So many E-scooter deaths..

[Newandveryconfused]

Aibu... To want to have E-scooter drivers pass maybe a theory test? They are meant to be illegal, but let's face it... They're everywhere. I see about 3-4 a day! Knowing the law of the road might be somewhat helpful. It 'might' prevent done of these fatal outcomes maybe.. I don't know. What do you think?

A colleague has one. He leaves the office and goes straight into the pedestrianised area on it 🙄

Do you not know how many deaths and serious injuries are caused by cars everyday? That’s the big problem.

Theoretically An e scooter should be no more dangerous than an ebike. You don’t need a test or a licence for an ebike. So I agree it must be down to the people using them and how they’re behaving.

Someone near me has one and it’s much faster than an e scooter. He must do 30mph on his ball. No lights, in black, often out at night and on the roads!

Why would you think that passing a test would reduce the deaths in an escooter? 5 drivers a day kill other people on the rds or themselves, they are tested, insured etc but still 1800 people a year due when they’ve been tested. So why would testing escooter riders be any different?

Them and quad/dirt bikes are awful round here. Ridden on roads and canal footpaths at speed. Often users have black visors and while face masks so v intimidating

That number would likely be higher if anyone could jump in a car without a test. Five deaths a day from a statistic pov is low when you consider the number of cars on the road

That number would likely be higher if anyone could jump in a car without a test. Five deaths a day from a statistic pov is low when you consider the number of cars on the road

the number of escooter deaths is what 1 or 2 a year so statistically extremely low, so what’s the point in testing and insuring them as OP wants when deaths aren’t high?

It doesn’t. Cars usually stay on the roads. My dad, like most sensible people, looks both ways several times before stepping into a road. Cars don’t come up behind people, in a space reserved for pedestrians, at a speed much faster than walking speed.

Cars don’t come up behind people, in a space reserved for pedestrians, at a speed much faster than walking speed.

40 pedestrians are killed on the pavements each year, that’s a space reserved for pedestrians and drivers travel faster than escooter

They aren't illegal? You have to like download an app and stuff. All looks official?

It’s these that are the issue near me. No helmets, obviously. Natural selection will pick some of them off but unfortunately drivers and police get dragged into it when there are accidents.

Privately owned escooters are illegal.

Well there were 14 last year. How many e scooter users are there? I genuinely don’t know, but we can’t talk about deaths been statistically low if we don’t know the numbers involved. But they seem to be increasing.

Part of me thinks I couldn’t give a shit if a load of neds kill themselves so let them crack on. but if they’re riding so dangerously they endanger others. I feel sorry for the ambulance driver who killed an e scooter rider only last night, they have to live with that.

ebike riders aren’t dying in the same numbers which suggests they’re riding more safely.

so we either say we don’t care about the idiots on e scooters and let them keep dying. Or we admit for some reason there’s an anomaly about why they’re more likely to die than ebike riders and put something in place for their own benefit 🤷‍♀️. I don’t really care either way.

My issue where we live is the ones you rent out are outside our gate. People don’t put them back properly and there always ones laying across the pavement in random places . Making getting my DC out in her wheel chair difficult

Again, what's the ratio?

What can the police do -they are underage so get a telling off by courts.

How many deaths from cars etc.... in the same period?

I think escooters should be legal if you have insurance and a licence but then you have the argument about ebikes as well. There have been deaths caused by ebikes and bicycles but no one moans about those. We need cleaner forms of transport, and escooters would be a great way for people to get around if they were licenced.

Motorbikes are ridden by adults who have had to pass a test. E-Scoters are ridden by any passing kid. And as we all know teenagers have much less common sense and a hugely inflated sense of immortality.

Yes the actual machine involved might not be that different but the rider and road sense are very different.
I don’t see many motorbikes being ridden at speed through a pedestrianised area, along pavement, the wrong way down one way streets, with no lights on etc.

And the people I see on e-bikes are often older adults. My 75 year old dad has one for example.

The difference is an eBike is not self propelled, they won't move if you don't pedal, they just assist. An e scooter will move on its own, you just hold a button down.

Again, what's the ratio?

it’s surely whether a test is going to prevent deaths, presently you have less than 1 death a year by bikes, ebikes and scooters which are all untested and 2000 deaths a year by tested drivers

An e scooter will move on its own, you just hold a button down.

and if you release the button does the scooter continue on its own?

It’s hard to know how many e-scooters there are as they are unlicensed, but it seems there are about one million. There are 33 million cars, and that’s just cars, not lorries, buses, motorbikes etc.

A proper legal framework, restrict sales, I agree.

Though don't let us forget all the other road deaths and injuries, let's call a crash a crash not an 'accident' as many are preventable, and make anyone who wants to use an SUV take their test in one.