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?

I agree op. Especially dangerous for old people walking on pavements 😞

The thing about cars is you need to pass a test to drive one legally, you need to maintain your car and insure it to cover eventualities like accidents. Motorcycles are obviously the same with the addition of a helmet. These bikes are illegal on the road and the pavement but it would be bloody difficult to stop them from a police point of view. ( because if they pursued them and they came off the police would be blamed). So how about not buying them? It places a horrible onerous on everyone else to get out their way - especially at night with no lights.

Bloody hate them, my child is blind and they scare the shit out of him.

Yanbu I used to live in Bristol and they are everywhere! Moved out of the city now and there don’t seem to be as many in the town I live in. But I hated it in particular how close they think it’s ok to go to you.

Agree, it’s intimidating to steer them so close to people

I can sympathise entirely. I'm deaf/hard of hearing, so along with electric cars (yes, I know they're better for the planet etc) I cannot hear them. No point in dinging your bell at me, buddy. I don't hear it.

Electric scooters on the pavement are a symptom of our transport system not being fit for purpose. In towns and cities it's stupidly inefficient and polluting to rely on moving massive great cars around just to transport one person. They take up loads of space and create an environment where it feels really risky for kids to walk or cycle alone to school.

But we don't have proper infrastructure for more efficient ways of getting around. If you were designing a civilised system from scratch it would all be designed around protected lanes for bikes, electric bikes (including cargo bikes), e-scooters. Plus good public transport obviously. E-scooters are a pavement menace when what they could be is part of a sensible transport system that actually makes kids safer.

I hate them too. Round here they're the latest favourite escape vehicle for muggers, who ride up to people on the pavement, grab their phone/bag/etc then speed off.

I hate them too. There is some horrible neddy looking kid with one here who is always going past on the road really quickly. I bet his parents would be the first to radge if someone hit him in their car. I also thought they were illegal

As bad as the path is when they suddenly decide to cross traffic. Seen so many near misses. I love them as an alternative for people who can’t afford a car and had too far to walk anywhere (we only have two buses a day in our town)

As an active/sustainable travel nut I should be in favour of these but I hate them with a passion. I also really hate the hire schemes that litter them all over pavements and take up streetscape.

They are illegal and police are taking loads of people round here at the moment, not just from youths but also from adult's. We have a problem with mobility scooters round here, too fast for path and too slow for roads. That's not even my issue its when they drive next to each other and expect people to walk on the roads, to be fair I do think it's the same group from the local oap home, just always seems to be when I'm walking to shops or something.

I was stuck in a traffic jam coming out of Bath because two idiots on the Bath City scooters decided to ride along the A4 holding up all the traffic.
Whatever dickhead in the council thought these were a great idea needs shooting. They’re dangerous and a confounded nuisance.

I hate them! We now have rules on where they can be ridden, speed limits and helmets etc. They're ignored. They fly down the road at high speeds, weaving amongst traffic, or slowly, holding it up. Had both lanes of a major road blocked at night by one weaving over both lanes. All traffic doing about 20km/hr behind them.

We're off to the beach soon for a holiday & won't be able to use the lovely esplanade path because teens hire them & drive like it's a racetrack with a human obstacle course. DS10 almost got cleaned up by one while running for the playground last year. Some say he should be looking... I say the scooter riders should be looking. It's a pedestrian track! Then they dump them wherever they please & block paths/roads etc.

They are illegal and police are taking loads of people round here at the moment, not just from youths but also from adult's.

See they also do that where I live but as I said it just seems illogical because whilst taking away the scooters people have paid hundreds for is obviously the right thing to do legally as riding them is illegal it does nothing to resolve the idiots using the hire scooter which is the much bigger issue around here.

They're awful and there is zero enforcement of the laws which require that:

• they can't go on pavements
• you have to be over 17 and have a driving licence to use them
• only one person at a time can travel on them

I hate them.

Only one place for them& that’s the local tip. My worst fear is when driving & one of these clowns come toward me on the same side of the road, utter madness

YANBU I hate them. Pedestrians need protected from them asap. If I see someone on one I just assume they are a massive bellend who doesn't give a shit for the safety of others.

They're illegal except on private land so they need to change the sale conditions, if you can't prove you have access to private lands then you can't buy one, same for quad bikes.

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

Unfortunately too many riders wouldn't give a stuff about the first three, but they'd almost certainly care about confiscation, which is why I'd like to see much more of it

It needn't even take up that many resources; if there isn't onee of these ridiculous "schemes" in place just get a large police van and hang around city centres removing every one that comes along

The problem is the lack of bike lanes. They are everywhere in Geneva and not a problem whatsoever, they stick to the bike lanes.

Never used one myself, but I can see the attraction if you are living locally and need to get to work quickly. Much more practical to have a scooter that can fold than a bike that takes up loads of space.

The trouble is they (along with electric motorbikes) have become the “in things” for certain scumbag types, who pay scant attention to the law/Highway Code.

Riding (legally hired) escooters and bikes on pavements is illegal. Riding private escooters is illegal regardless. The issue is always enforcement and the police are just too stretched to make these a priority. Try contacting your neighbourhood police team. They are often quite good at targeting an issue where there are concerns like this and a few arrests and confiscation's can act as a deterrent

We have a council scheme here in my small city and the scooters you can pick up in the street can only be ridden on cycle paths (we have a decent network) and are programmed to stop if you stray off that route. Works really well and I’ve ridden one to work along the cycle paths.

that doesn’t stop the privately owned ones of course but I do think it cuts down on the amount of arseholian behaviour on them.

Everywhere where I am.

The police did a brief stint of seizing them if seen in the town centre (they actually seized quite a few). But that fizzled out pretty quick. I have no idea if the scooters were eventually returned but it didn't reduce the number of people using them, people just avoided the town centre.