Is London paranoid about e-scooters?

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CJInsider
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Is London paranoid about e-scooters?

Postby CJInsider » Sat Sep 23, 2023 12:18 pm

Is London paranoid about e-scooters? 🛴⚡️
With Clapham Junction Insider, we explore the reality of e-scooters in London, why is London so far behind the rest of the world and the solutions to have a peaceful cohabitation with other route users.
https://www.cjag.org/2023/09/23/is-lond ... -scooters/
#escooters #electricscooters 
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chorister
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Re: Is London paranoid about e-scooters?

Postby chorister » Sat Sep 23, 2023 12:26 pm

The sister of a friend of ours had her elbow broken last week on a pedestrian crossing by an escooter that didn't stop at the red light.  So no, we're not paranoid.
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Re: Is London paranoid about e-scooters?

Postby CJInsider » Sat Sep 23, 2023 8:14 pm

A lot more explanation in the article, including stats of e-scooters accidents vs motor vehicles, etc. Regulation but also information and infrastructure looks more promising surely. Prohibition did not work that well in the 1930s ;-)
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Re: Is London paranoid about e-scooters?

Postby chorister » Sun Sep 24, 2023 10:33 am

I'm sorry, it's an article by a website designer who seems to be an activist campaigner and which quotes very selectively from the RoSPA papers.  The RoSPA paper in October 2020 identified serious safety risks both to riders and others, while RoSPA's response in February 2023 to the Transport Select Committee lists a minimum safety specification which current designs are nowhere near meeting.  We do need to find a way of living with eScooters (and eBikes) but it would be much better if we sorted out all these issues now while there are only a few of them around rather than trying to claw back control once they are everywhere.  And we should simply ban the sale of non certified batteries - Lithium fires are VERY dangerous and hard to put out.
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Re: Is London paranoid about e-scooters?

Postby CJInsider » Sun Sep 24, 2023 11:58 pm

All of that is actually discussed within the article. I've updated the article with an excellent video, valid also for cycling, talking about the necessity of infrastructure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL9J30PAkTM&t=448s
As you said, we need more regulation, including on batteries. You are completely right on that.
But as they banned all e-scooters from TfL because one took fire in Parsons green (with nobody injured), why don't they ban all electric cars because the battery of a Tesla burst in flame recently? The title had the word "paranoid" meaning "condition marked by a pattern of distrust and suspicion with a loss of reality". 
We have a decade of experience worldwide, millions of users around the globe, billions of kilometers of e-bikes and e-scooters usage. How much more do we need to decide what is the proper regulation? Funny enough, even usual followers such as Gibraltar of the Isle of Man are losing patience and decided to regulate and authorise them without waiting for the UK.
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Re: Is London paranoid about e-scooters?

Postby CJInsider » Thu Nov 09, 2023 8:18 am

Surprise surprise ! Nothing on #eScooters on the King's speech.
Delay to law on e-scooters criticised:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67335275

Remember what we said at the end of our article on #escooters?  
"The Government has announced plans to fully legalise the use of e-scooters as part of a new Transport Bill in 2024. To consider the likelihood of that contentious topic to happen, just remember that 2024 is also the year of the next General Election in the UK!" 

Read more here: https://www.cjag.org/2023/09/23/is-lond ... -scooters/
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