You can be banned from driving if caught drunk on an e-scooter but not if caught drunk on a bike. Peculiar?

[FrydayFish]

is e-scooter story
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-61243033
Vs
bike story
www.google.com/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/money/drunk-cyclists-can-fined-up-22118600.amp

Seems inconsistent.

You don't need a driving licence to ride a bike
You do to hire an escooter.

It's because the e scooter has a motor

The law covers all motorised vehicles. Not pedal cycles

You need a valid driving licence to hire an escooter. You can remove someone's licence.

Anyone can ride a bike. You can't ban people from riding one because there's nothing to remove. It's like banning people from walking drunk. You could try and remove their legs perhaps?

hmmm, most e-scooters aren't being hired, they're being bought.

Irrelevant, given that she'd hired it, not bought it.

Privately owned e-scooters are not allowed on public land. If you buy one, you must only use it on private land (yes, this gets flouted massively but it's a different issue because of the differentegal status).

Hired e-scooters are the only ones which are road-legal and a driving licence is mandatory.

In the instance in your post, it was a hired scooter.

I don't actually know what the penalty would be for riding a private scooter on the road drunk.

Yes I agree it's down to the licensing etc, the police can stop someone who appears drunk whilst cycling. I sadly lost a much loved and now much missed friend at university who cycled home after a night out.

The laws around electric scooters are completely inconsistent and unfair. You can ride an electric bike, which is much heavier (so more likely to injure others in an accident) and often faster than a scooter, without a licence but you need one for a scooter. Ridiculous.

It's a motorised vehicle.

That's basically it really.

Scooters are motorised vehicles.

Electric bikes are in fact, “pedal assisted” (EAPC - electrically assisted pedal cycles) and not motorised.
They are also speed and power restricted (250 watts and 15.5mph), in the UK.

Not really. Scooters are a nightmare, even the non-electric versions. Bikes are fine as long as people don't ride them along busy pavements.

You need a valid driving licence to hire an escooter I didn't actually know this!

I'm not sure whether I'd call them unfair or just new with the accompanying teething issues you would expect.

This is quite a rapidly developing area and the pandemic has somewhat slowed processes over the last two years. I don't really remember seeing many
e-scooters three or four years ago. They were around certainly but their number has greatly increased in the recent past.

You're incorrect when it comes to e-bikes. If they meet a certain threshold for power you must hold a valid driving licence to operate them, you will need insurance, and the bike must be registered with the DVLA: www.cyclinguk.org/article/electric-bikes-and-law-what-you-need-know

It's because hired e-scooters are the only ones you're legally allowed to take on the road in the UK currently. As with any motorised vehicle over a certain power / speed etc, you need a licence to take it on the roads.

If private e-scooters were road-legal, they'd be the same.

Lockheart
I don't actually know what the penalty would be for riding a private scooter on the road drunk.

If it falls within the mechanical propelled classification then all the legislation applies.
So the user is drunk in charge of a non-road worthy motor vehicle.

There is no need to even hold a licence to get a licence ban. It's possible to have a ban imposed which only kicks in once the convicted has applied and been granted a licence.

An E bike needs you to pedal to engage the motor. No throttle. You can also ride them with the motor turned off just like a normal bone. Max 15mph from the engine. They do go faster but that’s because the person is peddling fast - the engine has switched off at 15mph.

A E scooter has a throttle. A E bike with a throttle that went over 15mph would be an electric moped as such would require a driving license, cbt and a motorbike helmet so actually more regs than an E scooter

you can be charged with being “drunk in charge of a bicycle” but wouldn’t get points etc because you don’t need a license

Normal bike not bone duh

I've driven past some e-bikes which must have been traveling at 30 mph at least. Probably not legal but that won't stop some people.