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news
Bird e-scooters at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (copyright Simon MacMichael).JPEGElectric scooters set to be made street – and cycle lane – legal in UK
A government consultation to make it legal to ride electric scooters on UK roads – as well as in cycle lanes – is due to be launched next month, The Times reports.
The newspaper says that it is proposed for them to be trialled in some cities ahead of a possible rollout across the country.
Currently, it is legal to buy and sell e-scooters here, but not to ride them on the public highway.
However, spend any time in a major city at rush hour and you will learn that it is a law that is regularly ignored but seldom enforced.
Secondary legislation would be needed to make them legal to ride on the roads, and rules regarding e-scooters is also said to be considered as part of an ongoing wider review of road traffic law.
According to The Times they could be fitted with speed limiters, with a maximum speed of 15.5mph and that riders would also be allowed to use cycle lanes.
However, it adds that there is disagreement within government over whether e-scooter riders should be required to wear helmets, which are not compulsory for UK cyclists – whether under their
Transport minister George Freeman commented: “We are considering this closely. The Department for Transport is committed to encouraging innovation in transport as well as improving road safety.”
US e-scooter hire firms are keen to break into the UK market, with Bird having already undertaken a trial at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which is private land.
Rival Lime has its e-bikes for hire in London and Milton Keynes, while Uber-owned rival Jump is also present in the capital, but neither hires its e-scooters here as yet.
Nevertheless, e-scooters and other powered personal mobility devices are freely available to buy and are becoming an increasingly common sight on the country’s roads and footways.
Consultation over legalising them for use on the roads has been on the way for a while, with former transport minister Jesse Norman saying last March that the law would be reviewed.
Progress since then has been slow however, and in November, Fredrik Hjelm, the co-founder and CEO of Swedish e-scooter start-up Voi Technology said he believed Brexit was to blame.
He told BBC News he had spoken to UK government officials about changing the law, and warned that the country risked being left behind with others in Europe having already amended legislation.
“What we hear and feel is that Brexit is a big reason why things are moving so slowly."
“We don't have any high hopes of getting this through before Brexit, which I think is sad, because most other European countries have been quite quick in adapting and trying to find a good regulatory framework.”
Both here and abroad, including in places where they are legal, serious concerns have been raised about the safety of e-scooter riders.
In July last year, television presenter Emily Hartridge became the first person known to have been killed in the UK while riding one when she was run over by a lorry in South London.
Following her death the government reminded retailers and hirers of e-scooters that they had an obligation to inform people buying or renting them that they are not allowed on the road.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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52 comments
I didn't even discuss the planet saving benefits of scooters, you may want to read my comment again. My main point is that drivers have a rather distorted view of cyclists including 'menace', 'mamil', 'inconvenience' etc. We don't like it.
You've already created a persona for those using this type of transport and think you're superior to them. Batshit crazy logic!
Only electric scooters are likely to become very widespread and more accessible than cycling.
Surprisingly people don't tend to create moral panics or demonise groups they belong to.
Lots of people on e-scooters leads to more calls for protected lanes to use them in.
No problem with this at all in principle. Every car journey that isn't made because someone chose an active option is a good thing. And logically, you'd expect that if the roads become under-used then the arguments for taking back some of that space for segregated personal transport lanes becomes greater.
What I don't understand is why these scooters are essentially just 'electrically powered', in the way that bikes are not allowed to be. Why isn't the rider required to 'scoot' every ten seconds or something?
It would shake up the debate on the quality of the roads - the holes are bad enough with a 700c wheel - let alone a six-inch scooter wheel
If you think the potholes are bad enough with a 700c wheel, try them on a Brompton!
I'm pretty staggered that this is even a possibility. But yes, giving something else for drivers to digest can only be a good thing as hawkinspeter has said. And no to helmets naturally.
I'd be ok with e scooters being legal. BUT e bikes would need to be legal without the pedelec bit too, otherwise the law would seem unbalanced. I'd buy an e scooter with big wheels, or a e bike which I wouldn't have to pedal for a central London commute and get rid of the motorbike. No tax, mot, insurance. Would be miles cheaper and head to toe waterproofs on wet days without getting sweaty. Interesting times.
Just like over a million cars in the UK. Get yourself a hacked eBike, ride courteously and nobody will care.
Got
I see plenty of people whizzing about on e-bikes that are clearly not pedelecs. There are plenty of wheel motors for sale on Facebook if you look, with power outputs ranging from 250W to 1,000W, that are obviously not legal. I was talking with a guy who has one recently and it cost him about £250 for the motor, battery and switch gear to add to his MTB.
But these are not legal - so if the worst does happen I probably wouldn't be covered by my insurance (BC or home insurance). I think they should be made legal, with a speed limiter.
The unintended consequence will be that the cycle lanes (including things like the Thames path, Tamsin trial in Richmond Park) will be full of people doing 16mph, so not appropriate for young children. Shared space confrontation will abound.
i was also idly thinking about people moving to e-trikes for cargo use. 16mph versions of the babboe with multiple tarquins on board will be the new Chelsea tractor! And I can see a bizarre evolution of e-vehicle to include rooves and doors to keep the occupants dry. Amsterdam already has this issue - I saw an e-'car' in the bike lane a year or so back when I was there.
https://thingstodoinamsterdam.com/blog/startup-company-biro-rents-small-...
So will bike lanes and roads be full of little e-cars doing 16 mph?
Welcome to the future! It is like the past, but a bit different.
Yep, those high power e-bikes aren't legal. Having a crash on one might result in all sorts of legal problems. There have been several cycle rickshaw users prosecuted in London for having illegal electric motor assistance incidentally. All in all I think e-bikes are a good thing but I do think the use of the high power ones should be better regulated. If they have the same power as a moped (and I see a couple regularly that do), the user should have a licence, insurance and so on.
Oh, and I've seen fully enclosed bikes in Munich a few times.
There's a paragraph that doesn't look finished up there:
Personally, I hope they are made road legal as it could shake up personal transport and maybe give drivers something else to think about (or hit if they're not very good drivers). I don't even mind sharing cycle lanes with e-scooters though it'd be interesting to see if they're a significant problem.
Bad enough with people on Santander bikes in London with little clue, let alone scooter riders.
It's bad enough with people incapable of operating cars, taxis and vans safely in London... If we can get people out of those and onto scooters and Santander bikes, then I'm all in favour.
Proving some proper segregated cycle infrastructure and restricting motor traffic would be a good starting place if you want to make scooters safer.
Or it may be that the people who swap use public transport or walk, so not much gain.
I'd see getting people off public transport onto scooters as a massive win. I can think of three quick economic wins off the top of my head.
Yeah let those clueless Santander bike riders and scooter riders drive cars instead, much safer for everyone.
I have found them lacking in cyclecraft. At least a driver will have been trained and passed a test and so competent. Oh...
And yet riders on bike shares are statistically safer than "experianced" cyclists on their own bikes.
Will you be providing any evidence for that claim?
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