Rant about scooters!

[singlemama91]

To be pissed off at all of the people (adults and kids) that are iresponsible and just dangerous with the electric scooters!

This is my first thread on Mumsnet so please be nice but I just needed to get this off my chest. They drive them dangerously on pavements and park them so that if you have a pushchair you have to go on to the road to get around them.

They should ban them all. I thought it was just a tempory thing but it seems like there are more everyday! Its not just kids either but so called responsible adults as well. Although i have definitely noticed that it is majority men that use them and not women. Maybe we are more sensible. Does anyone else think this?

Great idea in theory. If people were responsible with them, if they were regulated and there were consequences for not complying, if there was good infrastructure for them... but we don’t live in that world and so I’d rather see them banned too. Much easier to ban, unfortunately, than try and change attitudes.

I’m actually fascinated by the mindset of people who share the roads with cars, vans and so on, but don’t see to recognise the dangers that poses. Taking kids on them, no helmets, etc. When you’re basically a fast-moving object barely bigger than your own standing self. I don’t think this applies just to scooters either - recently found myself driving behind a woman propelling herself along a street on a skateboard. Late 40s, so I’d have expected some common sense and road experience, but no, perfectly happy to wobble down a busyish road with cars and buses all around on a small plank of wood.

I live on the very edge of a town that's been 'trialling" the rental ones for over a year. You're supposed to be 18 and have a license to use them- the amount of parents that have disgracefully set up accounts for their kids to illegally use them is astonishing. I support them in theory and think that in an ideal world they should all be allowed ( with on onboard noise generator)for anyone over 14 with a central insurance fund paid for by a blanket levy on council tax.
Unfortunately we don't live in an ideal World and the country is full of piss takers and there'd be millions more 8 year old whizzing around dangerously on them.
They won't be banned- too much big money backing behind the scenes

This week in one day saw, firstly a mother whizzing along at high speed with a small child in front of her clinging on to the stem below the handlebars. Secondly a middle aged man with a roll up hanging from his lips came round a blind bend at speed and almost ran me over.

They should be used on the road only - never on the pavement. I think there should also be an age limit on using them, like driving a car.

They should also be registered to an owner and given some sort of tracking system to identify them - like number plates but perhaps a digital version.

Wouldn’t ban them as they are environmentally friendly but they should be regulated as though they were small mopedsz

I think 14 is too young - I was thinking of 16/17

@Watchingyou2sleezes

I live on the very edge of a town that's been 'trialling" the rental ones for over a year. You're supposed to be 18 and have a license to use them- the amount of parents that have disgracefully set up accounts for their kids to illegally use them is astonishing. I support them in theory and think that in an ideal world they should all be allowed ( with on onboard noise generator)for anyone over 14 with a central insurance fund paid for by a blanket levy on council tax. Unfortunately we don't live in an ideal World and the country is full of piss takers and there'd be millions more 8 year old whizzing around dangerously on them. They won't be banned- too much big money backing behind the scenes

They are banned for all but the trial areas - but widespread attitudes of not giving a fuck about the law will no doubt prevail as usual.

I’m not sure how you think banning them is going to work OP when privately ones are already illegal (is banned) - without reinforcement that means nothing. And as several PPs have said, they and their DPs are happy to ride these “banned” scooters. As other PPs have said, those on the official trials are regulated (including with speed limiters), and in some areas they are set up not to be able to go in certain areas (eg shopping centres). It is definitely a question of regulation and enforcement rather than of just banning something which provided a good/eco friendly alternative to the car.

@JojobaFromOctober

No, I'm not getting one for my child, I'm getting one for my partner who is an adult man.

Congratulations on that - what other presents will you be getting him that he can't legally use? Why do you think you're above the law?

Gangs of lads using them on main roads not following any of the Highway Code. I was turning right on a major junction a couple of weeks ago and a group of about 10 went through a red light and sped in front of me so I almost ran into them.

What happens if there is an accident - if someone on a scooter runs into my car and causes damage? I assume they have no insurance so it is my no claims bonus that is lost and my insurance premium that will go up.

Also, I spent months learning to drive so that I could safely negotiate junctions, had traffic awareness etc. People get on these scooters without any road training at all and the onus is on me to make sure they stay safe. Driving in a busy city is tricky enough without having to dodge silly youths on scooters.

How do we get the genie back in the lamp regarding bad and dangerous behaviour with these things? The reason most people dislike them is because people en masse can’t be trusted, not because there aren’t many great advantages to them. The comments about people going around shops on them and setting up accounts for kids demonstrates the problem; increasingly, people do whatever they like because they can. How do we reverse this?

P.S. I don't live in the UK and nothing about my plans or activities is illegal. The UK is extremely backwards when it comes to sustainable transportation.

E-bikes are not regulated so I am not sure scooters should be.

Also, I spent months learning to drive so that I could safely negotiate junctions, had traffic awareness etc. People get on these scooters without any road training at all and the onus is on me to make sure they stay safe. Driving in a busy city is tricky enough without having to dodge silly youths on scooters

same applies to silly pedestrians though

@ClafoutisSurprise

How do we get the genie back in the lamp regarding bad and dangerous behaviour with these things? The reason most people dislike them is because people en masse can’t be trusted, not because there aren’t many great advantages to them. The comments about people going around shops on them and setting up accounts for kids demonstrates the problem; increasingly, people do whatever they like because they can. How do we reverse this?

If we had a government that was prepared to recruit and train enough Police (and other enforcement roles like Border Force) we could have a large workforce paying taxes and keeping us all a lot safer. But it seems no-one wants to vote for that.

same applies to silly pedestrians though
They are not generally going so fast so are easier to spot.

I agree. We were on holiday in a caravan park and walking home at night and it was dark. Suddenly teenagers on scooters came rushing towards us. We had young toddlers with us and if I didn't pull mine out of the way then she would have been hurt. No lights on them and they are silent.

It is illegal to ride these things on the road and on the pavement so YANBU.

They should be properly regulated and the people who ride them should be made to have 3rd party insurance, and the manufacturers should be required to give them a little whiny noise when in use so people could hear them coming (and to make the users feel a bit like dicks).

I think they are great when regulated. No one should be riding them on the pavement (the same with bikes), road use only, insurance required etc........

They are fair less dangerous than cars and I don't see you calling out for those to be banned. Approx 11 people a month are killed by cars (we have had 2 in my local area this week!) so e scooters are not the problem.

@IhateBoswell

They did this at school run time when I was walking my children home and as they came towards us I distinctly heard one of them say "She's going to get knocked over!"

She'd have been yeeted clean off it

Yup it wouldn't have been hard to just dodge and clothesline the little shit if she actually tried it!!

Wait till you come across

Cars

They killed 40 people on the pavement every years - it’s terrifying

I bet it’s the same people different mode of transport

P.S. I don't live in the UK and nothing about my plans or activities is illegal. The UK is extremely backwards when it comes to sustainable transportation.

The same applies to a lot of England, backwards thinking and can’t see there maybe a better way of doing things 😢

There was someone riding one INSIDE Aldi the other day... totally ridiculous. Tutted at me when I was in his way!

@lockdownmadnessdotcom

E-bikes are not regulated so I am not sure scooters should be.

Also, I spent months learning to drive so that I could safely negotiate junctions, had traffic awareness etc. People get on these scooters without any road training at all and the onus is on me to make sure they stay safe. Driving in a busy city is tricky enough without having to dodge silly youths on scooters

same applies to silly pedestrians though

The comparison between e-bikes and scooters is a false one.

A) e-bikes are a lot larger, thus less manoeuvrable and far less unpredictable
B) e-bikes are not cool, unlike scooters thus the demographic of users is different - older adults a bike, teens an e-scooter
C) e-bikes are not banned and are predominantly ridden on the road
D) e-scooters are being driven en masse in pedestrianised areas by young, mainly men for fast services such as deliveroo

Have you been into a city centre, where the scooters are being hired? They’re a menace!

I hate electric and normal scooters. Stupid and dangerous and should be banned.

You get idiots with every form of transport.

Personally I would be happy to be required to register and carry insurance. I scooter on both pavement and road depending on the traffic on either, for example on my commute to work I am on suburban roads but then on a large wide pavement where the traffic is heavier (and ironically pedestrians are few). I wear a helmet. I stop and walk across major road crossings.

Don't tar us all with the same brush.

Cars aren’t going anywhere, though. It isn’t a straight swap so we continue to live with the dangers posed by cars plus new problems on top.

In fact, the combination of cars and scooters on the road is for me the scariest part. As I mentioned earlier, for whatever reason being on something like a scooter tends to make some people see the road as less risky than it is. Other users are young lads not old enough to drive. The idea of riders obliviously speeding along on these without much care gives me the absolute heebie jeebies as a driver - they are less visible than all other road users save pedestrians (who generally are not in the road), certainly much faster than pedestrians, more able to weave about than cars and bikes and often ridden by people who aren’t operating under any rules of the road. I’m trying to imagine future hazard perception tests that take scooters into account - if you think about it at all, they are far less predictable than pretty much all the others drivers are trained on due to their size and speed.