As someone who rides bicycles and occasionally wears lycra on 100 mile rides, I find the whole debate amusing, particularly with the Royal parks in London wading in.
The argument that a battery-powered scooter travelling 15mph is a dangerous menace, but a two-ton SUV travelling at 40mph isn’t, is laughable. It makes me think it isn’t really about the danger, but about stamping down on something that is 'different’.
Oops, that was for context that I neglected to provide.
I’m all too familiar with the “resistance” to people on bicycles. I see the same daft arguments time and time again from people who like to ignore the sheer number of deaths and injuries caused by cars. It’s the same with scooters unfortunately.
It’s not really an issue, but some people have decided that it should be.
To be honest this is 100% correct move, if only they did something about cyclists flouting the rules on it in the summer too then the promenade would be great.
I actually think this is genius and really clever by Beryl
As I said before in another post, a few weeks back, a cyclist who was riding on a pavement almost ran be down from behind. He ended up coming off of his bike to avoid me because there simply wasn’t enough room on the pavement to get around me. No bell, so I didn’t even hear him coming. He ended up with cuts and scrapes all over him and a damaged bike. Now for the controversial bit, I just walked off and left him to it.
I dont blame you.
Bournemouth promenade is awful with cyclists and eScooters. There’s rules in place but the police and council don’t enforce them. There’s been numerous stories in the local paper over the years about people being hit by cyclists on it. It’s lovely and wide but as you can imagine, being a seaside town it gets absolutely packed and you can’t move. My little girl has nearly been hit by scooters and cyclists numerous times, they go too fast and just don’t care, it’s incredibly irritating
I’m actually not at all against private e-scooters. My main issue is, as is the current case with cyclists, if someone on an e-scooter crashes into another human being on a pavement or whilst crossing the road at a properly designated point, there’s no insurance for injuries sustained.
Insurance I agree, would be virtually unenforceable for people riding privately owned e-scooters as much as it is with cyclists. I genuinely don’t know what recourse there is in terms of compensation for injured pedestrians concerning accidents involving either e-scooterists or cyclists. I’m assuming, that if the perpetrator is identified and caught at the scene, the police will carry out an investigation and recommend appropriate charges. I then assume, that it’s for the Magistrates or Crown Court to decide on the level of compensation if the rider is found guilty.
I don’t think I did misunderstand. I don’t see them as an issue at all, but the arguments against them are somewhat blinkered when the issues posed by other forms of transport are ignored.
The press will lose their minds over one person being hit by a bicycle or scooter, but more people are killed by drivers on pavements than cycles.
Pedestrian pavement deaths – RoadPeace
Ban pedestrians
A 3mph limit kind of removes any reason to actually use them though, doesn’t it
According to Apple Maps my home is 2 miles or so from my work and it takes me 25-30 minutes to walk that far
To be fair, I only linked the story for those that might be interested because personally I’ll never own one anyway. I just don’t want to be run down by some thick as mince moron who thinks it funny to weave in and out of pedestrians in a crowded area.
The whole problem with this e-scooter thing, is one rule for one lot i.e. the Government legal hire ones versus the privately owned ones that have been deemed illegal to use on the public highway. Whoever thought up that, is an absolute candidate for the commonsense of the year award. If the Government didn’t want privately owned scooters being used on the public road or pavements, then it should have ensured that they were so heavily taxed on purchase, that as a very minimum, each e-scooter should cost over £1.5k to put people off from buying them in the first place. As usual, another piss poor idea not very well executed.
Anyway, won’t be long before someone is actually killed riding one or the rider mows down a pedestrian and no one will say ‘I told you so’.
Right then, I’ve dusted off my Segway and I’m going to ride it through my local supermarket.
Oh well, there you have it then, very sad for the individuals involved and the people they leave behind.
I don’t know if it’s just my observational skills, but almost every single person I see riding a privately owned e-scooter, and I’ve seen some today being ridden on pavements, is young blokes. I haven’t actually seen a woman riding private e-scooters, only on local authority rental scooters.
As a young bloke I can affirm this
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