As a car driver I’m genuinely becoming scared of them, the people that ride them seem to think they are completely invincible and if they decide to pull onto the road with no lights that cars won’t inadvertently smash them into the next life.

26 comments

  1. They’re the new mini bikes. Remember them in mid 2000s? A fad that’ll get regulated or banned in a bit.

  2. Great fun – I saw someone doing a slalom along the white lines in the middle of the road a while back, he then lost control and face planted – nearly laughed my cock off!

    Like so many things in life, great idea when used sensibly in the manner for which they were designed, but then abused by idiots to cause problems for everyone.

  3. I like them. I use them a lot. They’re cheaper and more convenient than public transport.

    I have problems with my knees and hips which makes walking painful, (but standing still isn’t as much of a problem) so they’ve been a massive improvement to my independence.

    I don’t follow the rules 100% of the time (like riding on the pavement, or going the wrong way down a one way street), but I don’t do it when there’s other vehicles or pedestrians around. 🤷🏻‍♂️

  5. Like anything else, fine when they’re used responsibly. From time to time I drive at night in London and that’s scary when they’re used by people wearing only dark colours, hoods, no hi-vis or lights, weaving in and out of traffic. It would be awful to have to live with knowing you’d knocked one down.

  6. Good in the right hands.

    There’s an element of the Darwin award if you’re weaving about in traffic on one with no helmet and no lights.

  7. Great bit of convenient transport for cities that are practical and affordable for most. Just need a bit of infrastructure and attitude change to make the most of them safely.

  8. They look great, as a (usually) pedestrian I’d love to have a safe way to use them, the same way I would a bike

    Also as a pedestrian though, I hate them. I’m generally very careful and safe but it’s like the owners actually aim to hit me when I’m walking on a path

  9. I find the trial scooters frustrating. Often they’ll cut out because there’s an area nearby that’s geofenced out, such as a dual carriageway and you have to push the scooter out of the area.

    Also the local councils have emposed speed limits lower than the national limit of 15.5mph, usually blanket 12.5mph. Some irresponsible people using them on pavements mean the council empose a limit of 7.5mph. The result for me is that I’m trying to cross 2 lanes of busy traffic but can’t accelerate out of danger, like cars and bicycles can.

    The government are taking their sweet time making private scooters legal whilst most of the world have already done it.

  10. In a city like Stockholm where roads dont have potholes and cycles and e-scooters are almost totally separated from cars then they’re a great idea.

    Here? They’re fucking ridiculous

    Edit. Apparently stockholm has a few potholes.

  11. I’d be in favour of making e-scooters road legal (with regulations to keep everyone safe), I think there needs to be some sort of category for e-scooters, hoverboards, electric unicycles etc.

    I think the VOI ones where you need a licence are a good idea (although I get that some people abuse that and/or ride them dangerously)

    I feel like issues around them needing to “compete” with cars or pedestrians would be reduced with cycle routes (but wanting that *and* for everyone on one to ride sensibly is probably wishful thinking…)

    It can be a good alternative to driving short distances or public transport. If it gets more travelling by greener means, it’s a good thing IMO – but a minority of people definitely give riders a bad name, and I’m wary of driving near them.

    I’ve ridden one a couple of times. NGL I found it scary being on one. I was surprised how fast I could go on it and it was fun – but I was very aware of how vulnerable I was on roads without cycle lanes, especially with how close some cars got to me.

  12. I’d much prefer them if people were allowed to buy and use their own.

    With the rental ones they’re just laying around pavements and people drive them like idiots. If it’s your own £350 scooter you’d treat it a lot better and would probably drive it more sensibly to boot.

  13. I thought they were pretty much illegal to use on anything other than private land anyway? Or am I mistaken?

  14. People here used to complain constantly about cyclists. Now they’re realising there is worse to worry about.

    Frequently we see 2 or 3 people on one escooter, often underage. The Police just watch and dont do anything. The local paper fills with [letters](https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/23372151.e-scooter-attitudes-make-wonder-laws—letter/) of encounters. I am quite pro for legalising them like bikes, but why are the Police seemingly on strike?

    I’ve seen a lot of shocking videos on youtube of riders being obliterated. Something has to give.

  15. l As a car driver, I’m genuinely scared of them…

    If you are scared of escooters in your ton of metal, think how other road users feel about you.

  17. I’ve nearly killed a couple as they swept off a side road in front of me. One knocked my 3 year old nephew off his balance bike on the pavement and broke three of his fingers. The roads here are so bad, they ride the pavement and come up behind you, silently and at speed. Someone is going to get killed soon

  18. They’d be ok if the government put the effort that’s been wasted on trying to regulate them into educating the public on safe riding.

  19. What do you mean “think they are invincible”? They are, aren’t they?

    They must be the way they treat road saftey!

  20. I like them for those short journeys where using a car would be stupid and it takes too long to walk.

    There is a scooter station near my house and one next to the train station. It’s a 20min walk or a 7min scooter and costs less than £2. Perfect. But to use the scheme you need to register your driving licence, take tests to get lowers charges and they stop working after 10pm and I think if they sense you weaving too much and too often they slow down. They are geofenced to certain areas so you can’t be an arse. If you get caught doing something illegal you will get done and a few people have been.

    They are abused by some but on the whole, they work well I think. I’d love my own for getting to work.

    However, people being knobs will ruin it for the rest of us.

  21. They should be treated same as bicycles.
    The e-scooter is the ultimate practical solution for last mile travel, can have a big improvement for millions of people. Ride to bus/train station, hold it in the train, ride to work and fold under your desk, and return home.
    People come up with ridiculous concerns when it comes to accepting this revolutionary gadget.

  22. I think they’re a great idea. Clean, cheap and efficient forms of travel and could really take a lot of traffic flow out of inner cities, which would also improve air quality.

    I think the smaller ones should be legalised (the cheap ones that do like 15mph), but I think the bigger ones could do with being regulated like a proper vehicle. License, tax and insurance. I’ve got a small one for work and a bigger one for playing, but the bigger one can easily smash 40mph and isn’t a toy. Kids should not be getting their hands on a vehicle that powerful and bombing down roads on it. The smaller ones are just like riding a bicycle down a hill, but the bigger ones are basically mopeds.

    Problem is, we also need to implement infrastructure designed specifically for them. We can’t have them sharing the roads with cars, legal or not.

  23. Needs serious regulation. Absolutely do note have infrastructure for it. Seeing young kids on them making all sorts of stupid decisions.

    Otherwise. They are great mode of transport.

  24. I was driving down a road recently and traffic was moving quite slow, I assumed it was a cyclist. Turns out it was someone trundling along on an e-scooter and cars were waiting for gaps in oncoming traffic to pass them.

    Once we got directly behind them waiting for a gap in traffic I said to my partner “I don’t know if they’re even allowed on the road, but I guess we will find out” pointing to the police car behind me in the queue of traffic.

    A gap came and past we went and watching in my mirror I see the police car directly behind the e-scooter now. They flick on their flashing lights, the scooter rider panics, looks behind him at the police car, spins his handlebars and falls flat on his face in the middle of the road in front of the police car.

    My thoughts? They are not safe. But this one gave me a laugh for sure.

  25. My thoughts are the government have been failing to regulate them. Ones we have some actual rules ro use them legally it’ll be safer for everyone. We’ve got young teens riding them everywhere where I am and they’re absolutely deadly.

    I think the shops selling them need some responsibility, it’s obvious they’re not being ridden on private land so stop selling them with that caveat.

    I want one to replace my bike for the short commute so I’d like them with two speed restrictions, a 15mph one like ebikes and a 5mph one for footpaths. Putting them on the roads is just asking for deaths.

  26. I don’t really get the problem with e-scooters. A lot of the comments just sound like people who can’t stand either change or others doing something they aren’t doing.

    There is nothing significantly more dangerous about an e-scooter than a bike. Sure some people ride them badly but some people ride bikes badly and drive cars dangerously. No sensible people are calling for bans on cars or bikes because a handful of people are idiots.

    I also read comments claiming these things can go at hundreds of miles an hour, which is nonsense. It’s like saying, ThrustSSC can go 760mph therefore all cars can go that fast. The truth is that most of the scooters you can buy now go much slower that I could manage on a pushbike as an 11 year old (my top speed on my mountain bike was about 35mph, while a scooter from Halfords is limited to 15mph). You can buy faster ones but that’s because so many people moan about scooters that the government has been very slow to regulate what can and can’t be sold. Since they’re all illegal on UK roads at the moment (save for a few you can hire), manufactures are just making whatever they like. If people stop moaning about it and government gets on with introducing proper legislation to allow them out in public then everyone will be much safer.

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