We are at the dawn of the age of electric transport. Hybrid to fully electric-powered cars are flooding the market, as well as electric bikes, mobility scooters and electric-powered traditional scooters. There are even electric motorcycles. They come in all shapes and sizes from large nans and cars down to small, collapsible 2-wheelers.
While it is a big thumbs up from the UK government to push electric cars, it seems there is no real strategy for the likes of other electric-powered vehicles.
Mobility scooters and bikes have already bolted and, although there is no obvious government backing, there is a prevailing acceptance of these types of transport. Well, good votes would be lost to go against mobility scooters.
As for electric scooters, or eScooters, the UK government has rules in play to restrict their use. For example, it is not legal to ride an electric scooter on UK public roads and pavements unless it is provided by a government-backed rental company.
Electric-Powered Red Tape
I am writing this article while on holiday in Croatia. I have visited many towns and resorts in the Istrian Peninsula, and I can tell you that there is an abundance of electric-powered vehicles in operation. There are lots of eScooters and quite a few electric motorcycles, typically of the Lambretta style. Many eScooters display registration plates, which suggests they are state registered. Although, many do not. Perhaps the faster, more powerful, variety is registered – some travel at quite a speed.
A Rant
I have to admit that, in writing this blog, I am getting the subject off my chest. I get very annoyed with the amount of UK red tape preventing what could be a fantastic transport revolution. Just imagine if town and city dwellers could get to work on an electric scooter. Aside from the reduction in CO2 pollution – something that is being drummed into us almost daily it seems – there would also be a massive relaxation on things like parking and road congestion.
Net Zero, pollution, CO2 levels, climate change. What a load of tosh! The technology to combat all of this is emerging and being demonstrated beautifully worldwide. Yet, it is being ignored or stopped in its tracks by UK officials.
I Smell a Rat
Only in the last couple of weeks, GWR and other train companies have banned eScooters. Apparently, electric bikes are somehow OK – they won’t spontaneously catch fire like some eScooters have. Well, this surely harks back to registration and licencing control. Maybe if the government got its act together, officials could force safety checks that, surely, bikes and cars must have to go through before being sold. Or do they?
I have to wonder what is really going on. Why is it that the government allows certain companies to start up in major cities to rent eScooters? It smacks of backhanders and ministers profiteering from these schemes. A few months back I learnt that the Bristol rental company – and there is just one – had its licence extended so that the ‘experiment’ could be extended. It’s nonsense! Especially when you see electric bicycles freely available and in use – both rental and privately owned.
Mobility For All
Anyone can go and buy and ride a mobility scooter – regardless of their health. Of course, able-bodied people will tend not to have the desire to buy one. That’s fairly natural.
Many people in the UK won’t know of eScooter-styled vehicles that have a seat. It’s like a comfortable saddle on top of a stem affixed to the platform of the eScooter. Some have a small basket behind the seat. You sit on it, fairly low down, and ride it like a bike with small wheels.
Now consider the number of people who suffer from slight mobility problems. My knee plays up regularly and can be painful, but I know of people who have far worse problems, affecting their mobility. It would be great if they could buy and ride a vehicle like this to get themselves around town and up and down hills – pain-free. Why is this mobility technology not being pushed in favour of them getting into their cars and adding yet more pollution congestion to pick up a pint of milk?
Silent Transport Safety
There are plenty of people who will push back, adding their frustration of the extremely few that charge about like idiots on eScooters. There have already been injuries and a few deaths from traffic accidents involving eScooters. Of course, there have been many more injuries and deaths involving electric bicycles, but as I mentioned above, these accidents and deaths don’t count. Electric bikes are fine! Or so it seems.
It is a known fact that rented vehicles get quite a bit more abuse than many people would treat their own vehicles. So if this is just an experiment of how well eScooters will go in the UK, it’s skewed from the outset. If you owned an eScooter, and especially if it had to display a registration plate, I imagine that owners would most likely ride them safely and responsibly. Statistically, it would be no different than for any other vehicle. For every type of vehicle on our public highways and pavements, there is a very small minority that drives them with undue care, and a further minority of these drive them dangerously.
One thing that is much needed is a shift change in culture. People, as pedestrians, are simply not used to ‘silent’ vehicles being on the same pavement or on our roads for that matter. Not just electric-powered vehicles, I’m talking about push-bikes and leg-powered scooters as well. People, including me, need to be much more aware of all the different road and pavement users. I’ve walked into the path of bikes and scooters a number of times. If there had been a collision, I don’t think me or the riders could be specifically blamed. Riders and pedestrians need to be aware of each other and act responsibly.
Highway Code Changes
I believe we need better highway code rules. Back to my Croatian holiday, I was talking with a taxi driver as we were following and unable to pass a bunch of cyclists. She explained a Croatian highway rule that cyclists should be at least 15 metres apart. This is so that cars can pass by them, one at a time. Otherwise, there is very little chance of getting around them safely. Sadly, in the UK, there is no such rule. Cyclists can be bunched up, ride in tandem, whatever, and we are supposed to pass them safely. That’s not easy in Cornwall with our rural twisty roads and lanes. So, with more electric-powered vehicles on our roads and pavements, we need more sense and sensibility from our highway rule-makers regarding speed-restricted vehicles.
Meanwhile, people can and are legally buying electric-powered vehicles, especially eScooters, as they are not too expensive. Accidents are happening and there is very little that can be done to police the riders. It will simply become a growing problem with riders who are involved in an accident being fined or taken to court because it is not yet legal to ride them.
Of course, the rest of Europe and other parts of the world will flourish in the electric-powered transport revolution.
