E Scooters.. - Speeding up the hill.

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Tue 17 Nov 2020 13:31
E Scooters.. - Speeding up the hill. - _

Yesterday evening I was coming up the slight hill on Mile end road from Colchester Station follwing an E scotter in the dark.

Well, he did have 2 flashing LED lights and the rider had a bright yellow backpack, but I was amazed at his speed.. 25mph... I had set my speedo to read the MPH digitally so was quite sure of the speed.

I am sure he could have easily exceeded 30 mph on the flat.

And yes he was riding on the main road...

Edited by _ORB_ on 17/11/2020 at 13:31

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Tue 17 Nov 2020 13:54
E Scooters.. - Speeding up the hill. - Bolt

Yesterday evening I was coming up the slight hill on Mile end road from Colchester Station follwing an E scotter in the dark.

Well, he did have 2 flashing LED lights and the rider had a bright yellow backpack, but I was amazed at his speed.. 25mph... I had set my speedo to read the MPH digitally so was quite sure of the speed.

I am sure he could have easily exceeded 30 mph on the flat.

And yes he was riding on the main road...

They are popular round Bromley and have no problems going uphill at speed.

my local area has a lot of these and getting more popular, only a pity they ride like cyclists do, all over the place, and lighting could be better at night.

though I prefer them to trials bikes we get locally, they are a pain sound wise

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Tue 17 Nov 2020 14:01
E Scooters.. - Speeding up the hill. - Theophilus

i thought they were required to be speed-limited to a maximum of 15.5mph - presumably this limit had been de-activated

I had set my speedo to read the MPH digitally so was quite sure of the speed.

I'm not persuaded that a digital readout is any more accurate than a conventional speedo (although it gives the impression of being exact), so you couldn't be "sure", but at that speed range I wouldn't expect your digital readout to be out by more than 2-3 mph.

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Tue 17 Nov 2020 14:39
E Scooters.. - Speeding up the hill. - Bolt

i thought they were required to be speed-limited to a maximum of 15.5mph - presumably this limit had been de-activated

I had set my speedo to read the MPH digitally so was quite sure of the speed.

I'm not persuaded that a digital readout is any more accurate than a conventional speedo (although it gives the impression of being exact), so you couldn't be "sure", but at that speed range I wouldn't expect your digital readout to be out by more than 2-3 mph.

The ones I see are doing more than 15mph, actually closer to 25, in town they can be difficult to overtake as some are close to the speed limit 30mph

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Tue 17 Nov 2020 15:31
E Scooters.. - Speeding up the hill. - Zippy123

Saw a plain clothes police man (I know because he showed a warrant card) ride one to the station - and before anyone asks, there isn't an approved hire scheme in the area.

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Tue 17 Nov 2020 16:54
E Scooters.. - Speeding up the hill. - bathtub tom

One was following me in a 30MPH limit. I was trying to be legal, but it was rapidly catching me. It undertook and accelerated away, through a red light. I estimate its speed at approaching 40 MPH. I've discovered they can be un-restricted via internet sites, but I suppose we need all the organ donors we can get.

This is the official view from a local chief inspector:

I need to emphasise the proportionately of dealing with this type of road user and vehicle type as the government trails have created a great deal of confusion amongst the public. As a consequence we suggest that our staff use Engagement and Education and only enforce where there are aggravating factors such as:

    1. Excess speed
    2. Disregard for other road and footpath users
    3. Failing to stop for police
    4. Connected with criminality
    5. Contravening traffic signals and directions

In the circumstances you describe seeing a scooter fail to stop at a red light and travel in excess of the speed limit then we would expect our officers to stop the vehicle and deal with the offences that are presented. It does need to be found committing, i.e. seen by a police officer.

We would also expect our officers to direct these scooters to the road from a footpath as per your observation of one in the town centre. At the moment due to the current confusion about the legislation for these vehicle’s, officers are not properly briefed, which may explain why they didn’t respond to seeing one on the footpath if it was being ridden carefully. This is being addressed and our roads policing team are reviewing and currently drafting policy which will be shared with all our staff as soon a it is complete.

If required recovery of an e-scooter using 165a Road Traffic Act powers can be facilitated but the rider will only have to confirm that they have rights of ownership and insurance, (you can buy e-scooter insurance).

In addition if they are being used in an antisocial manner we treat them like we do mopeds causing a nuisance by issuing s59 notices even if properly insured.

Edited by bathtub tom on 17/11/2020 at 17:00

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Tue 17 Nov 2020 18:35
E Scooters.. - Speeding up the hill. - Terry W

It is easy to upgrade motor and batteries on e-bikes (and I assume scooters) to materially exceed max speed legislation - moped rules then apply - helmet, imsurance etc.

Visible clues to any modification are limited. I suspect only for serious accidents and injuries will the police intervene - otherwise this will sit well below the horizon in they have plenty else to do.

Just as they seem to ignore other minor offences - breaking covid rules, minor theft from gardens etc etc

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Sat 21 Nov 2020 16:00
E Scooters.. - Speeding up the hill. - _

Saw thething again last night and checking my dashcam footage, he was doing 21-22 mph and poorly visible on the dashcam till i was quite close.

The MK1 eyeballs of course spotted him fro further away.. What was worse, (I think) is that he crossed two roundabouts in the dark. and under the railway bridge with narroe lanes. (ok streetlights..) just by the mainline station in Colchester.

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Tue 17 Nov 2020 18:46
E Scooters.. - Speeding up the hill. - badbusdriver

i thought they were required to be speed-limited to a maximum of 15.5mph - presumably this limit had been de-activated

I think the 15.5mph thing is for e-bikes rather than scooters. While you may get e-scooters which do 15.5mph, I think that may just be to 'lure' folk into thinking they are 'legal'. As far as I am aware, e-scooters are not legal to ride either on road or pavement, but because there is so much confusion, coupled with the Police's lack of resources, I'm not sure they would bother unless the rider was doing something particularly stupid/dangerous/anti-social.

Thing is, even with the e-bikes, it seems the case that the actual rules and regulations are very difficult to police or enforce. Re the 15.5mph limit, that is only where the electric assistance stops, but there is nothing to stop you exceeding that speed pedalling downhill for example. So how would the Police be able to determine that the electric motor was assisting past the supposed maximum?. Also, going by the rules, electric assistance is only supposed to be provided whilst pedalling, and that will be the case on any bike you buy from a proper UK bike shop, either online or an actual shop. But buy an e-bike off Amazon or Ebay and it is a different story, not only will many of these bikes have a 'throttle' (meaning you don't have to pedal at all), but they will also go faster than 15.5mph, some by quite a margin!.

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Sat 21 Nov 2020 14:11
E Scooters.. - Speeding up the hill. - edlithgow

Gogoro, the biggest e-scooter brand here, does over 90Kph, depending on the model.

www.gogoro.com/smartscooter/2-series/plus/

That's a full-size, fully legal scooter though.

The wee stand-up things probably aren't legal on the public highway.

Hard to be sure because anyone who tried that on a Taiwan public highway probably wouldnt live long enough to be seen by more than a handful of people

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Sat 21 Nov 2020 16:11
E Scooters.. - Speeding up the hill. - Bolt

Gogoro, the biggest e-scooter brand here, does over 90Kph, depending on the model.

That's a full-size, fully legal scooter though.

The wee stand-up things probably aren't legal on the public highway.

Hard to be sure because anyone who tried that on a Taiwan public highway probably wouldnt live long enough to be seen by more than a handful of people

These stand up things, are being talked about making legal next year I gather (only talking at the moment) but being electric may become legal, with a good range imo 18ish miles 30km

if they do, I hope they have better road awareness than some cyclists have, and good lights as some cyclists have non and expect drivers to see them??

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