E-scooters

Rented 3 of them on a recent trip to Brussels and spent an excellent afternoon hooning them round the Parc de Bruxelles with the kids.

Really changed my mind about scooters in general, motorised or otherwise.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/amazon-s-safety-warning-on-electric-scooters-after-death-of-youtube-star-emily-hartridge-a4251946.html

There are about 5 different companies leaving rentable escooters around Helsinki where I live.

Helsinki has very wide pavements and everyone rides them on them rather than the roads and they are kinda ok. Only problem is they are left lying around everywhere and they can go WAY too fast - I think they are limited to 20kph which is much too fast for riding amongst pedestrians.

What's the law concerning them in Finland?

Also, someone I know was in the Alps on holiday recently, and when walking up a mountain they encountered a group riding Segways on the way down (who presumably had also gone up on them). What really worries me about all this micro-motorisation is the loss of actual exercise and movement.

What really worries me about all this micro-motorisation is the loss of actual exercise and movement.

It's called natural selection.

Unfortunately they're filling up all the hospitals for a long time before they die of fatness.

#hippyisfat #ishouldknow

That's true.

I guess there's no assist option for walking like there is for cycling, scooting just replaces walking.

The law in Finland considers a device that has max speed of 15km/h to be kind of like assisted walking, so you can use that on the sidewalks at walking pace. But the e-scooters are faster, so they should be used like bikes, on bike paths etc. and the speed limit is 25km/h. The law hasn't really caught up with what these are really, and the users don't seem to know where they should go.

Thanks! That makes it difficult to enforce against.

A serious incident in Herne Hill--'fighting for life' never sounds good:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/escooter-herne-hill-crash-south-london-a4323716.html

Hoping he'll survive.

I'm tentatively into these. I'm an advocate for anything that gets people moving without the use of a car (even though I am a petrolhead). Happy to share my bike lanes and ASLs with them. Yes they're nerdy but have you seen the wankers in lycra heading out to the country every weekend! If you're in a town/city with a decent network of bike lanes I can definitely see myself hopping on one of these instead of getting the bike out, the bike lock, shoes etc for small trips.

Plus they look fun, if anyone here's a motorbike or petrol scooterhead you'll know that there's nothing like that feeling of twisting a handlebar and shooting off with nothing but a chunk of metal and an engine between your legs, not even a bike can match that.

They are awful.

Down with this sort of thing

Sorry for calling you wankers!

.

yes, getting people out of cars is good, it's the 'last mile' bit that i object to.
how about people walk the last fucking mile?

I'm going to be honest, I'm a pretty active person and I sometimes run / jog about 10k to work, but you won't catch me walking a mile. It just seems so slow.

(Obviously, Sunday walks with the gf and similar occasions excluded)

But if they're not going to do that then this might at least convince them not to take the car. I dunno, just backing all fronts.

On a side but related note, the less dependency there is on cars in towns and cities maybe they'll be demonised less so we can enjoy our beloved oil burners out of town!

... and I'm sure you've noticed this, but it's always worth re-stating that they're illegal to use except on private land, so unless you have the shops across your garden ...

I've used them in Seville and Nashville, and in both cases it has been excellent. In a situation where I don't want to hail a cab or uber, but there are no bikes available, using an e-scooter has been a great way to make a journey in under 10 mins that would otherwise take 45 on foot.

It's a bit confusing in some places whether the local laws are to user roads, pavements, or bike lanes, but that's sorted easy enough with a quick google.

Wouldn't ever buy one myself, but when visiting a different city I've found it a great and cheap way to nip around.

there's nothing like an e-microscooter-er to unveil someone as an absolute cunt.

covfefe

Oops

kidding.

not really. well..... I don't know. (some)People are abhorrent in cars. (some)People are abhorrent on scooters. (some)People are abhorrent on bikes. (some)People are abhorrent on feet.

But with scootering...Used in the same streets, together, there seems to be more worstcuntyness and not less: roads still strewn with cunts in cars, pavements now to be strewn with cunts on scoooters going surprisingly quickly too. Would it be better on bike lane than pavement? For peds, yes, for bikes, no. Small, erratic, tiny wheeled, not as fast as bike, not as slow as ped, wankerchariots is the residual impression I am left with. Unless children, in which case, child on.

Just another form of motorisation I suppose, shitey parking included. Das velo becomes the squeezed middle.

Is the answer to unregisterable e-scooters actually a tier of motorbike below the e-moped?

Combine registration, MOT and insurance to reduce admin so ownership overheads can be kept low. Low overheads and comparatively low purchase cost should encourage private ownership such that they don't become clutter.

Cap the power to 500W or 1kw and the speed to 20mph, such that a bike helmet is enough (but mandatory, because motorbike).