Soap Box

This rendition is a bit of a record about the things I have been doing and the appearance of Electric Scooters. E- Scooters to use a name that everyone knows have been around for some time banned by the government when a child was killed at a pedestrian crossing. It was the child who was using the scooter. Move on a few years and our, somewhat inconsistent government are on the case again sponsoring a trial of E-scooters in every city through the country. In this case only people who have driving licences can hire and ride them. Many people have fallen foul of the law by using their own E-scooters. Being caught gets you a £1300 fine and 6 points on your driving licence. This penalty is for driving without insurance. There is no vehicle category at present for electric scooters and no insurance company who will insure your scooter. I have seen a few You Tube posting from Electroheads who support any use of electric vehicles. Commendable but supporting people who use E-scooters that are still banned and whinge about being fined for using them out side of the hiring system is a bit naive. The idea of E-scooter racing at speeds of 60mph looks like a Darwinian experiment.

It is a powered two wheeler but calling it a bicycle, a vehicle with two wheels, with an engine or to put in its correct term a motorcycle. A Scooter is still a motorcycle. The powers that be have a downer on motorcycle and motor cyclists and do not want to promote that form of travel, but what is an E-scooter?  The public are so far ahead of legislation. So many people have got e-scooters and they are using them anywhere and everywhere. Where I live there is one that flies up and down the road. On the road off the road on the pavement off the pavement I wonder where next he might appear.  If he happens to be going by when I am driving out there will be an accident. I will not be able to stop before I see him or he reacts to me. Even pedestrians surprise at times but fortunately they are not travelling at 15 mph so we have both have time to react. If we ever have contact I know that he has no insurance and it will cost me dearly for his stupidity. I had a recent conversation with a friend at a party and his son was due to go to university in a few months and he was going to take his E-scooter with him. I am not sure what will happen now his dad has found out what he intended to do was illegal and if he got caught  how much it would cost him. Even he did not know that using an E-scooter was illegal in any public areas. So many will find out soon.

Trawling the internet  there are a number of  E-scooters price range £250 to £5250. At about £1000 is the Vsett 10 good for 70kph and the Velocifero MAD I liked as it has a seat and footboards  (but no picture) and at £5250 the Dualtron X2 that is supposed to do 110 kph

 

  Pictures lifted from respective websites.

It is a bit late to stop this trend of E-scooters, better to encompass it and move on. My view anything with an engine needs to be registered and insured. Simply for protection of the third party. Bicycles with motors that travel faster than walking pace need to be included too.  How about high performance mobility scooters for the safety of others? You should see the havoc they can cause in a supermarket. In that respect a driving licence would not be required but a minimum age, suggesting 14 years as in France for riding mopeds would be permitted. This leads on to a new vehicle registration category with appropriate restrictions. Someone needs to act quickly before the cycling lobby muddies the water with what they want and the government gets the wrong end of the stick with inappropriate legislation as they did in the seventies as with mopeds, single speed with pedals is what should have been but 50cc with pedals brought out some fantastic 70 mph mopeds with seven speed gearboxes and amazing performance. A sensible idea but poorly worded, a loophole that allowed some great bits of kit onto the market but plugged when a performance restriction was applied many years later. The E-scooter fans need to get their act together and start lobbying to get a sensible approach to this new form of travel. Sure beats pedalling.