Electric scooters really fuck me off

[ORYX99]

Every morning I walk my son to school. Every morning there are people on electric scooters on the pavement expecting us to move out of the way for them. They are way too fast to be on the pavement. This morning one dinged their bell at me from behind and came past me with about three inches to spare. I have PMT so probably feeling more irritable than usual but it really pisses me off. Are they actually allowed on the pavement?

That's the problem for UK infrastructure. They are too fast to be safe on pavements, and not safe on roads.
Countries with decent cycle lanes can cope as there is an in-between space.

I loathe them, especially when they’re ridden on main roads by someone, with another person clinging on behind. We live in an area where there isn’t a trial of them, but it doesn’t seem to stop people, even though it’s illegal.

I thought they were still illegal in the UK.

I’ve just come back from France and electric scooters are on the roads not the pavements.

Yep. They are everywhere here in Cambridge and so dangerous.
I don’t even think most are legal but that doesn’t stop them.

Around here they are ridden aggressively by youths dressed entirely in black with black balaclavas who don’t give a fuck for anything or anyone else. And the Police, as usual, are nowhere to be seen.
But we are just an average town so we don’t qualify for things like Police or Healthcare.

They are not supposed to be on footpaths and unless they are part of a council funded hire scheme then they are illegal.
But nothing is done about it. Ever.
Stupid things.

I thought you meant mobility scooter and came to say YABU.
But as you mean things traditionally pushed by one foot and now electric YANBU.

I also find it confusing as the term scooter is used for low power motor bikes too.

What I don't understand is why retailers even sell them? Technically you can use them on 'private land" but other than a driveway or back garden who has "private land"? Not many people. Especially in South London where I am (dodging the blasted things every day).

Hate them, never a day goes by that a kid is either whizzing out dangerously on the road with them (if I drove the way they ride I’d have my license taken away) or on the pavement during the school run. I’m walking with autistic children and I’ve currently got an injury making it difficult to walk at all never mind quickly, it’s hell to try and avoid some spoiled kid who’s neglectful parents thought it was a good idea to buy an unregulated vehicle for them.

They are not allowed on pavements in France due to so many injuries of pedestrians. I think they might have been banned all together in Paris for the same reason.

We live on a private road, so the children can play on them here, but I agree that something needs to be done about people riding them on the pavement.

I agree I fucking hate them. I also really hate that it's illegal to ride your own electric scooter on roads and pavements which you'd take home with you but our city is over run with ones that can be rented. They are left everywhere, regularly thrown in the river, in front of driveways and blocking pavements!!

Our local city has a council scheme. I would love to have a go but I'm 70 and I've broken bones more than once in the last couple of years so I think it is probably wiser not to.

It does my head in, the same with people riding bikes at high speed on the pavement (or at any speed!). It's illegal, and dangerous. I just wish someone would police it as it has become a huge issue where I live. Not to mention people just look really daft (just get a bike if you're able!). There were three discarded outside my door on the pavement a few weeks ago. Moan moan moan.

Yes this is preposterous, they should work out how to safely legislate for them, add rules to the highway code, and let people use them safely or face confiscation. I suppose that takes time but it doesn't sound like anyone's even made a start on this issue. How many kids are going to die before it's sorted?

I remember the quad bike craze in the late 90s and the mini moto craze in the early 00s, and how ineffectively those were handled and how many kids died/ended up permanently disabled then, too.

However, these e scooters could be a really useful and safe form of transport for adults if they were properly legislated and enforced.

They should be legalised and enforced to ride on the rode. My anger is more directed at car drivers killing 5 people a day on the roads, but no one seems to care about that.

Who doesn't seem to care?

I hate them too, they’re so dangerous. I’m also pretty sure they’re illegal unless you live in a pilot city or are on private land.

We live close to a pilot city and I’ve nearly been run over more than once. There’s no actual scooter/cycle lanes like other countries have so they’re just not safe.

Of course people care about these who have sadly been killed on the roads by cars it's not an either or situation.

5 people a day? Wow! That must have gone right down! You see a lot more of the court cases for them in the papers these days as well, which I always think is a sign something is a lot more unusual than it used to be.

I've just looked it up and despite the massive amount of cars on the road there are indeed only 4.6 fatalities per day. Compared to decades past, that just goes to show how much impact all our road safety measures are having.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reported_Road_Casualties_Great_Britain

They drive me nuts - like other PPs I've experienced the kids/teenagers flying down the road on them, sometimes 2 or 3 on one scooter. What blows my mind is that there's been no thought by the parents or the kids for safety - the number of times they come hurtling round a corner, with no helmets, nothing and then decide it's my fault they nearly crash into me.

There's a family on my road whose kids each have an e-scooter, I reckon the youngest must be about 6. Absolutely no road awareness, not a private road and my heart has been in my mouth more than once when I see how close these kids are coming to being seriously injured or (God forbid) killed.

hate them with a passion. when i was almost 9 months pregnant an idioit on one of these came round a corner and almost smashed into my belly. if he actually had have, id have done something id probably get locked up for. they just have no care for anyone walking down a pedestrian road

The tone of my last post sounds a bit more off than I intended. Half the kids I knew in the 90s had been hit by a car at some point and now it's much less common (number of fatalities, for example, has halved since then). While I do think it's tragic of course for anyone killed or injured, I do also think the massive reduction is positive and we should keep making the sort of improvements we're already making to further reduce this.

I'm not 100% convinced that making children go on the road on 30mph scooters when they don't even wear helmets is going to reduce fatalities tbh. I think we need a) mandatory helmets b) some sort of age limit c) possibly some sort of licensing such as the CBT for motorcyclists before we can insist that they ride in a specific place. And to clarify this to police along with what they need to do to enforce it. But right now neither road nor pavement is the right place for them.

We have some of the safest roads in the world.

Or just get rid of them and stick to bicycles which can be ridden safely on roads and encourage exercise.