To think the providers of ebikes in cities (hello Lime and Voi)

[CurdinHenry]

Should just go to prison right now and never emerge

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/07/i-felt-my-spine-and-body-split-the-woman-who-was-hit-by-a-child-on-a-lime-bike-and-denied-compensation

Surely the person riding the bike is at fault?

No the provider of the no strings attahed death machine is at fault.

Ugh yes. I live in London and most never stop at red lights, meaning me and my kids are regularly dodging them even when the green man shows. Plus they block the pavements. I blame the local councils - they shouldn't grant licences to these companies without tighter regulation.

Surely it’s the fault of the local cooncil rather than provider?

Surely the providers if motor vehicles are where the real blame lies

While I feel very sorry for the lady and she should get compensation I absolutely disagree with you that providers of the bikes are in the wrong. They are not death machines.
And that fact you call all users scum is ridiculous, there is absolutely no way you know all or even a tiny percentageof people that use them .
Yes some ignore lights and ride on pavements but so do cyclist that own their own bikes.

Why? They’re just e-bikes. They’re very useful for getting around in cities where you can’t tie up your own bike for five minutes without it getting stolen. While I’m very sorry about the accident, nobody demands Ford execs to go to prison when someone drives a Fiesta into a cyclist, or calls all BMW drivers scum when some idiot in a 3 Series kills a pedestrian.

They should absolutely have a speed limit on the bikes and come with a helmet.
I don’t understand how it’s legal to be on a bike without a helmet!!

The reason its made the headkines is because its a freak accident. Cars meanwhile can continue their carnage unfettered. Also not sure voi have been involved in any accidents

It is not only these"hire" bikes though. Privately owned e-bikes and e-scooters are being ridden at high speeds on pavements and in pedestrian areas. I can see that in the not too distant future it will not be safe to be a pedestrian. So encouraging people out of cars onto these machines will possibly reduce the number of pedestrians eventually. The riders of the e-bikes and e-scooters are not even getting any exercise. It is like having motorbikes on pavements.

I use lime bikes when I travel to other cities. I've never crashed into anyone, run a red light or caused an accident. Why am I scum?

How would that work? A helmet attached by a cord that lots of different strangers wear?

So car dealers should be in jail if they sell someone a car that ends up in a fatal crash?

I was chatting to a colleague about this the other day. Plagues of them everywhere. Hardly any of the riders wear helmets, they whizz along far too fast, don’t signal, don’t slow down to turn corners, dump the bikes in huge amounts blocking pavements.

I saw one ride cycle full pelt through crowds outside Monument station and straight out onto the cobbled road without looking (I don’t think she can have realised it was a road) and then straight through the red light at the bottom. I’ve had so many near misses and haven’t had one near miss with a car.

A helmet only protects the rider. It is pedestrians who need protection. If helmets were provided few riders would wear them, they wouldn't fit properly and they would be lost/damaged and need replacing very frequently.

In the present, the major cause of harm and death to pedestrians is motor vehicles

Great anecdata

Mostly they are not driving on the pavement thankfully.

I am severely sight impaired and the pavements are so dangerous for me now that I tend to get the bus most places that I used to regularly walk to.

We have e bikes and scooters everywhere around here. They come from no where, ride like maniacs, don’t follow the Highway Code, in short they are an absolute menace. But wait, it’s ok because the council provide them.

Ir a dangerous and complete unnecessary scheme.

@Nodirectionhome according to my friends DS who is a police officer riding E scooters is illegal if ridden anywhere but on private land.On his patch dozens have been seized and destroyed.

You are being a bit extreme, but there are real issues. The providers should be legally required to have large numbers on the bikes, have speed restrictors and stronger fines/bans for rule breaking. Councils should have powers to remove abandoned rental e-bikes and issue penalties for obstruction.
Overall they're more negative than positive. It's a shame, but they're a pain.

There needs to be a policy review for private e-bikes too.

These are separate issues to cars, which obviously pose risks to pedestrians too.

Transport for London has an e scooter trial going in some London local authorities. It has been running since 2021 so some trial! There is a load of them near me. I never see anyone using them. Of course we have e bikes everywhere, mostly dumped randomly on pavements.

That's good to hear. I haven't heard of that happening here unfortunately.

Is it out of the realms of possibility that a user has to be registered / licensed and if they are detected riding too fast / jumping lights / mowing down pedestrians they are no longer able to obtain and operate the bike? I’m sure modern technology / gps / black box / rfid type cards would allow for that kind of system. A bit like a driving licence and you can’t physically unlock a bike if you are operating it unsafely