a basic one with no suspension but I use a bridleway on my 2 mile each way to work. Spend £700 importing basically a Kukurin G2 Max at £500 under retail. Although not with out problems my journey takes 6 mins each way, now if I had a car that same journey would take 30 mins each way. I wear full safety gear including a motorcycle helmet. 99.9% of the people I see everyday have no problem with me riding an "Illegal" escooter but you always get the "Kevins". Had one male cyclist frothing at the mouth because I tooted and said passing to your right and another who demanded I wait while he called the police for my criminal activity 🤕 I slow down when passing any people and dog walkers and even pop into my local cycling club club house for a coffee and have great chats with them, we all have to acomodate each other. Yes what I do is "Illegal" but I've not driven a car for my own use since 1991, I cycled for many years until my mid 50's when my knee's got to old and couldn't cycle anymore. I'm over 60 and proud of my green creditionals !!
The cyclist frothing at the mouth part, did you stick around? KEVIN'S AND KAREN'S out there calling the cops when they feel like it is ridiculous, get the laws right then less idiot phone calls to police
But why is this a thing? In Game and Computer shops i have seen also sometimes a huge stack of scooters to sell, but mostly boring, slow "legal" ones. What does a Game Shop or Computer Shop to do with micromobility? Or are they just cheap from china and bring good profit?
@@therealunclevanya So it is because they sell good for a high price and are acquired easily and cheap from china. Now the impossible to count scooter manufacturers with basically the same scooter models make a lot more sense! I thought since the beginning that they are all the same rebranded stuff just with slight variations in features and functions (lights, blinkers, grips, display and throttle units, handlebar,…) I personally drive a 2000W e scooter with a max speed of 45 km/h, an older 2021 model with already 7k km on it and still going strong. Whats coming soon is 2 new tires… one full rubber tire for the rear and a tubeless air tire on the front as well new brake pads and probably because of age and rust new discs as well. Today i even talked to some police officers and they even told me i can drive this 45km/h scooter legally since its below 4000w peak because i have the A license. I really like that, i thought im illegally on the road until today lol. But today i had a helmet, they also made clear that helmet is mandatory for scooters above 25km/h top speed no matter if i also drive slower than 25.
Well Eilis.. If you've come in off the street And you're beginning to feel the heat Well listen buster You better start to move your feet To the rockin'est, rocksteady beat Of Madness One step beyond!
👋 I think e-scooter designers should introduce a 'Kick Assist' mode option for all of the new e-scooters they make. What I mean by 'Kick Assist' is electrical assistance that allows the e-scooter wheels to continue rolling for longer than usual after the user manually pushes the scooter with their feet. The duration of electrically assisted rolling could be based on the force and frequency of the manual pushes. I think Kick Assist would be a welcomed additional mode in places where e-scooters are currenty illegal because it would work in very similar way to a manual kick-scooter with very little rolling resistance.
My son was stopped on his escooter by police a couple of months ago, he was issued a - warning under section 52(4)b of the police reform act 2002, in relation to - driving in a Careless or inconsiderate manner contrary to section 3 of the road traffic act 1988 and - driving on common land , moorland, land which is not part of a road, a footpath, bridleway, restricted byway contrary to section 34 of the road traffic act 1988 He was on his way home from work at the time so police wanted to check if he had any outstanding warrants (he didnt) The outcome was - this notice serves as a warning that if you continue to drive this or any other mechanically propelled vehicle in the same manner on another occasion, the vehicle being used at that time will be liable to seizure under this legislation, this also places the same warning any other person driving the above mentioned vehicle in this manner So that was a summary of what the section 59 notice said, as for what the police said to him I don't want to see you riding this scooter again over 15mph, and don't want to see you on paths or grass etc (he was cutting over a grass verge to save a mile riding) he was allowed to ride the scooter home and was at no time told he can't ride it, have his copy of the section 59 he was given After reading it I wondered if maybe some forces have decided to go easy on people using them whilst still having an excuse to stop them and require details etc, me and my mrs have since ride past police many times on our scooters and they've never looked at us tbh
A chap I was talking too, says his Daughter in law who is a police officer, apparently told him that they're told to turn a blind eye on a daily basis. They're everywhere around my region. It sure does seem dumb with the push for green transport, they would drop this to the bottom. But we know it's more about money than climate. Naturally when legalised they will capitalise on its legislation. I'm forced to continue to use a car for most journeys over a mile. This carbon could be reduced by a scooter to almost zero, depending on the source of charging method. Great video, keep us posted. Subbed.
I do think the delay on actually getting some legislation for e-scooters is madness, but as a non-electric cyclist, I don't like arguments for increased speed limits that are based around "e-bikes/e-scooters need to be able to fit in better amongst large road vehicles". I feel it encourages the idea that people on micromobility devices should be on roads with large vehicles where they (potentially) should be travelling at 20mph, rather than encouraging the development of properly separated infrastructure for micromobility users where users can choose to travel slower than 20mph without causing traffic problems. Of course, that assumes that this separated infrastructure will be developed everywhere, which I expect won't happen.
yeah infrastructure ill be lacking councils are cash strap been government idea for while might change with new gov coming in also got problem of once a Council does put it in get same people complaining about potholes etc...but really if scooter get people to work and to pop out from house to get a cup off coffee it il help the local economy regardless
6:11 Pay careful attention to section 72. It says: "Penalty on persons committing nuisances by riding on footpaths, &c.". It doesn't say: "Penalty on persons riding on footpaths." The key bit, is "committing a nuisance". That law wasn't brought in to outright ban use of footpaths, it was brought in to be able to penalise those that cause a nuisance.
@@andreirusu6998 That is my exact point: If you're not committing a nuisance then it is legal to cycle on the pavement. Pretty much nobody realises this. Mr Boateng, minister for transport in 1999 said: “The introduction of the fixed penalty is not aimed at responsible cyclists who sometimes feel obliged to use the pavement out of fear of traffic and who show consideration to other pavement users when doing so." That is why, as I already said, it is specifically worded "committing nuisances", not simply riding on footpaths.
I am with the need to regulate the use of e scooters having seen some of these knock off crap scooters catching fire etc. Your video shows police officers spending their time enforcing the laws rather than catching the atrocious driving of many of the road users I see on a daily basis.
Unfortunately old laws are stuck in place until they are repealled or replaced by newer oned. We need politicians that understand what this is and that is a very hard thing as they seem to believe batteries explode and people riding them are all dangerous. A lot of this is through the sensational headlines that get used against any electric vehicle. The biggest problem are the ones not properly regulated or modified and there seems little to stop them. I had a cyclist fly past me the other day doing over 30 MPH and was not pedalling and in effect was riding a moped. He had the battery, motor and the control of the throttle. This wasn't limited to 18 MPH and having to use pedal assist. Maybe the answer is then to require a basic insurance if you are riding a conformative electric scooter or bike.
I do school runs for a lot of my grandchildren and have noticed more and more kids riding to school on E-scooters now as opposed to their parents taking them to school in big SUVs so surely that’s a good thing?
I was not allowed to enter underground with my fully folded ultraportable E-TWOW GT Sport. I descended to begging the guy, but "computer said no". I had to order Uber which did exactly the same for 40 pounds (with the scooter in the trunk), and I was also late to work as metro was by far the fastest. It solved nothing, but wasted my money. I was effectively punished for NOT having a larger scooter with 1+ kWh battery like Apollo Phantom. Now I'm considering Shimizu Arma in a backpack.
20 km/h limit would be worse than e-bikes which can go up to 25 km/h (that's where the 15.5 mph comes from) and which you can ride without a licence starting at 14 years of age, if I'm not mistaken. It's madness, Eilis!
The UK government does NOT want eScooters on the roads without TAXing and to further complicate things mandatory scooter (motorcycle) traing AND I'm sure they'll also want you to have vehicle insurance on your e-scooter This is not for safety concerns but simply another way of pumping money out of the public who is trying to save a bit of money by not spending ££ on fuel and going green at the same time. The UK government doesn't know how to sensibly manage our taxes, so they must find more ways to get even more money out of its law-abiding citizens.
Helmet should be mandated if you go above 40 kmh for sure, but yes, up to 25 km/h you should fall 100% under e bikes and its laws in ANY case, so no helmet. I personally would even suggest you should be allowed to drive a fast performance e scooter as well, just stick to damn safety rules and acceptable speeds and a fast scooter is as dangerous as a slow one.
I feel there should be a class 2 vehicle scooter that has a speed limit of 4mph/6kmph that is pavement legal only with no age restriction. And even have pavement legal scooters in a 4mph tortoise mode that have a the ability to travel faster on the roads. Make the legislation aline with mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs. There should be manufactures safety standards etc for riding on pavements and perhaps regulation on use such prohibiting their use within 1 meter behind other pavement users and in crowds. Scooters appear to be to me safer than bikes so why would an electric scooter have more restrictions and regulations than electric bikes?
In NYC, I commute to the office, 1 mile away. It is twice as fast a walking and faster and cheaper than public transport. Driving would nominally be faster, but I would spend 3 times teh commute time just looking for parking. LOL Some places require UL (Underwriters Laboratory) for micro e-mobility vehicles and batteries.
I ride past police all the time on mine in Liverpool and they don’t even bat an eye. It’s been over a year now. Only a matter of time before I come across a jobsworth who’s having a bad day no doubt but I’ve had my moneys worth so far. Just got home from an 8 mile round trip to Halfords for some tyre sealant and passed police while I was riding on the pavement, they didn’t even flinch.
Most escooter users are younger people, and many younger people don't vote. And so the politicians put young people's issues to the bottom of the pile. I wish there was a culture of young people organising and becoming more militant about getting their views heard, because society seems to currently be organised at the whim of older people. My understanding is that most older people are generally sympathetic to the Tories, and I think most older people are dead set against escooters. Maybe there is a fear that the governing Tories will be punished by their voters if they legalise the scooters, and so they keep kicking the can down the road. Time after time I hear older people protesting about how escooter legalisation will allow millions of young scallywags to terrorise pensioners in shopping malls, or on the streets. They act as if they are terrified of change, and particularly of any changes that might encourage more young people onto the streets. If the older people I've spoken to had their way, they would rather see everyone in cars and producing huge amounts of carbon, than see scooters legalised. I used to be one of those who believed the idea that age tends to lead to wisdom, but the reality I see when talking to these people is that, more often than not, age brings fear and stupidity. Hence, no escooters.
Should be regulated like acoustic bikes or electric 25kph bikes. So, no age restriction but in the case of scooters maybe mandatory LiFePo4 batteries, that way it will eliminate the odd fire story. As Eilis pointed out, it is MADNESS especially if rental scooters are legal but private ones are not. Here in Spain they have to be insured but that is only possible if the vehicle has been approved by the Spanish. There are currently only 7 models (strangely all in the top price bracket) that can be insured (25 Euros/year) but new stuff coming out all are advertising "homologado" meaning, can be legalized. The 199 Euro trow away scooters (brakes? You got feet?) have all but disappeared. We also see more and more plugs propping up for e-bikes AND SCOOTERS for a quick charge up while shopping or going to the beach. Our town hall wants to get rid of cars and they eliminate more and more parking, got 30kph speed limits in place (nationwide) and restricted many park places to electric cars only. So many people moved over to bikes and scooters. It is faster, cheaper and more fun anyway.
Here in the PRC, they don't considered as motor vehicle… not required insurance, all the owner needs to do is charge it outside of any residential building. Oh and they don't need to show the resistance status unlike e modpad.
It's the exact same thing over here in NL, back in the OG Segway days it was added to the law that PEVs are "special/novelty mopeds". This basically meant that you have to be 16 or older, hold an AM license and the PEV itself needs to meet a number of requirements. These are by and large utterly sane and sensible requirements. For starters it needs to have a type rating, meaning the PEV needs to pass a number of tests, just like any moped has to. This includes such things are the electronics aren't allowed to interfere with other devices, but also things like the thing needs to be safe. In broad strokes, what an electric "scooter" needs to have is functional lights, indicators, a mechanical brake that can overpower the motor, rear view mirrors, and a fixed seat. Of course they need a license plate and third party liability insurance. Personally the only daft requirement in my eyes is the seat requirement. Everything else is perfectly sane and reasonable. Why do I think this way? Because in the time of the OG Segway, when that thing was a big hype, I got run down by some kid tearing up a mall at 25kph. While I was waiting for an ambulance to come stitch me up, that kid bolted and got away. There was CCTV in the mall, but because he was wearing a hoodie over a cap, his face wasn't visible. And with no plate on the Segway, there was no way to find him and press charges or sue for damages. This was the reason for me to start lobbying for regulation of the things, which happened quickly as they were explicitly designated as mopeds. The side effect of this is that they never became a huge thing over here. Things like Bird and Lyme are none existent here. Instead we have Felix and CheckRide which do the whole vehicle sharing with normal sit-down moped e-scooters instead. The big difference is, everyone already knew where those go on the road, they have plates, insurance, etc. And frankly I'm glad it panned out like that. Both because of safety, and because the moped sized scooters are expensive enough to not be disposable, unlike the autoped "scooters", so they're better for the environment as well.
The continued deferring of addressing e-vehicles sounds to me like you have a government that is either unable or unwilling to govern. How unusual for a conservative government. 🙄
Our Government holds power for five years, it has a long list of bills and amendments to bills, that it has to deal with during those five years. Bills get first and second readings in the House of Commons, those bill then go to the House of Lords to be amended, tidied up, then they come back with amendments. The House of Commons then reviews the amendments and has a vote to accept or reject the amendments, then the Bill is presented with or without amendments and a vote is taken, if accepted, that Bill then becomes Law, if the Bill is rejected, then it falls and will not re-appear during the remainder of that Government. It is an utterly archaic way to pass laws and is the reason why so many laws don't get passed and also, why so many Laws never disappear.
We have a government and probably a successive government that is quite happy to talk green but refuses to walk green. Until they work out a way of monetisation for e-bikes and e-scooters the current status quo will continue.
Thanks for the informative video. Why do some people feel that helmets should be mandatory for an e-scooter that is restricted to say 25 km/h, when there is no mandatory requirement to wear a helmet on a bicycle or e-bike? Is it because they are fundamental unsafe due to small wheel size and lack of stability? ( which i believe they are) I do agree that e-scooters need regulation to stop riding on pavements, etc. It seems to me that the Goverment are not particularly bother about doing anything and are dragging their heels on this.
Blinkered view ricky, there will be far less problems if folk look at proper stance when riding, use basic turning blinker lights to indicate with, as an ebike rider & snowboarder a lot of the problem for the avereage new rider is poor stance & failing to understand how the whole weighted rider / scooter combo changes when turning, hand signalling etc, seasonal changes etc, helmets do not save people from stupid moves, knowledge does, you appear to want to make light transport bulkier by FORCING helmet wearing into law for cyclists (which it isn't now) I would have to see a medical exemption for that (more hoops to jump through) NB if folk are concerned for safety & legality, then why no police action on the 1000's of hacked / modded e-bike food delivery bikes that fall under "pedal assist" but clearly are not used in that manner, I did report this to the twats overseeing e-scooter legistlation possibilities (m/keynes tory chair) but ZERO reply ...because pointing out the obvious in an agenda to stall, ignore & carry on before (a cock blocking tactic) relies on doing their own thing with blinkers on, result (if any) messed up and dubious as before, the longer the uncertainty the more wholly crap escooters will be bought creating a bigger headache to resolve IF legalised, ..helmets are no excuse for observant riding, I have encountered more risk riding my ebike at 5 mph or less when turning on seasonally wet roads than on my escooter mile for mile, a helmet did not protect me from the road nor the physio (I was using my ebike FOR physio as was) my escooter, ridden properly allowed for me to brake & step off, compared to my ebike sliding from under me (I was already in a low gear, using pedal assist because it was both dark & a car was behind me) it would have been a foot down scenario if on an escooter as a direct scenario comparison, something not possible when seated on the bike to prevent a fall, which people urging helmets do not necessarily consider, traction & slippage when taking off rather than already in motion or topping out at 15.5mph which does not require a helmet for an ebike with the same max speed , so less of the badly thought out demands for helmets to be compulsory please, If you can hire an escooter from a scheme with little to no proof of presumed rider competence (ie having a drivers license does not relate to experience of safely using a slower mode of transport such as a bike then it does not mean you are competent to ride a new unfamiliar technology such as an escooter, an ego may say otherwise, you cannot act like a car driver on a 25kg escooter like you do when in a car, but people do "because it is a bit of fun" (as witnessed by myself encountering ignorant tourists holding up buses / trams / cars in berlin during lockdown, lacking nous & basic politeness & especially road sense. ..throws up all sorts of complexities as to how we go forward, at least least someone who has bought one will know how it works, leans, limitations etc, compared to the "casual"(ty) user of a hire (not mine so I don't care) element of society skewing figure that govt are casting the net for in order to make a supposed decision that has been sat on way beyond any feasible excuse that covid restrictions may have once presented! Ride safe, it is the only chink of hope of a positive outcome in this whole mess overseen by besuited politicians whose experience is likely no more than a photo opportunity with an esccoter, NOT AS AN EXPERIENCED RIDER.
@Sh1tfaceMagee-db3px thanks for the very lengthy response. You misunderstood what I was saying. I am not calling for mandatory helmet wearing on bicycles. I don't think helmets should be mandatory on bicycles. All I was trying to point out is that helmet wearing IS NOT mandatory on bicycles, but the suggestion in the video was that one of the requirements for riders of e-scooter would be to wear a helmet. The point being an e-bike or regular bike can go considerably fast than an e-scooter. I think it is up to the individual to decide if they want to wear a helmet or not. Personally I ride regularly on road and off and always wear a helmet as my brain is important to me and i want to protect it. I take your point that you can brake and step off an e-scooter in an emergency, which you can't on a bike ( I know from bitter experience) also you said that e-bikes have the same maximum speed as an e-scooter 15.5mph. They do not. The assistance stops at 15.5mph. The maximum speed is whatever the rider has the power for. I still stand by my statement that e-scooters are unstable. I have tried one on a hire scheme in Canterbury Kent, and found it difficult to ride and unstable. This is due to a very small wheel size and a standing rider causing a very high center of gravity.
"Gathering data" is such a cop out. If the rental ones were not considered to be sufficiently safe for operation in public, they would not be extending the "trials". Realistically they should by now have more than enough data to be able to codify the use of private scooters with similar spec and following similar rules to the rentals. That may still leave riders of more exotic devices in limbo but the majority that I see people riding look like they would qualify. I think its basically code at this point for "its the next governments problem".
No legislation until 2026!!!! 😭 That's mad as for the limitations to the rumoured legislation I'm looking for a scooter with longest range possible and quick charging and hopefully somewhere on the scooter that can have large storage compartment shopping, goods ect.
Just came back from Iceland and the scooters there made the holiday, we saw soo much more of the city and outskirts that we otherwise would have had to wait for a taxi or wouldnt have known about. The scooter app only wanted an google account and a phone number. We just arent trusted in the UK and furthermore im sure it would cut down congestion- all the drivers in Iceland were super alert of scooter users and always gave us way.
How the fuck can they slap 6 points onto your driving license? That’s like saying they’re going to impound someone’s PlayStation for stealing a 75p drink. This country is a joke.
I work as a Truck Driver around europe and i carry an e scooter with me Its a freakin joy to use whenever i want to buy groceries or just ride somewhere I go to the uk pretty often too I only use my scooter in the dark 😂
In the us where I am at, theres no regulations, but the public transit in town can kick you off if you have a scooter. Because one caught fire somewhere was the official line I heard lol.
It’s madness Eilis, madness I tell you. If they were to become legal where do we ride them? Can we use they only in bus lanes, but then won’t bus drivers/companies get annoyed at being slowed down by more and more e-scooters? Can we use them only between certain hours on the road, off peak times? Do me need more cycle lanes. A cycle path (one side for pedestrians, one side for scooters). Straight up same rules as e-bikes? So much to consider.
E scooters should be made legal providing: Riders are over the age of 18, anyone under the age of 18 is not allowed to ride them in public areas, only on private land with the landowner's permission, a bit like the silly law today, but only applicable to under 18s. Helmets and reflective clothing must be worn. Mandatory 'electric scooter proficiency course', similar to the optional cycling proficiency test. Course is followed by the issuing of a new 'e scooter licence' which, for a small fee, proves you are allowed to ride one, anyone caught without a licence faces confiscation of the scooter and a £200 fine and a ban. Take out mandatory insurance (changes in the law to allow insurers to insure e scooters providing riders adhere to the new rules) E scooters must not be ridden on pavements or in pedestrian areas, but can be ridden on some roads, cycleways and in cycle lanes. Scooter riders must adhere to the same highway code as cyclists when riding on roads. E scooters must not exceed 25mph, anyone caught with one that is capable of higher speeds faces confiscation of the scooter, a £200 fine and a six month e scooter ban. I mean it's not rocket science is it, as a responsible rider myself, e scooters are not going anywhere anytime soon, and the government needs to legislate and move with the times.
It ain't never gonna happen, they keep changing the goal posts and they'll loose too much money on public transport. Shame really as it's such a good eco mode of transport.
I don’t think there should be any regulation at all beyond a max speed limit of 20mph and maybe a minimum age of 15. Adding all the other bits like insurance takes away the appeal of them vs cars. Cars are by far the worst way to travel for people, in terms of safety, cost, congestion, and the environment. So we should make it clearly better to use other methods of transportation.
Truth. It's a mafiatocracy funded by the fossil fuel industry, and driven by media and landowners to keep themselves in power. Can't even sleep at a motorway service station in your car now without getting fined.
If the government want to make money from making the personally owned e-scooters, why not put an annual road tax on them? I'd pay it. It's just MADNESS! The law needs to be updated!
You make valid points about the benefits but unfortunately where I live there are racks of lime scooters which magically get racked up out side of schools for the end of the day. Forget the age limit, and real ID, money is more important. And then they are just dropped anywhere once the credit runs out, blocking pavements, drives, roads. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY has a big part to play in making them acceptable. I like the concept but despise the selfish outcome forced onto everyone else.
In my city they also tried to ban private scooters in favor of the Bird rental scooters. Turned out a lot of people destroyed, stole and were hiding those scooters, just to end after less than a year those rental scooters existence and allowing private scooters again. Its btw also a BAD THING if electric scooters got their own, especially "low power" category. Not only can you expect a insurance and license plates, but also ridicilous regulations making those scooters impractical to ride (too low power, too low speed) I hope that we in austria never get rid of the unclear und ridicilous dangerous (bcause too slow and weak, again) regulations about e scooters, because thats what makes them somewhat "just an e-bike" and you even pass police checks with a lets say 2x 2000W scooter going up to 70 km/h. If you get caught with such a scooter in germany where the regulations and laws are somewhat in place... you will not only lose your 2500-4000€ scooter, but also get a hefty fine partially including the loss of your license.
To correct one small error, you can ride an escooter on private land to which the public don’t have access. So you can’t ride one in a supermarket car park, even with the landowners consent, as the road traffic enactments (laws) still apply. The RTA 1988 has also had numerous amendments since 1988, so making a big deal of the ‘1988’ shows very poor understanding of the RTA, although the last big suite of amendments was in 2015 and still predates escooters.
The e-scooters aren't the problem it's the morons that ride them, they don't follow the rules of the road, wander all over the road without looking or giving signals, riding strait of pavements into the road, jumping traffic lights, riding underage and riding more than one up. If I as a car driver we're to be hit by one who or how is the rider going to pay for the repairs to my car, even a scratch on a new car can be expensive to repair. The local police seem to turn a blind eye to them . The sooner they start consfersating and destroying the the better. The people illegally using them under age are probablyiii
They are left dumped on pavements, people fly around on them both on the road (without lights or helmets) or fly around pavements on them. There are loads of cheapo ones available that I am sure are a fire risk as you mentioned. I would just ban them all from sale until the trials have concluded.
I was shocked to hear about the UK not including e-scooter on their roads. Also shocked about the 20km/h speed limit. 20km/h is reachable by non electric bike with ease. Also when you do not have a bike lane (in EU in most countries you can ride the e-scooter on a bike lane) you are left on the road. And on the road with other cars a 20km/h speed limit is pretty dangerous as you are slowing them really down. In the USA the speed limit is 32km/h, the same as their e-bikes. And that is really useful. Also the mopeds that can be driven by 16yo can go up to 50km/h and they are required by law to have a helmet and a driving license for mopeds. Those are ICE engine, 2 wheel personal vehicles, that can be insured, pay tax and have a number plate . Wait a minute, what is the the difference between those mopeds and an e-scooter? Most bad things that happen on those e-scooter because they are ridden by children that have not been educated in the rules of the road. But no, the electric vehicle is the future in the fight for clean Air, the e-scooter is just a cheaper alternative that does not have such rich lobby groups. Takes less space, uses less electricity (again with the lobby groups), you can stack more of them on the road, will pay less taxes and insurance and can not be charged on a supercharger or any other fast charger (again with the lobby groups). Yep what a loss is the e-scooter (for the big and hungry companies), but not for the consumer.
I’m told that as a class of vehicle these are generating a specific rise in horrible injuries amongst riders. I often see people at dusk or at night dressed in black or dark clothing with poor or no lights in the road on their scooters. Some seem to have bypassed speed limiters on their scooter. The lack of visibility, unfamiliarity with the sound they make and the rapid closing speed when someone rides one (especially on the pavement) is really hazardous to pedestrians. The form factor and the physics of the high centre of gravity of a standing person, being decelerated suddenly by an object or a pothole hitting the front wheel, would accelerate them like a whip head first onto the ground. I am not convinced that electric scooters are going to be a life-affirming addition to public health as things stand.
E-scooters always get all the negative attention in the UK when there are so many technically illegal electric vehicles being used on the roads-and pavements sometimes-everyday. Due to the hilariously low legal battery and motor max power limits, most of the e-bikes you see on the UK roads are illegal. Electric unicycles are illegal, e-skateboards are illegal, and pretty much any other electric micromobility vehicle you can think of is illegal. That police have only really been known to take issue with e-scooters now and then. I guess that is largely due to how some foolish people behave with them. With the correct regulations, e-scooters could be the safest electric micromobility vehicle. I hope that happens soon. 🛴🧑⚖️
Im happy for scooters to be classed the same as ebikes, and id love to see the speed limit raised to 20mph and power limit up to 1kw. And throttle only also allowed for bikes. No helmets, it should be a personal choice. The current power rules are unfair for heavier people, and cargo bikes. Theres a reason that a lot of the delivery riders are riding around on illegal bikes, the current laws aren't good enough.
Defininitely MADNESS! The way things have been left a whole raft of the population have become technically criminals, just because they are using private e-scooters on public roads. Coming from a cycling background, it is sensible that e-scooters should not be used on footpaths, they should be used on roads or cycle paths. I personally hate shared use foot/cycle paths: cyclists and pedestrians do not mix well, as pedestrians do not walk in a regulated manner, which is dangerous when cyclists interact with them (nothing against pedestrians, I am often one myself, it just doesn't work) and I think it should be the same with e-scooters. On the legal issues, it would be saensible to have the new category of light ZEVs and also put e-bikes in the same category. This would allow legislation to be passed efficiently and quickly as you would be just looking at this category, and you could also have a look at the restrictive law around e-bikes with their limited power and speed at the moment. Could allow more power on e-bikes, but at same time require training and insurance similar to mopeds if you are going faster and maybe not pedalling. Keep current laws for lower power models. Plus one for helmets, my worst concussion from a bike crash was when only doing 15mph with a helmet on, and lost 30 minutes of memory to amnesia, showing even slower speed impacts can still be very serious.
Hey 😃 I really love e-scooters in Germany now. You have to try it yourself to see what a good mobility alternative it is. Unfortunately, the permitted 20 km/h is a bit too slow in traffic, which is why you often feel like an obstacle. That's why I'm in favor of allowing them to drive at 25 km/h. We have very strict regulations, which is why unfortunately many providers and models no longer exist with us. But they are very safe models, which you can also see from the very few problems with batteries we have. Rental scooters are often a problem in cities, in contrast to drivers with their privately purchased ones.
It may be useful to contact the Labour shadow minister for transport to ask about their plans for E-scooters. The incumbent government are too busy trying to send people to Rwanda to worry about how the rest of us commute to work.
Only in the UK. Of course if we could ride our own scooters, the local government do not make any money from it, so they will keep this going for as long as possible. Electric bikes, that weigh a lot more and are bigger, perfectly legal, small scooters with the same speed , not legal, insane.
i live in norway e-scooter that dont go above 22 KM/H is legal and can drive on sidewalk in OSLO but in london its completely banned unless its a rental
Min age 16. Helmets always. No passengers. No insurance. No number plate. Min wheel size 8”, not 12”. Competency training course mandatory UNLESS already experienced in use (like me) and finally max speed 23mph. Most normal pedal cycles can easily do more than 20mph.
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Madness how this country is sooooo behind the rest of the world 🌎
It's embarrassing. Being British used to mean something once, at least I think, before I was born anyway and I'm 33. Government is a joke and ever since Brexit we've become a laughingstock to the rest of the world.
They are just dickheads
Normal state of play for the UK. Too little too late on everything.
at everything !
@@fencer39 yep
The most frustrating thing about this limbo is the mixed messages given to and by the police forces, who seem to arbitrarily decide when they're going to enforce this old legislation and when they aren't.
I ride my one wheel every day in London without hassle, but every now and again they decide they're gonna stop people on cycle paths and confiscate!
Make your mind up...
Hello
"mixed messages given"
Oh i know this very well for years now.
It's was/is the same in Germany.
Its all just a ploy to scare monger people out of using an alternative to expensive public transport.
This further more this is reinforcing what sadiq Khan is enforcing ULEZ is simply about money and a total scam! because why is he not letting commuters use electric vehicles that are zero emissions?because its about him and his corrupt friends taxing us and controlling us!
@@johnhartmann5875 Nothing mixed in germany anymore, at least regarding to e scooters.
In germany i would have to drive illegally a Surron Dirtbike or similar and run from cops if needed, just poor legislation and a poor/bad/anti-human government in action.
Since i am that lucky to live in austria, the cops dont even care about my 2000W peak e scooter going 40-45 km/h, and most kids on really high powered scooters (4000W+, 70km/h +,...) also pass the polices looks when they are not driving too fast or doing dangerous stuff. Ohh, and thats without a helmet or any insurance!
Poor germany, i hope we dont get the same troubles (aka bad, dangerous and expensive legislation) in austria as poor germany.
The trouble with partially enforced laws is that it luls people into a false sense of security, assuming everyone is on the same page. But as soon as a quota needs to be met or an officer has a bee in their bonnet and wants to harass someone, suddenly it's applied. The same thing happens with cannabis usage, massively disproportionate on how it's handled on a case by case basis.
This if frustrating and absolutely mad! I got 3 convictions, criminal record, 2 years driving ban and in total £1300 penalties for riding e scooter on a public road! When I was stopped by the Police, I was polite and fully cooperative, yet end up in a court! Now I'm struggling to get a job because of my convictions, not to mention car insurance premium! Only gravity keeps me in this backward country!
How long did it take to hear about your court date from being stopped?
@jish194 The court day was given to me the same day at the police station, I can't remember how long I was waiting for the so-called "hearing," but it was about 2-3 months. Make no mistakes, you don't go to court to defend yourself, you just go there to hear the sentence.
I rode a seat scooter with 2 car batteries on it and got stopped by police who told me to push it home or get it seized. I was only a couple of streets away.
The people who are unaffected seem to be the ones willing to flee police.
This is totally ridiculous, go to any European country and there’s no problem!
I think the law should be revisited soon. Escooters are environmentally friendly
I've owned an Inokim Ox Super for 3 years. I ride it with respect to those around me at all times, always with a helmet and high vis vest on. 4 years of data collected by the Government and yet still at least another 2 years before any decision will be taken about this mode of transport is simply appalling
its a genius move by the car lobby. By keeping things in limbo - nothing goes forwards or backwards. In limbo can take years more to "analyse properly" the results of the study before making a conclusion. Just a nice way to keep the status quo - priority cars! Also the car industry advertises, so dont expect the newsless papers to warm any time soon.
*As Wales now has a mandatory 20mph limit in Urban areas it would be a great time to allow 20mph scooters providing they have indicators , Insurance and a numberplate and the operator wears a helmet .... this could be the ideal trial situation!*
agree its in a gray area right now need everything in black and white .
At the moment the law doesn’t allow you to have a vehicle licence plate on an E-scooter, (as they are not recognised).
How I get numberpate and insurance
On my own experience of riding an ebike and scooter in a less Victorian country for the last 8 years, and over the age of 50:
Power limit up to 2kW, speed limit 50 kmh
Ability to ride on pavements up to 10 km/h and defer to pedestrians
By law, require shops, malls, cinemas, public offices and workplaces to provide secure facilities to store ebikes/scooters while shopping and doing business etc, and allow scooters to be used/pushed in malls and shops to help carry shopping etc. This is already possible in most places I go to, such as malls and Tesco in Hungary.
They have a better attitude to scooters than most places, especially the UK.
There are already laws that can be used governing antisocial behaviour to regulate ULEVs. We should use those as well as regulate quality.
Insurance and helmets should be at the users' discretion.
Government resistance is more likely dominated by fear of losing revenue from the displacement of fossil fuel usage as ULEVs popularity grows.
Our lungs and environment are far more important.
The problem isn’t the scooters, it’s who and how they’re ridden
An idiot on a mountain bike pulling wheelies is WAY more dangerous than an escooter riding sensibly
@@sygad1 I didn’t say it wasn’t
I had the misfortune yesterday of going on the train with my electric scooter that I was unaware of them being banned. I went through no problem and got off at Canterbury and they saw me with it and said nothing when I went through. A few hours later when I went to go back home on the train they decided to stop me and then tell me. Didn't care that I was stranded, no explanation it felt so horrible to suddenly realise the situation I was in and that I was stranded unless I just abandoned it to get home.
Luckily I had enough for a taxi and the nice driver accepted the ride but I had been stranded before and it was not something I wanted to be in that was just a rude awakening. Maybe it was my fault but I went through both stations and no one said a thing and I went to return to the same station to go home. This system is a joke and the only reasonable ban is because of the battery fire safety which is the same as e-bikes that are supposed to be allowed anyway.
I use my Jeep E-scooter which I bought from Electroheads to traverse the local roads between two housing estates.
It's only a few mile round journey but I ride with respect and courtesy towards other road users and pedestrians.
Judging by the way that parents scoop up their children as soon as they see an E-scooter means the MSM has done a pretty good job of scaring the population.
E-scooters are a lot of fun to use and are a perfect way to reduce your carbon footprint, especially for those short journeys to the shops for essential items,
There's a few that like to ruin it for the many. 🤔😉
@@Zodliness So true.
They're classed as motor vehicles, yet they cannot be registered or insured as they don't meet the requirements for motor vehicles... Confused much.. they need to make their minds up
Well, i like the situation in austria.... i drive for free and somewhat "legal", even without a helmet, a "slow" performance scooter with 1000W /45 km/h and suspension. It counts somewhat as a e-bike, and as long the police dont see me going 45 km/h i am pretty fine. For anything above 35-40 km/h a full helmet is anyways needed, the wind affects vision at this point.
I got once pulled over, the cop first wanted to make his "legality" standpoint and that i get a fee for it, but in the end i showed him my driving profile in the bicycle app that i drive only like 15-25 km/h mostly, for seconds maybe 30 km/h but barely more. He was also test driving my scooter and realised its by far one of the weakest possibel "performance" scooters he saw (well, 1000W single motor, should be expected)
I bought this scooter btw 2nd hand and its pretty old (also visible when you look at many parts, the wear and the design), at one police control i got thru by saying i have this scooter that long and it was once legal and i drive anyways not above 25-30 km/h. The ODO also told them like over 7k km on it... so they somehow knew im fine and i know what i do.
But as much i enjoy 1000W/2000W peak and its probably also the cause i didnt get caught yet, my next scooter will be for sure Dual Motor, something like 2x2000W and with a big battery unlike the one i have now (48V 10Ah, 10-30 km range).
At a tour with a friend around our village with some hills, muddy/bad ways and little offroad fun i realised how WEAK my "2000W peak" scooter is. The friends 2x2000W (2x3600W peak!!!) scooter was just going anywhere you wanted it to with power all the time even in single motor, mine struggled nearly everywhere on bad ground and uphill on bad surface was impossible at all.
Dont allow stupid regulations and the people regulate it their own way, as in austria. Its hard to get caught even on a 70 km/h+ scooter if you drive approperiate and by the "rules" in austria, now compare this performance scooter on the streets situation against germany where they have "modern" rules, impossble! Meanwhile we in austria drive safer with our "illegal" scooters.
It's likely they fail a bunch of MSVA criteria in terms of lights, mirrors, sharp or protruding edges compared to a "moped" style step scooter you can get when you are 16.
Absolute madness!! Surely taking cars off the road and replacing them with personal clean vehicles is something they (law makers) should be falling over themselves to do. I cannot see how e-scooters pose any different risks in practice than a standard push bike
They do, at least how they are supposed to be driven.
Anything in closer range to a car on the road, should be capable of MORE THAN 25 km/h. 20 or 25 km/h and that crazy power limit are dangerous unless you allow it to drive anywhere (except roads with cars etc)
I have just a 1000W scooter going 40-45 km/h, and in some occasions uphill, i become a traffic obstacle because i cant go 30 km/h uphill this short path i have to share with cars and the cars there (30 zone) go typically anything from 28-40 km/h
@@harrison00xXx thanks for the input. What is your sauce for this information? Is this part of the road traffic act? Also, the situation your describe is extremely common in the case of pushbikes, especially when going up hill. And they’re expected to be on the road. So I fail to see how scooters pose a different risk than bikes.
They can't earn money on private scooters yet can they. That's the only reason.
They implement ULEZ and all these other things then ban the best and safest alternative to city travel. Unless you rent one of course.
Exactly @@nefty1004
As an American, I don't always watch TH-cam videos about UK electric scooter laws. But when I do watch TH-cam videos about UK electric scooter laws, the TH-cam videos about UK electric scooter laws I watch are presented by Electroheads. Come on, UK government, let these quirky & loveable Brits ride their electric scooters. We get to ride them in America. I'm just saying, you don't want us loutish Americans getting to do something your citizens can't do, do you UK government? I mean, it kinda makes you look pretty silly, UK government.
LOL. There's the same confusion in Spain. Two sets of policemen have told me on separate occasions that: a) I mustn't ride my 27 mph road-legal e-seated-scooter on the pavement, and b) I mustn't ride it on the road.
I have to sneak about back roads in peak traffic, which is a pleasure anyway... 😎
Just one of the reasons why your road death rate is three times higher...:/
This will end up in some sort of tax or money-making scheme. We will have to pay for breathing soon...
Its funny since even in austria we are just fine with proper scooters, meanwhile the island monk.... erm "brits" are that messed up, same goes for germany, our neighbours btw!
Officially most of our e scooters are illegal, but realistically the police dont mind people on scooter driving safe and "slow", even if we talk about scooters going 70 km/h and more.
In germany the experience we have in austria would be impossible because you would have to pay a huge fee, your (expensive) scooter would get confiscated and probably even lose your drivers license as soon any police controls you.
Who in his right mind even thought about power limits and stupidly slow 20 km/h instead of making a proper legislation including something like a small license (or A/B license) needed. With such a "controlled" legislation where you have to make a small course/training including a PROPER (2000W+!) scooter/EUC you could easily allow them to go 45 km/h which would make it much safer since you sometimes have to share roads with cars going from 30 km/h in the best case to 50-60 km/h in the worst.
I just hope that we can some day register any electric vehicle, doesnt matter if high powered scooter going 45 km/h or 70 km/h or a electric dirtbike going nearly 100 km/h, as long we can enjoy a silent, fast and fun way for transport.
I am an old man living on a Spanish-speaking atlantic desert island who committed to two electric seated fat tired scooters with the last of his stash. Safe, one would have thought, but the fuzz are well-equipped and alert. I am always stopped if traffic is off peak hours. I am told "don't ride it on the pavement". The next time it will be "don't ride it on the road". And so on. Registration is even more troublesome, obviously. @@harrison00xXx
This is kinda funny to see because in Germany the problem is mostly seen in rental/sharing e-scooters that are "parked" (aka thrown away) on the pavement. So local administrations are starting to only allow these services with designated stations in contrast to parking where you where you like to. I remember this uncontrolled parking being one of the hot topics in Paris as well. But restricting private usage? What a weird idea when rentals are legal. Private owners dont tend to park their scooter in the most annoying places or throw it in a nearby pond or river.
I guess a certain speed level might be a valid point to demand insurance and licences as it is common with pedelecs above 25 km/h.
"I guess a certain speed level might be a valid point to demand insurance and licences as it is common with pedelecs above 25 km/h."
Yes, but in germany you have demanded insurance and license plates, yet they are allowed to go 20 km/h.
I would love if i could register any high power e scooter or electric dirtbike (surron), even if i need a A license (which i have anyways), sadly thats not possible yet so i have to drive illegally with a 45 km/h scooter. Luckily the police in austria dont care even if i drive 40-45 km/h beside them (without helmet...), i guess they are just happy that not every scooter is a traffic obstacle if they have to share short paths of their way with cars.
Used to ride a e scooter to work and back which was a 30 mile round trip, always rode on the road and wore helmet etc and never once had a problem with police. I've been next to officers at lights and the only time I was spoken to was foe the officer to ask how fast it goes.... now moved on to a electric motor bike for legal reasons
It's madness Eilis............. Truth is, I have owned mine since Covid closed downn the UK and I needed something for work that was a little fun. I live a 10 min walk from work, so an E-Scooter was a great call and I am more than happy to pay for tax/insurance etc but we are still in the dark ages sadly
Its madness to accept insurance/tax for a TOY. Those 15-20 km/h scooters were once kids toys sold for 200€ and they were driven daily on the pedestrian walks with like 5 km range (lol, toys, yes!)
I would accept insurance/tax only in the case of a registered HIGH POWER e scooter, e bike or elecric dirtbike (such as Surrons). I would love to drive my scooter for cheap legally with 45 km/h or upgrade to a faster scooter with 5000W+ and 70 km/h top speed since i have anyways the motorcycle license.
Its just a shame that the actual legislation in austria doesnt allow anything beside air tires when it comes to anything faster than 25 km/h, something i want to avoid entirely (i have only front air tires, back is honeycomb airless). Good suspension makes airless tires also acceptable for high speeds and increases reliability a lot.
I'm sure you'd accept to be taxed for breathing air as well.
How long does it take to gather data" about 2 bits of rubber on the tarmac .... surely 1 year is no different to the next ....come on legalise these brilliant little forms of transport
Ive owned and rode my e scooter for about 3 and a half years around the sutton coldfield area (north birmingham) and not one of the many police officers ive passed in that time has said a word about it.
I'm in Manchester and fortunately can say the same. 3+ years myself, too. My brother however who also lives here had his taken from him with a £300 fine and 6 points on his licence. The main difference being he rode his daily though the city centre to work and I don't. So avoid city centres anybody who reads this, they've always been a hotbed for e-scooter crackdowns.
In most cases, they won't bother you, but it's that chance of getting a fine or your scooter being confiscated that puts a lot of us off buying an e-scooter.
It doesn't help that the rules on them are not that clear for most that it's become a gray area.
If we had clearer understanding on the rules on e-scooters, more of us would likely buy them and that would help to free up the roads for car users, especially as many trips that are quite local of just a few miles are fine on an e-scooter.
The current rules scare a lot of us off even thinking about buying an e-scooter, and until there are some clearer rules in place where they can be used in public space where they would be far more useful than on private land, then the government is kinda making it difficult for the people to clean up their act when it comes to the environment.
The shocking thing is on all this is how slow the UK government is on all this, many other governments are coming up with clearer rules on e-scotters, the UK it feels it's falling well behind other, so until we have some clean, easy to understand rules that you can use e-scooters in public places, where it more useful, then I've got no interest in buying one, because being able to only use them on private land makes them almost useless and being a gray area in public where you can get a fine or have your scooter confiscated from you, doesn't exactly encourage its use.
Everyone is being punished because of a few reckless people out there, and in my case, I don't mind if there's an age limit, 16 or 18 to ride them, I don't mind being tested with it or wearing a helmet, but until we know where we stand, I'm not interested in them.
@@paul1979uk2000 The rules are quite clear .if your not on private land or if your not rideing a rented scooter .You are breaking the law.Their is no ''gray area ''....It's not fair .I agree ....i ride an ei-ke which is totaly legal . But the law not difficult to understand .as soon as they are legal i will buy one ,but untill then i will remain a law abiding citizen .
Sorry, are you complaining about them not upholding the law, or thanking them for being incompetent? I’m confused. (As a keen fan of E-scooters myself I suggest you keep your head down buddy).
@@philtucker1224 thanking them for realising its a stupid law
It is madness! And maddening 😊
I'm also disabled and while I do have an ebike I can't always use it as my condition stops me when it flares up. But an escooter would be perfect and get me out of the house.
I have heard of rumours of people managing to register their e-scooter with the DVLA. If I did manage that would I then be legal to ride on the roads?
Yes, but not in cycle lanes.
Do you use a traditional invalid mobility buggy currently?
@philtucker1224 no, our house just doesn't have enough space for one and also we have high steps so that would be an issue. However an escooter could just go behind the dining room table or in the spare room.
@@riggedforepic6293 Hi Buddy, just a tip (if you are already a blue badge holder) your local authority should be able to construct an access ramp for you suitable for an invalid buggy or wheel chair, you may not need it yet, I don’t know but you may be glad of it as you get older and it should be supplied without any cost to you. Just saying but best wishes to you either way.
Dear Eillis. The current regs are madness. Politicians are only interested in self survival.
But floating across the channel is perfectly fine.
😂shhh
Here in Vienna e scooters are regulated the same as bikes. Completely free to use. Up to 25km per hour.
Langweilig. ich komme auch mit meinen 1000W (2000W peak) E Scooter der 45 km/h geht und fast jede Steigung schafft. Leider nur ein 48V 10Ah Akku, also ziemlich klein.
Da ich sowieso mehrheitlich "nur" 20-30 km/h fahre weil der Akku sonst nur für 10 km taugt bei Topspeed und Dauervollgas, hat mich bisher auch kaum eine Polizeistreife schneller als 25 km/h fahren sehen, vielleicht mal 30,...
Bei 20-25 km/h Durchschittstempo mit 40 km/h peaks und 50-70m Steigung komme ich schon um die 15-20 km, wenn ich nur im 1. Gang mit 20 km/h Limit rumgurke mit auch stark reduzierter Beschleunigung auch locker 30 km auf ebener Strecke.
Die wenigen Situationen wo mich Polizisten kontrolliert haben am Scooter waren:
1) Sie wollten mir nur sagen wie toll sie die Nachbau Blinker eines Mopeds finden welche am Tag sichtbar sind im Vergleich zu den originalen (zu dunklen) Blinkern bei den meisten Rollern
2) Andere Polizisten, andere Zeit mit bereits mehr "Anbau" am Roller. Namentlich Lautsprecher (Stereo!), DC DC Wandler (zum schnellladen des Rollers oder den Rollerakku als Energiequelle mit Variabler Spannung und Stromgrenze zum anzapfen), 2 Handyhalterungen, Werkzeugakkus etc. Die wollten mich nur aufmerksam machen dass es gefährlich sei mit lauter Musik mit dem Roller zu fahren und haben sich für die Werkzeugakkus, die vielen Schalter und eben wie ich Radio/Verstärker/BT Empfänger etc fix an dem Ding verkabelt habe (so eine Class-D Verstärker/BT/Radio/3,5mm Line In Receiver Einheit, simpel, billig, klein, braucht kaum Strom)
3) Einer meiner ersten Begegnungen am Roller mit der Polizei... er hat mich nur darauf hingewiesen dass der Roller illegal sei und gefragt ob ich das nicht wüsste. Da blieb es bei einer mündlichen Verwarnung, vor allem weil er gemerkt hat dass der Roller nicht mal sooo stark ist (darf der Polizist überhaupt einen illegalen Roller fahren auf öffentlichen Wegen?!)
Ich habe auch meine Routenaufzeichnung im App beendet und dem Polizisten gezeigt dass ich bestenfalls kurzzeitigst (und das auf Radwegen ohne irgendjemanden in der Nähe...) 28, vielleicht 30 km/h gefahren bin, sonst wegen Reichweite und Akku schonen eigentlich kaum über 25 km/h komme bei der täglichen Nutzung. Er muss ja nicht wissen dass ich öfters doch mal etwas Spaß will und auch habe, sofern es die mickrigen 1000W Dauerleistung erlauben (eh nicht so toll!)
Und ich muss dazu sagen, mein Roller hat den Look der Performance Scooter jenseits der 4000W peak und der großen Federung, nur eben das billigste Modell mit kleinstem Akku, LEIDER NUR Single Motor nicht wie üblich Dual Motor sowie auch praktisch die "geringste" illegale Leistung welche maximal so schnell wie ein Moped/45 km/h geht.
Meistens komme ich trotzdem durch bei der Polizei und die beachten mich nicht während ich mit 10-25 km/h fahre.
As we hopefully all know by now, public disobedience is the only solution, if you have a fast enough EUC/Scooter you ride sensibly but if the po po try and pull you, refuse to give any information and do a runner if necessary, ain't no diesel peugeot catching a Veteran Lynx through a city
I think that electric scooters should be allowed on footpaths and bike lanes but not in roads and that they shouldn’t need insurance or a driving licence to use
It is complete madness that we still can't legally use privately owned escooters, especially when other countries sorted this out a decade ago! FFS, 15-20mph is nowhere near as dangerous as flipping cars that can exceed 60mph in seconds.
In the UK they ride them in the pavement where its 1 meter wide.
They are not ridden on the street, if you crash into a pedestrian at 20 mph you can break their leg.
The government have adopted EU laws covering cars and HGV's, but not the “Défaut de permis" for lightweight, low speed vehicles. This allows anyone over 14 to use a lightweight vehicle capable of less than 48kmph with 8 hours basic training. It's the one good thing we need to adopt from the EU.
100% yes to upping the max assistance speed on e-bikes to 20mph; non-assisted bikes travel at these speeds routinely (except up hills!) and if we’re going to be forced to mix with cars/lorries due to lack of cycling infrastructure, for safety’s sake, let’s move at the same speed and so reduce the need for drivers to overtake.
While getting fit enough to maintain 20mph most used to gain experience. The stronger muscles and ligaments help reduce damage during crashes (the endorphins also helped with the pain). If at 17 folk can buy that speed without doing a CBT or even a cycling proficiency test I fear e-scooters and e-bikes will become the new 'donor cycles'.
30 mph, but yes!
I drive a 45 km/h (so about 30 mph?!) scooter daily, partially on the road, mainly on bike ways. Since i live in hilly areas, there is no way around a stronger scooter than allowed anyways.
Damn, even police saw me once going 45 km/h where 50 is allowed, no helmet, no license plate because its a "e bike"... well they didnt care. They were probably happy that i was not a traffic obstacle as the legal scooters are.
But where i live we have much hills, barely anyone drive legal scooters here except the city rats. Most scooters go at least 40 km/h, majority of them have like 3000W total power minimum and go mostly between 50-90 km/h (and yes, they also pass the police check, without helmet or license plate!).
I guess in the city its a different story, but again... I need the scooter as well for my hometown where i need, again, more power than allowed! City cops cant expect me to buy 2 scooters, one for trips at home and one "toy" scooter to take into the city.
Superb video as always. If the government have any sense they will have already reached out to you guys for insights on how to implement laws which are sufficiently robust to avoid misuse without being so archaic that they strangle this brilliant form of transport.
You are talking about the British government under a Tory leadership with 5 prime ministers in as many years? We are in this mess because they do NOT reach out, or think, or make any attempt for a decision that could even remotely make a positive impact for the population. Especially if there is nothing in it for them personally. Scooters have no lobby to grease the process.
I just want to be able to own and ride a proper Segway. The law needs a change...
It's madness Eilis - fingers crossed on that name 🤞
UK onewheel rider here, I have mixed opinions about the scooter law. Part of me is saying good, people should certainly be able to ride what they want so long are they don't run anyone over with it. The other part says, it doesn't matter because they'll never say onewheels meet the standards anyway. I do like a little outlaw spirit as well, you see another rider and think, yep, he ain't stopping for the pigs either. It's like a bit of community spirit IMO.
But what good is "not stopping for the pigs" as you so eloquently put it, when you are limited to 15mph & an unmarked police car spots you? in reality your chances of evasion by "putting your foor down" is hardly likely to help you ..we need a blind eye to well ridden, observant, escooter road users who are limting themselves to 15.5mph, polite & not presenting themselves as a future problem, unfortunately we don't get the opportunity to do that based on the "illegal everywhere" mentality of the law which only favours those it draws licensing money from (baby cash cow) the longer this plays out (the it's a fad that if ignored will go away, wait them out mentality) the harder it becomes to resolve, also not helped by the fact that it is overseen by tory chair whose only connection is the fact they represent Milton Keynes (thus a very planned regulated city with bikeways & alt transport access from day one, which is pretty much standalone in city design over a time period of 1000 years here in the uk, it is far more advanced than the 1930's garden city design(ation) & the numpties neither talk, nor consider E-scooters outside of built up areas which as a countryside user is a completely different animal in terms of safety (oft relating to the limiting max speed compared to slower moving ice vehicles in built up towns & cities) ..time to refresh your heads with the 2 parlimentary PED recorded meetings from several years ago now, as that is all we have to go on for supposed "progress" the videos are archived & are presumably available still.
Austrian E scooter rider here.
The law is unclear, the police knows those "legal" scooters suck and are dangerously slow - so they just accept "illegal" e scooter drivers going moderate and "within the law" on the road and bike paths.
I drive since 3000 km a 1000W / 45 km/h e scooter and im fine, police looks at you typically because its a bigger scooter with suspension, but they realise fast enough that its not anything particularly "fast" they see, Single Motor, lighter build, thin deck,...
Not once police have "overseen" me going 40 km/h without a helmet on the bike path beside them, they have just accepted defeat on e scooters, especially because of the ridicilous laws, at least yet.
Hi Eric, ( -10 points 🤣 )
I'm on my second scooter now, my first one was a basic one with no suspension but I use a bridleway on my 2 mile each way to work.
Spend £700 importing basically a Kukurin G2 Max at £500 under retail.
Although not with out problems my journey takes 6 mins each way, now if I had a car that same journey would take 30 mins each way.
I wear full safety gear including a motorcycle helmet.
99.9% of the people I see everyday have no problem with me riding an "Illegal" escooter but you always get the "Kevins".
Had one male cyclist frothing at the mouth because I tooted and said passing to your right and another who demanded I wait while he called the police for my criminal activity 🤕
I slow down when passing any people and dog walkers and even pop into my local cycling club club house for a coffee and have great chats with them, we all have to acomodate each other.
Yes what I do is "Illegal" but I've not driven a car for my own use since 1991, I cycled for many years until my mid 50's when my knee's got to old and couldn't cycle anymore.
I'm over 60 and proud of my green creditionals !!
The cyclist frothing at the mouth part, did you stick around? KEVIN'S AND KAREN'S out there calling the cops when they feel like it is ridiculous, get the laws right then less idiot phone calls to police
I went into PCWorld yesterday and was really surprised to see a large selection of e scooters especially adult ones. Timely update.
But why is this a thing? In Game and Computer shops i have seen also sometimes a huge stack of scooters to sell, but mostly boring, slow "legal" ones. What does a Game Shop or Computer Shop to do with micromobility? Or are they just cheap from china and bring good profit?
@@harrison00xXx you answered your own question
@@therealunclevanya So it is because they sell good for a high price and are acquired easily and cheap from china.
Now the impossible to count scooter manufacturers with basically the same scooter models make a lot more sense! I thought since the beginning that they are all the same rebranded stuff just with slight variations in features and functions (lights, blinkers, grips, display and throttle units, handlebar,…)
I personally drive a 2000W e scooter with a max speed of 45 km/h, an older 2021 model with already 7k km on it and still going strong.
Whats coming soon is 2 new tires… one full rubber tire for the rear and a tubeless air tire on the front as well new brake pads and probably because of age and rust new discs as well.
Today i even talked to some police officers and they even told me i can drive this 45km/h scooter legally since its below 4000w peak because i have the A license. I really like that, i thought im illegally on the road until today lol. But today i had a helmet, they also made clear that helmet is mandatory for scooters above 25km/h top speed no matter if i also drive slower than 25.
@@harrison00xXx they are not legal at all in the UK on our streets unless you rent one, you cannot own one and use it in the public highway
@@therealunclevanya Who cares about legality?
If something is unnecessarily "illegal", its legal to be illegal!
Well Eilis..
If you've come in off the street
And you're beginning to feel the heat
Well listen buster
You better start to move your feet
To the rockin'est, rocksteady beat
Of Madness
One step beyond!
👋 I think e-scooter designers should introduce a 'Kick Assist' mode option for all of the new e-scooters they make.
What I mean by 'Kick Assist' is electrical assistance that allows the e-scooter wheels to continue rolling for longer than usual after the user manually pushes the scooter with their feet. The duration of electrically assisted rolling could be based on the force and frequency of the manual pushes.
I think Kick Assist would be a welcomed additional mode in places where e-scooters are currenty illegal because it would work in very similar way to a manual kick-scooter with very little rolling resistance.
My son was stopped on his escooter by police a couple of months ago, he was issued a - warning under section 52(4)b of the police reform act 2002, in relation to - driving in a Careless or inconsiderate manner contrary to section 3 of the road traffic act 1988 and - driving on common land , moorland, land which is not part of a road, a footpath, bridleway, restricted byway contrary to section 34 of the road traffic act 1988
He was on his way home from work at the time so police wanted to check if he had any outstanding warrants (he didnt)
The outcome was - this notice serves as a warning that if you continue to drive this or any other mechanically propelled vehicle in the same manner on another occasion, the vehicle being used at that time will be liable to seizure under this legislation, this also places the same warning any other person driving the above mentioned vehicle in this manner
So that was a summary of what the section 59 notice said, as for what the police said to him
I don't want to see you riding this scooter again over 15mph, and don't want to see you on paths or grass etc (he was cutting over a grass verge to save a mile riding) he was allowed to ride the scooter home and was at no time told he can't ride it, have his copy of the section 59 he was given
After reading it I wondered if maybe some forces have decided to go easy on people using them whilst still having an excuse to stop them and require details etc, me and my mrs have since ride past police many times on our scooters and they've never looked at us tbh
A summarisation of the UK in general at 2:55:
"It's all just a hot mess"
Finally, finally a video featuring @eilis again ❤ Thx 🙏
A chap I was talking too, says his Daughter in law who is a police officer, apparently told him that they're told to turn a blind eye on a daily basis. They're everywhere around my region. It sure does seem dumb with the push for green transport, they would drop this to the bottom. But we know it's more about money than climate. Naturally when legalised they will capitalise on its legislation. I'm forced to continue to use a car for most journeys over a mile. This carbon could be reduced by a scooter to almost zero, depending on the source of charging method. Great video, keep us posted. Subbed.
I do think the delay on actually getting some legislation for e-scooters is madness, but as a non-electric cyclist, I don't like arguments for increased speed limits that are based around "e-bikes/e-scooters need to be able to fit in better amongst large road vehicles". I feel it encourages the idea that people on micromobility devices should be on roads with large vehicles where they (potentially) should be travelling at 20mph, rather than encouraging the development of properly separated infrastructure for micromobility users where users can choose to travel slower than 20mph without causing traffic problems.
Of course, that assumes that this separated infrastructure will be developed everywhere, which I expect won't happen.
yeah infrastructure ill be lacking councils are cash strap been government idea for while might change with new gov coming in also got problem of once a Council does put it in get same people complaining about potholes etc...but really if scooter get people to work and to pop out from house to get a cup off coffee it il help the local economy regardless
6:11 Pay careful attention to section 72. It says: "Penalty on persons committing nuisances by riding on footpaths, &c.". It doesn't say: "Penalty on persons riding on footpaths." The key bit, is "committing a nuisance". That law wasn't brought in to outright ban use of footpaths, it was brought in to be able to penalise those that cause a nuisance.
Unless there is a cycle with flow pavement, it's an offence to be on the pavement even with a regular push bike nuisance or not.
@@andreirusu6998 That is my exact point: If you're not committing a nuisance then it is legal to cycle on the pavement. Pretty much nobody realises this. Mr Boateng, minister for transport in 1999 said: “The introduction of the fixed penalty is not aimed at responsible cyclists who sometimes feel obliged to use the pavement out of fear of traffic and who show consideration to other pavement users when doing so." That is why, as I already said, it is specifically worded "committing nuisances", not simply riding on footpaths.
I am with the need to regulate the use of e scooters having seen some of these knock off crap scooters catching fire etc. Your video shows police officers spending their time enforcing the laws rather than catching the atrocious driving of many of the road users I see on a daily basis.
Unfortunately old laws are stuck in place until they are repealled or replaced by newer oned. We need politicians that understand what this is and that is a very hard thing as they seem to believe batteries explode and people riding them are all dangerous. A lot of this is through the sensational headlines that get used against any electric vehicle. The biggest problem are the ones not properly regulated or modified and there seems little to stop them.
I had a cyclist fly past me the other day doing over 30 MPH and was not pedalling and in effect was riding a moped. He had the battery, motor and the control of the throttle. This wasn't limited to 18 MPH and having to use pedal assist.
Maybe the answer is then to require a basic insurance if you are riding a conformative electric scooter or bike.
I do school runs for a lot of my grandchildren and have noticed more and more kids riding to school on E-scooters now as opposed to their parents taking them to school in big SUVs so surely that’s a good thing?
I was not allowed to enter underground with my fully folded ultraportable E-TWOW GT Sport. I descended to begging the guy, but "computer said no". I had to order Uber which did exactly the same for 40 pounds (with the scooter in the trunk), and I was also late to work as metro was by far the fastest. It solved nothing, but wasted my money. I was effectively punished for NOT having a larger scooter with 1+ kWh battery like Apollo Phantom. Now I'm considering Shimizu Arma in a backpack.
20 km/h limit would be worse than e-bikes which can go up to 25 km/h (that's where the 15.5 mph comes from) and which you can ride without a licence starting at 14 years of age, if I'm not mistaken. It's madness, Eilis!
It doesn't make any sense to keep e-scooters below the ebikes. Some bright spark must have had an idea to keep us safe.
Escooters don't need to faster than 8mph.
@@mikewade777 They do. You don’t get to decide my needs.
@@steveo4991 Then you don't need an e scooter
@@mikewade777 I do. Again, you don’t get to tell me my needs you absolute clowns arse.
The UK government does NOT want eScooters on the roads without TAXing and to further complicate things mandatory scooter (motorcycle) traing AND I'm sure they'll also want you to have vehicle insurance on your e-scooter This is not for safety concerns but simply another way of pumping money out of the public who is trying to save a bit of money by not spending ££ on fuel and going green at the same time. The UK government doesn't know how to sensibly manage our taxes, so they must find more ways to get even more money out of its law-abiding citizens.
Thanks for the update, the PACTS recommendations sound promising. But of there mandating helmets for scooters then they should for e-bikes too.
Helmet should be mandated if you go above 40 kmh for sure, but yes, up to 25 km/h you should fall 100% under e bikes and its laws in ANY case, so no helmet.
I personally would even suggest you should be allowed to drive a fast performance e scooter as well, just stick to damn safety rules and acceptable speeds and a fast scooter is as dangerous as a slow one.
I feel there should be a class 2 vehicle scooter that has a speed limit of 4mph/6kmph that is pavement legal only with no age restriction. And even have pavement legal scooters in a 4mph tortoise mode that have a the ability to travel faster on the roads. Make the legislation aline with mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs. There should be manufactures safety standards etc for riding on pavements and perhaps regulation on use such prohibiting their use within 1 meter behind other pavement users and in crowds. Scooters appear to be to me safer than bikes so why would an electric scooter have more restrictions and regulations than electric bikes?
In NYC, I commute to the office, 1 mile away. It is twice as fast a walking and faster and cheaper than public transport. Driving would nominally be faster, but I would spend 3 times teh commute time just looking for parking. LOL
Some places require UL (Underwriters Laboratory) for micro e-mobility vehicles and batteries.
I ride past police all the time on mine in Liverpool and they don’t even bat an eye. It’s been over a year now. Only a matter of time before I come across a jobsworth who’s having a bad day no doubt but I’ve had my moneys worth so far. Just got home from an 8 mile round trip to Halfords for some tyre sealant and passed police while I was riding on the pavement, they didn’t even flinch.
so what are the laws on mobility scooters? why can't it be classed like them!
max 4mph
Most escooter users are younger people, and many younger people don't vote.
And so the politicians put young people's issues to the bottom of the pile. I wish there was a culture of young people organising and becoming more militant about getting their views heard, because society seems to currently be organised at the whim of older people.
My understanding is that most older people are generally sympathetic to the Tories, and I think most older people are dead set against escooters. Maybe there is a fear that the governing Tories will be punished by their voters if they legalise the scooters, and so they keep kicking the can down the road.
Time after time I hear older people protesting about how escooter legalisation will allow millions of young scallywags to terrorise pensioners in shopping malls, or on the streets. They act as if they are terrified of change, and particularly of any changes that might encourage more young people onto the streets.
If the older people I've spoken to had their way, they would rather see everyone in cars and producing huge amounts of carbon, than see scooters legalised.
I used to be one of those who believed the idea that age tends to lead to wisdom, but the reality I see when talking to these people is that, more often than not, age brings fear and stupidity.
Hence, no escooters.
Should be regulated like acoustic bikes or electric 25kph bikes. So, no age restriction but in the case of scooters maybe mandatory LiFePo4 batteries, that way it will eliminate the odd fire story. As Eilis pointed out, it is MADNESS especially if rental scooters are legal but private ones are not. Here in Spain they have to be insured but that is only possible if the vehicle has been approved by the Spanish. There are currently only 7 models (strangely all in the top price bracket) that can be insured (25 Euros/year) but new stuff coming out all are advertising "homologado" meaning, can be legalized. The 199 Euro trow away scooters (brakes? You got feet?) have all but disappeared. We also see more and more plugs propping up for e-bikes AND SCOOTERS for a quick charge up while shopping or going to the beach.
Our town hall wants to get rid of cars and they eliminate more and more parking, got 30kph speed limits in place (nationwide) and restricted many park places to electric cars only. So many people moved over to bikes and scooters.
It is faster, cheaper and more fun anyway.
Here in the PRC, they don't considered as motor vehicle… not required insurance, all the owner needs to do is charge it outside of any residential building. Oh and they don't need to show the resistance status unlike e modpad.
Great research. Great video. Thanks!
It's the exact same thing over here in NL, back in the OG Segway days it was added to the law that PEVs are "special/novelty mopeds".
This basically meant that you have to be 16 or older, hold an AM license and the PEV itself needs to meet a number of requirements. These are by and large utterly sane and sensible requirements.
For starters it needs to have a type rating, meaning the PEV needs to pass a number of tests, just like any moped has to. This includes such things are the electronics aren't allowed to interfere with other devices, but also things like the thing needs to be safe.
In broad strokes, what an electric "scooter" needs to have is functional lights, indicators, a mechanical brake that can overpower the motor, rear view mirrors, and a fixed seat. Of course they need a license plate and third party liability insurance.
Personally the only daft requirement in my eyes is the seat requirement. Everything else is perfectly sane and reasonable. Why do I think this way? Because in the time of the OG Segway, when that thing was a big hype, I got run down by some kid tearing up a mall at 25kph. While I was waiting for an ambulance to come stitch me up, that kid bolted and got away. There was CCTV in the mall, but because he was wearing a hoodie over a cap, his face wasn't visible. And with no plate on the Segway, there was no way to find him and press charges or sue for damages.
This was the reason for me to start lobbying for regulation of the things, which happened quickly as they were explicitly designated as mopeds.
The side effect of this is that they never became a huge thing over here. Things like Bird and Lyme are none existent here. Instead we have Felix and CheckRide which do the whole vehicle sharing with normal sit-down moped e-scooters instead. The big difference is, everyone already knew where those go on the road, they have plates, insurance, etc. And frankly I'm glad it panned out like that. Both because of safety, and because the moped sized scooters are expensive enough to not be disposable, unlike the autoped "scooters", so they're better for the environment as well.
The continued deferring of addressing e-vehicles sounds to me like you have a government that is either unable or unwilling to govern. How unusual for a conservative government. 🙄
Our Government holds power for five years, it has a long list of bills and amendments to bills, that it has to deal with during those five years. Bills get first and second readings in the House of Commons, those bill then go to the House of Lords to be amended, tidied up, then they come back with amendments. The House of Commons then reviews the amendments and has a vote to accept or reject the amendments, then the Bill is presented with or without amendments and a vote is taken, if accepted, that Bill then becomes Law, if the Bill is rejected, then it falls and will not re-appear during the remainder of that Government.
It is an utterly archaic way to pass laws and is the reason why so many laws don't get passed and also, why so many Laws never disappear.
We have a government and probably a successive government that is quite happy to talk green but refuses to walk green.
Until they work out a way of monetisation for e-bikes and e-scooters the current status quo will continue.
Thanks for the informative video. Why do some people feel that helmets should be mandatory for an e-scooter that is restricted to say 25 km/h, when there is no mandatory requirement to wear a helmet on a bicycle or e-bike? Is it because they are fundamental unsafe due to small wheel size and lack of stability? ( which i believe they are) I do agree that e-scooters need regulation to stop riding on pavements, etc. It seems to me that the Goverment are not particularly bother about doing anything and are dragging their heels on this.
Blinkered view ricky, there will be far less problems if folk look at proper stance when riding, use basic turning blinker lights to indicate with, as an ebike rider & snowboarder a lot of the problem for the avereage new rider is poor stance & failing to understand how the whole weighted rider / scooter combo changes when turning, hand signalling etc, seasonal changes etc, helmets do not save people from stupid moves, knowledge does, you appear to want to make light transport bulkier by FORCING helmet wearing into law for cyclists (which it isn't now) I would have to see a medical exemption for that (more hoops to jump through)
NB if folk are concerned for safety & legality, then why no police action on the 1000's of hacked / modded e-bike food delivery bikes that fall under "pedal assist" but clearly are not used in that manner, I did report this to the twats overseeing e-scooter legistlation possibilities (m/keynes tory chair) but ZERO reply ...because pointing out the obvious in an agenda to stall, ignore & carry on before (a cock blocking tactic) relies on doing their own thing with blinkers on, result (if any) messed up and dubious as before, the longer the uncertainty the more wholly crap escooters will be bought creating a bigger headache to resolve IF legalised, ..helmets are no excuse for observant riding, I have encountered more risk riding my ebike at 5 mph or less when turning on seasonally wet roads than on my escooter mile for mile, a helmet did not protect me from the road nor the physio (I was using my ebike FOR physio as was) my escooter, ridden properly allowed for me to brake & step off, compared to my ebike sliding from under me (I was already in a low gear, using pedal assist because it was both dark & a car was behind me) it would have been a foot down scenario if on an escooter as a direct scenario comparison, something not possible when seated on the bike to prevent a fall, which people urging helmets do not necessarily consider, traction & slippage when taking off rather than already in motion or topping out at 15.5mph which does not require a helmet for an ebike with the same max speed , so less of the badly thought out demands for helmets to be compulsory please,
If you can hire an escooter from a scheme with little to no proof of presumed rider competence (ie having a drivers license does not relate to experience of safely using a slower mode of transport such as a bike then it does not mean you are competent to ride a new unfamiliar technology such as an escooter, an ego may say otherwise, you cannot act like a car driver on a 25kg escooter like you do when in a car, but people do "because it is a bit of fun" (as witnessed by myself encountering ignorant tourists holding up buses / trams / cars in berlin during lockdown, lacking nous & basic politeness & especially road sense. ..throws up all sorts of complexities as to how we go forward, at least least someone who has bought one will know how it works, leans, limitations etc, compared to the "casual"(ty) user of a hire (not mine so I don't care) element of society skewing figure that govt are casting the net for in order to make a supposed decision that has been sat on way beyond any feasible excuse that covid restrictions may have once presented!
Ride safe, it is the only chink of hope of a positive outcome in this whole mess overseen by besuited politicians whose experience is likely no more than a photo opportunity with an esccoter, NOT AS AN EXPERIENCED RIDER.
@Sh1tfaceMagee-db3px thanks for the very lengthy response. You misunderstood what I was saying. I am not calling for mandatory helmet wearing on bicycles. I don't think helmets should be mandatory on bicycles. All I was trying to point out is that helmet wearing IS NOT mandatory on bicycles, but the suggestion in the video was that one of the requirements for riders of e-scooter would be to wear a helmet. The point being an e-bike or regular bike can go considerably fast than an e-scooter. I think it is up to the individual to decide if they want to wear a helmet or not. Personally I ride regularly on road and off and always wear a helmet as my brain is important to me and i want to protect it. I take your point that you can brake and step off an e-scooter in an emergency, which you can't on a bike ( I know from bitter experience) also you said that e-bikes have the same maximum speed as an e-scooter 15.5mph. They do not. The assistance stops at 15.5mph. The maximum speed is whatever the rider has the power for. I still stand by my statement that e-scooters are unstable. I have tried one on a hire scheme in Canterbury Kent, and found it difficult to ride and unstable. This is due to a very small wheel size and a standing rider causing a very high center of gravity.
It's almost as if businesses selling these are harming the chances of e-scooters being legal.
Drove my maxi scooter on the road and did IAM Advanced Motorocycle training on it, didnt know I wasn't allowed to.
Is that a motor scooter?
"Gathering data" is such a cop out. If the rental ones were not considered to be sufficiently safe for operation in public, they would not be extending the "trials". Realistically they should by now have more than enough data to be able to codify the use of private scooters with similar spec and following similar rules to the rentals. That may still leave riders of more exotic devices in limbo but the majority that I see people riding look like they would qualify.
I think its basically code at this point for "its the next governments problem".
No legislation until 2026!!!! 😭 That's mad as for the limitations to the rumoured legislation I'm looking for a scooter with longest range possible and quick charging and hopefully somewhere on the scooter that can have large storage compartment shopping, goods ect.
Just came back from Iceland and the scooters there made the holiday, we saw soo much more of the city and outskirts that we otherwise would have had to wait for a taxi or wouldnt have known about. The scooter app only wanted an google account and a phone number. We just arent trusted in the UK and furthermore im sure it would cut down congestion- all the drivers in Iceland were super alert of scooter users and always gave us way.
How the fuck can they slap 6 points onto your driving license? That’s like saying they’re going to impound someone’s PlayStation for stealing a 75p drink. This country is a joke.
Absolutely Bonkers come on uk let’s get it done
I work as a Truck Driver around europe and i carry an e scooter with me
Its a freakin joy to use whenever i want to buy groceries or just ride somewhere
I go to the uk pretty often too
I only use my scooter in the dark 😂
In the us where I am at, theres no regulations, but the public transit in town can kick you off if you have a scooter. Because one caught fire somewhere was the official line I heard lol.
It’s madness Eilis, madness I tell you.
If they were to become legal where do we ride them?
Can we use they only in bus lanes, but then won’t bus drivers/companies get annoyed at being slowed down by more and more e-scooters?
Can we use them only between certain hours on the road, off peak times?
Do me need more cycle lanes. A cycle path (one side for pedestrians, one side for scooters).
Straight up same rules as e-bikes?
So much to consider.
E scooters should be made legal providing:
Riders are over the age of 18, anyone under the age of 18 is not allowed to ride them in public areas, only on private land with the landowner's permission, a bit like the silly law today, but only applicable to under 18s.
Helmets and reflective clothing must be worn.
Mandatory 'electric scooter proficiency course', similar to the optional cycling proficiency test.
Course is followed by the issuing of a new 'e scooter licence' which, for a small fee, proves you are allowed to ride one, anyone caught without a licence faces confiscation of the scooter and a £200 fine and a ban.
Take out mandatory insurance (changes in the law to allow insurers to insure e scooters providing riders adhere to the new rules)
E scooters must not be ridden on pavements or in pedestrian areas, but can be ridden on some roads, cycleways and in cycle lanes. Scooter riders must adhere to the same highway code as cyclists when riding on roads.
E scooters must not exceed 25mph, anyone caught with one that is capable of higher speeds faces confiscation of the scooter, a £200 fine and a six month e scooter ban.
I mean it's not rocket science is it, as a responsible rider myself, e scooters are not going anywhere anytime soon, and the government needs to legislate and move with the times.
You are all in la la land. More people will face severe injury on standing escooters than any other 2 wheeled vehicles
Corruption is endemic in this country hence the lack of action by the government. Electric bikes, no problem
Pending the answer to my comment below and as it is impossible to get said insurance at this time, what would you suggest we do?
It ain't never gonna happen, they keep changing the goal posts and they'll loose too much money on public transport. Shame really as it's such a good eco mode of transport.
I don’t think there should be any regulation at all beyond a max speed limit of 20mph and maybe a minimum age of 15.
Adding all the other bits like insurance takes away the appeal of them vs cars. Cars are by far the worst way to travel for people, in terms of safety, cost, congestion, and the environment. So we should make it clearly better to use other methods of transportation.
t's madness Eilis - Our government lacks common sense..
Truth. It's a mafiatocracy funded by the fossil fuel industry, and driven by media and landowners to keep themselves in power.
Can't even sleep at a motorway service station in your car now without getting fined.
What has democracy got to do with it!🙄
If the government want to make money from making the personally owned e-scooters, why not put an annual road tax on them? I'd pay it.
It's just MADNESS! The law needs to be updated!
Still hoping you all get this issue sorted. Keep up the good fight 💪🏼
You make valid points about the benefits but unfortunately where I live there are racks of lime scooters which magically get racked up out side of schools for the end of the day. Forget the age limit, and real ID, money is more important.
And then they are just dropped anywhere once the credit runs out, blocking pavements, drives, roads. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY has a big part to play in making them acceptable. I like the concept but despise the selfish outcome forced onto everyone else.
In my city they also tried to ban private scooters in favor of the Bird rental scooters.
Turned out a lot of people destroyed, stole and were hiding those scooters, just to end after less than a year those rental scooters existence and allowing private scooters again.
Its btw also a BAD THING if electric scooters got their own, especially "low power" category. Not only can you expect a insurance and license plates, but also ridicilous regulations making those scooters impractical to ride (too low power, too low speed)
I hope that we in austria never get rid of the unclear und ridicilous dangerous (bcause too slow and weak, again) regulations about e scooters, because thats what makes them somewhat "just an e-bike" and you even pass police checks with a lets say 2x 2000W scooter going up to 70 km/h. If you get caught with such a scooter in germany where the regulations and laws are somewhat in place... you will not only lose your 2500-4000€ scooter, but also get a hefty fine partially including the loss of your license.
To correct one small error, you can ride an escooter on private land to which the public don’t have access. So you can’t ride one in a supermarket car park, even with the landowners consent, as the road traffic enactments (laws) still apply.
The RTA 1988 has also had numerous amendments since 1988, so making a big deal of the ‘1988’ shows very poor understanding of the RTA, although the last big suite of amendments was in 2015 and still predates escooters.
Madness. Let’s make 3rd party insurance compulsory and legalise
The e-scooters aren't the problem it's the morons that ride them, they don't follow the rules of the road, wander all over the road without looking or giving signals, riding strait of pavements into the road, jumping traffic lights, riding underage and riding more than one up. If I as a car driver we're to be hit by one who or how is the rider going to pay for the repairs to my car, even a scratch on a new car can be expensive to repair. The local police seem to turn a blind eye to them . The sooner they start consfersating and destroying the the better. The people illegally using them under age are probablyiii
They are left dumped on pavements, people fly around on them both on the road (without lights or helmets) or fly around pavements on them. There are loads of cheapo ones available that I am sure are a fire risk as you mentioned. I would just ban them all from sale until the trials have concluded.
It's not a vehicle, It's a rider stupid behavior!
I was shocked to hear about the UK not including e-scooter on their roads. Also shocked about the 20km/h speed limit. 20km/h is reachable by non electric bike with ease. Also when you do not have a bike lane (in EU in most countries you can ride the e-scooter on a bike lane) you are left on the road. And on the road with other cars a 20km/h speed limit is pretty dangerous as you are slowing them really down. In the USA the speed limit is 32km/h, the same as their e-bikes. And that is really useful.
Also the mopeds that can be driven by 16yo can go up to 50km/h and they are required by law to have a helmet and a driving license for mopeds. Those are ICE engine, 2 wheel personal vehicles, that can be insured, pay tax and have a number plate . Wait a minute, what is the the difference between those mopeds and an e-scooter? Most bad things that happen on those e-scooter because they are ridden by children that have not been educated in the rules of the road. But no, the electric vehicle is the future in the fight for clean Air, the e-scooter is just a cheaper alternative that does not have such rich lobby groups. Takes less space, uses less electricity (again with the lobby groups), you can stack more of them on the road, will pay less taxes and insurance and can not be charged on a supercharger or any other fast charger (again with the lobby groups). Yep what a loss is the e-scooter (for the big and hungry companies), but not for the consumer.
I’m told that as a class of vehicle these are generating a specific rise in horrible injuries amongst riders. I often see people at dusk or at night dressed in black or dark clothing with poor or no lights in the road on their scooters. Some seem to have bypassed speed limiters on their scooter.
The lack of visibility, unfamiliarity with the sound they make and the rapid closing speed when someone rides one (especially on the pavement) is really hazardous to pedestrians.
The form factor and the physics of the high centre of gravity of a standing person, being decelerated suddenly by an object or a pothole hitting the front wheel, would accelerate them like a whip head first onto the ground. I am not convinced that electric scooters are going to be a life-affirming addition to public health as things stand.
E-scooters always get all the negative attention in the UK when there are so many technically illegal electric vehicles being used on the roads-and pavements sometimes-everyday.
Due to the hilariously low legal battery and motor max power limits, most of the e-bikes you see on the UK roads are illegal. Electric unicycles are illegal, e-skateboards are illegal, and pretty much any other electric micromobility vehicle you can think of is illegal.
That police have only really been known to take issue with e-scooters now and then. I guess that is largely due to how some foolish people behave with them.
With the correct regulations, e-scooters could be the safest electric micromobility vehicle. I hope that happens soon. 🛴🧑⚖️
Im happy for scooters to be classed the same as ebikes, and id love to see the speed limit raised to 20mph and power limit up to 1kw. And throttle only also allowed for bikes. No helmets, it should be a personal choice. The current power rules are unfair for heavier people, and cargo bikes. Theres a reason that a lot of the delivery riders are riding around on illegal bikes, the current laws aren't good enough.
can't wait for this
Ireland is about to legalise e scooter. How different is that to the uk.
Defininitely MADNESS! The way things have been left a whole raft of the population have become technically criminals, just because they are using private e-scooters on public roads. Coming from a cycling background, it is sensible that e-scooters should not be used on footpaths, they should be used on roads or cycle paths. I personally hate shared use foot/cycle paths: cyclists and pedestrians do not mix well, as pedestrians do not walk in a regulated manner, which is dangerous when cyclists interact with them (nothing against pedestrians, I am often one myself, it just doesn't work) and I think it should be the same with e-scooters. On the legal issues, it would be saensible to have the new category of light ZEVs and also put e-bikes in the same category. This would allow legislation to be passed efficiently and quickly as you would be just looking at this category, and you could also have a look at the restrictive law around e-bikes with their limited power and speed at the moment. Could allow more power on e-bikes, but at same time require training and insurance similar to mopeds if you are going faster and maybe not pedalling. Keep current laws for lower power models. Plus one for helmets, my worst concussion from a bike crash was when only doing 15mph with a helmet on, and lost 30 minutes of memory to amnesia, showing even slower speed impacts can still be very serious.
THIS IS MADNESS! THIS IS SPARTAAAAAAAAAA!
I can't believe I didn't think of that one 😀
Hey 😃
I really love e-scooters in Germany now. You have to try it yourself to see what a good mobility alternative it is. Unfortunately, the permitted 20 km/h is a bit too slow in traffic, which is why you often feel like an obstacle. That's why I'm in favor of allowing them to drive at 25 km/h. We have very strict regulations, which is why unfortunately many providers and models no longer exist with us. But they are very safe models, which you can also see from the very few problems with batteries we have. Rental scooters are often a problem in cities, in contrast to drivers with their privately purchased ones.
It may be useful to contact the Labour shadow minister for transport to ask about their plans for E-scooters. The incumbent government are too busy trying to send people to Rwanda to worry about how the rest of us commute to work.
E bikes and e scooters are not allowed on trains in Scotland
Only in the UK.
Of course if we could ride our own scooters, the local government do not make any money from it, so they will keep this going for as long as possible.
Electric bikes, that weigh a lot more and are bigger, perfectly legal, small scooters with the same speed , not legal, insane.
i live in norway e-scooter that dont go above 22 KM/H is legal and can drive on sidewalk in OSLO but in london its completely banned unless its a rental
Min age 16. Helmets always. No passengers. No insurance. No number plate. Min wheel size 8”, not 12”. Competency training course mandatory UNLESS already experienced in use (like me) and finally max speed 23mph. Most normal pedal cycles can easily do more than 20mph.