cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16064759
Sorry Darin, not a grass
On some things the UK is progressive, on other issues, like sustainable transport, they see it as antisocial behaviour.
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Cross-posting my comment from the other community:
I think what our mate Darin is referring to by “e-bikes” is throttle-operated, no need to pedal, capable of going 30-60mph electric motorbike which, like any other motorbike, you need a licence and protective gear to ride, and no, they’ve got no business being in the bike lane with people noodling along at 10-15mph, and definitely not on the pavement with pedestrians.
Unfortunately, Darin is an idiot who can’t string a sentence together and so he’s just told everyone that my electric assist pedal cycle, top assisted speed of 15.5mph, no need for a licence or insurance, is also illegal. Thanks, Darin.
This House of Commons briefing from 2019 lays out what the issues are with e-scooters, in that because they’re not legally classed as a bicycle, they have the same legal requirements as a motorbike, which is clearly nonsense for a scooter with a top speed of 15.5mph, however, the law has not yet caught up with reality. Since that briefing was written, various trials have started in cities with hired e-scooters provided by third parties to see how the law needs to be updated and what needs to change in order to make them legal on UK roads, but the trials seem to just keep getting extended with no conclusions drawn. As we’re currently in election purdah, nothing’s going to happen until July anyway, and I highly doubt that “sorting out e-scooter legality” will be top of the new government’s priority list.
The trial is currently going on in Oxford and I think is going pretty well. The primary issue I've found is that the infrastructure just isn't good enough to keep up with this use, and so pedestrians, cyclists, and e-scooter riders are all uncomfortably close together considering their vastly different speeds.
If we improve the infrastructure though, I think they're great.
Thanks. I've only been to York once that I can remember but I can see immediately why it failed. Something whizzing along silently in a crowded pedestrian area with narrow pavements so people will be stepping into the road without looking, is fairly obviously going to be a disaster.
This is partially solved by auto limiting them when they enter a pedestrianised area. Seemed to work well in my local trial.