Like a car, still need insurance if on the pavement.
Printable View
Agree, I see a lot of kids on bikes in London who don't give a damn about vehicles or the rules of the roads. Particularly bad when you get groups of 20-30 kids out for the weekend "ride out" through the centre of town. Pretty sure they go with the mentality that anything happens to them, they will play the victim and blame the car driver despite cycling dangerously. The system is set up to hammer the driver unless there is undeniable proof.
Think it's social media like this that encourages it...
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPaujndJ..._web_copy_link
I’m guessing you’ve been overtaken on a residential road too then? Scooters are the least of London’s traffic related trouble. I was crossing with my son last week with the aid of the lollipop person outside a school and a car literally swerved around them forcing my son and I back on to the pavement. The irony was the traffic was backed up further down the road so much so my son and I were able to walk 200m to catch up to him so I could point out his error…his response was to take off his seatbelt and ‘threaten’ to get out of his car!!
The standard of driving in London now is so poor I’m surprised I don’t see serious accidents on a daily basis…more though luck then judgment I fear!
Multiple times and most recently was almost hit head on by a van overtaking a learner driver.
People who drove at 40 when the limit was 30 still do; it’s just made the differential speed greater. It seems the people who make these types of changes have never driven. I feel a lot less safe now than I did with a 30 limit. I keep meaning to ask the local councillors if the number/severity of accidents has decreased. Suspect not.
Standard of driving is a disgrace in Central London. Twice nearly been run over at Piccadilly Circus on consecutive weeks now. Last weekend a car decided to take a shortcut by driving the wrong way down a one-way bus lane, this week a car mounted the pavement and drove along it to get round the back of a queue. Gave me a wave as he drove by on the pavement as if to say “cheers for getting out of my way”.
Rubbish. I drive everywhere on my speed limiter. Plus I do not take a run up to speed limit changes and brake well in advance of decreases of limits. A limit is a limit. Trying to demonise drivers is pathetic, many have road sense, obey the highway code and are aware of our surroundings. I have hardly ever witnessed an e-scooter rider exhibit these qualities ever.
Just saw a middle aged man on one of these with an aftermarket looking seat on it. Was like a massive pole with a bicycle seat on top.
It's been a while since I've seen something that pathetic. Was funny and sad in equal measure.
You're not going to be pleased mate. I went to the Essex Stakeholder meeting on the rental machines today. The scheme in Essex is at the moment being piloted in 6 Essex Towns, Basildon, Brentwood, Clacton, Colchester, Braintree and Chelmsford. And in 70 other towns and cities throughout the Uk. If the DfT get the figures they want for lowering emissions this figure is to be doubled. The age demographic using the vehicles is 88% between the ages of 18 and 44.
71% of users are male.
As you know the Ford Motor Company are behind Spin in Essex. They stand to make millions out of this scheme, I'm afraid they are here to stay.
I, for one, welcome our new electric transportation overlords.
We have an electric scooter, purchased initially for a very specific purpose. It's used quite frequently and as a family, we love it. Once legal, my wife will commute to work on it, instead of the car.
Equally I have 2 e-bikes; one road, one MTB - I use both recreationally and have covered around 700 miles in 7-8 months. Once I return to office, I intend to commute on them - probably only in fair weather.
These have to be part of our future transport solution.
One person on a scooter is likely one less car on the road.
I'm still not convinced. How many are using cars for relatively short solo journeys that would be able to swap to an e-scooter?
The e-scooter doesn't allow you to carry shopping or luggage, go long journeys, travel with wife and kids. Annually, nearly a third of the year sees rain in London. For these reasons, I can't agree that one person on a scooter is going to be one less car on the road.
Meanwhile on the Lotus Emira, What do you drive and other Pistonhead offshoot adrenaline/tesosterone fuelled threads...........................
If you were designing a transport system it would look nothing like the economic and ecological disaster we have now.
Bike, scooters, e-bikes can all make the world a better place and in many countries already are. In the gammony UK we are against anything that would add any inconvenience or add any extra responsibility to the road users.
Right now cars and "professional drivers" are the biggest killers on the road. When they accept speed limiters in all vehicles, mandatory cameras storing all journeys for later analysis, automatic fines for cars parked ilegally, automatic points for jumped traffic lights, and jail time for accidents we can chat about the largely non existent problems these other forms of transport cause.
The average journey length is 8.6 miles so there are many short journeys that could be done on an ebike or escooter.
Also, most car journeys have just a single person in the car.
Scooters, bikes, segways etc could massively reduce city congestion and improve air quality.
I used a spin scooter the other day to get home after the football and think it’s great, will be using a lot more
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
"...gammony UK..." :icon_biggrin:
Bike, scooters, e-bikes are fine for urban, short journeys when carrying capacity isn't a factor.
Took the spaniel to the vets this week, 8 mile round trip, difficult without a car. Supermarket 6 mile round trip, loaded with shopping on way back, difficult without a car. Going to the range tomorrow, 34 mile round trip carrying kit, difficult without a car. And public transport for those journeys almost impossible.
"...cars and "professional drivers" are the biggest killers on the road..." well yes, because 'cars and "professional drivers" probably account for 90% of people on the road.
Not everyone lives in an urban environment where everything they want is a couple of miles away. People living in rural areas rely on cars.
I consider myself as green as it comes with transport as I hate being in a car. I walk, run, cycle or take public transport most places. So, I'm coming at this not from some petrol head point of view, but to think that e-scooters are going to have any impact in the UK on congestion or emissions is fantasy land. E-cars will eventually though.
If the wider population was that concerned about traffic and congestion, they would have been cycling that 8.6 miles decades ago. Convincing the mum/dad on the school run to take their 2 kids to school on an e-scooter or the average person going to work in his office clothes on a cold, wet, windy morning in the UK on an e-scooter just isn't going to happen.
So, I still don't buy the 1-for-1, e-scooter for car dream.
I am supportive of the regulated rental schemes though...e-scooters have their place for a specific transport need...the same one that some people have been doing by bicycle for decades.
I’m currently sitting in A&E having been knocked off my e-scooter whilst doing the school run this morning. I have always been sensible how I ride it but a van decided to do a u-turn at a crossroads right in front of me. Scooter went under his front wheel but thankfully I just have a sore arm!
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
My kids (4 an 7) are on their micro scooter and bike on the path, I am alongside on the road or cycle path on the scooter.
The van turned left into the side road, as I was alongside he swung back right again full lock into the main road to do the u-turn so I had nowhere to go
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
Saying “avoid” is, indeed, unhelpful but it clearly suggests that whoever writes the HC thinks it’s better to not do the manoeuvre than to do it.
The problem for other drivers is that, if you are coming from my left, I expect you to be going (your) left, straight on or (your) right, past me. As you are signalling right, it would not be unreasonable for me to take that signal as meaning you were exiting onto the road I am leaving. If that was the case, it would be safe for me to enter the roundabout. However, your right signal apparently isn’t being used that way and so, as I entered the roundabout, you’d still be turning to complete then U-turn.
If you signalled right not intending to go right and an accident resulted from undertaking a manoeuvre that the HC says to “avoid”, I wonder what the strict legal position would be.
I always avoid acting on any other driver’s signals unless there is some distance between us so hope to avoid situations like that.
The trouble with mini roundabouts is that there isn’t the opportunity to change, or start, signalling on e you are on it, as there is on a larger conventional one where you signal right as you join and then left as you reach your exit. I guess there are different sizes but some round my way are little more then a car’s length from one side to another so actually difficult to drive around (rather than over) which I believe is mandatory. They bring out the nervous driver in me.
So I have a broken arm, which being my right one makes doing anything very difficult but it could have been a lot worse.
I do think e-scooters are great but there likely will be a lot of accidents when rolled out legally. Even when ridden sensibly, car drivers are just not used to looking out for them in the same way they do for bikes, or appreciate that they are likely to be travelling a bit faster
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
I always wear a helmet but that’s all. I don’t think there is a need for anything else
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
From a local paper, e scooter driver fined hundreds of pounds and 8 points.
https://www.eppingforestguardian.co....ar-park-fined/