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Nearly 500 seriously injured in e-scooter collisions in Great Britain last year
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 28 May 2026
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This is a result of a failure in government, policy optics and must not being realistic. E-scooters are illegal on public roads unless they are part of rental schemes. Therefore, the only suppliers and riders are those willing to break the law, and we have a completely skewed view on the danger of the machines because of that.
If they actually regulated them and offered a sensible approach to regulation, e-scooters would be safer (minimum battery requirements like cut offs and cell dividers), limited to 15mph, and normal people would be using them.
I want an e-scooter for times when my e-bike feels too much, like getting there train or bus for longer distances. It would be great to use it on either side of a train journey.
I have a driving licence, I would wear a helmet, I have third party insurance for my cycle, I would never go on pavements, I would buy a safe option from my local cycle shop, it would be limited, and I would be less of a danger to others and myself. I can't though because it is illegal, even though for some reason I can legally own an e-cycle which has basically the same parts.
Completely agree, treat them broadly like e-bikes. Limited speed and use only on roads and bike paths, not footpaths.
That said, I see a lot of people riding e-bikes which don't comply with the existing e-bike speed limits, so perhaps better enforcement is needed as well. There's definitely a place for these faster e-bikes, but they're basically e-mopeds and should act like it (roads only, driving licence, number plate, MOT, insurance etc.).
Good point, enforcement is another important issue. I find it annoying how many illegal e-cycles are around and tolerated. I bet all the batteries causing fires are not on legal e-bikes. Generally though, police enforcement of anything road based has declined massively as their funding and numbers have been reduced by austerity.
I regularly see car drivers on their phones, speeding, going through red lights or other issues. Let's be fair though, if you wanted to improve road safety, cars and trucks would be much higher on the list than e-bikes or e-scooters full stop. Once we get a handle on those then let's go after all the illegal e-bikes and e-scooters etc
If the police want to get up to pre-budget cut numbers they can just sit out at the bottom of my street and fine every idiot that comes down because they've all got e-scooters, they're all going way too fast, and they all ride in the middle of the road. There's a bus station right at the bottom of the street but I've never seen a single one of them get run over, very disappointing.
Totally disagree on the 15mph limit.
While it's a little scary travelling faster than that stood up (trust me, I'm a thrill seeker) I got talking to a dual motor ebiker tonight and he like me said the same after he had had prior escoots too - being able to keep up to the 30mph general traffic made my buying decision easy because travelling on pavements with them is literally waiting to ram someone talking on a phone coming out of a shop or, driving on the road. Which is the only way.
Being limited to 15mph though is outright dangerous in my, and that guy in Farmfoods with his dual motor ebike opinion, too.
I've had HGV's trying to bully me whilst doing the speed limit and it's not fun.
I cycle without a motor and speed doesn't seem to be much of an issue. Ride in the centre of the lane and it generally makes you more visible and discourages dangerous overtaking. Also gives you plenty of swerving space if someone does overtake dangerously. Learnt a fair bit of that doing a CBT for a 50cc bike.
We've all cycled and found the mechanical driver's on roads who seem to think they have permanent right of way even over a cyclist, and been stood up going 15mph+ Vs the general flow of traffic makes for much less stress on both sides.
Albeit stood up going 30+mph and like I say - you need to have cojones right now with our current road system :/
Fortunately my route to work is almost entirely bike or bike/bus lane. I just hope reform don't sell it off.
To be fair you've got a great point there. I was thinking more about a regulated speed. I wish I could keep up with traffic speeds to feel safer. Going 15mph in a 20mph is the worst. Cars still want to overtake but do so more dangerously because of the slight gap in speed.
I would have to question 30mph though only because I think some research would need to be done for safety. It's one thing being in something with crumple zones. It's another being on a stick where there is no expectation to wear appropriate clothing or anything. You have so much less suspension, size, weight or anything to give you some flex, even compared to a cycle or motorbike.
I say this thinking that e-scooters are for urban areas where the speed limit should be 20mph anyway. There should be cycling infrastructure to make use of but only if limited to 20mph alongside e-cycles being increased to that. Any higher would be dangerous to normal cycles. You can't expect to go 30mph on a cycle lane