Bedfordshire police seize dozens of unapproved/illegal e-scooters and e-bikes
Posted by Nebulon-B_FrigateFTW@reddit | ebikes | View on Reddit | 14 comments
Nebulon-B_FrigateFTW@reddit (OP)
Most of the seizure is escooters, and is because ALL escooters are illegal in the UK unless they're part of an approved rideshare, because you will own nothing and like it.
As for ebikes, there's one moped style one, and no information on how fast these go...which is even a little unusual for UK news, they LOVE to report wild numbers attained on a dyno, so high chance most of these would be legal in the US.
Just your usual nanny state.
Inciteful_Analysis@reddit
UK is a nanny state but escooters do genuinely pose a greater risk to others than ebikes for a given speed.
Nebulon-B_FrigateFTW@reddit (OP)
Yes, but that makes it absurd they're going ahead with rental escooters. People get injured more often on rentals.
Inciteful_Analysis@reddit
I struggle to explain why rental scooters would be permissible.
Maybe someone has an investment or is getting kickbacks/campaign contributions.
The only possible legit reason I could see is if rental escooters are subject to regular maintenance & inspection requirements. Privately owned scooters are more likely to have stretched brake cables that don't stop as effectively.
pxnolhtahsm@reddit
Rental scooters can be legally forced to be limited at specific speeds - like here, where I live, they would be limited to 25 km/h and 15 km/h in certain areas - while I've been overtaken with private scooter on cycle path while cruising with my e-Python @ \~ 35 km/h...
Inciteful_Analysis@reddit
OK, that makes sense to me. Still nannyish but potentially a legit safety related explanation.
Nebulon-B_FrigateFTW@reddit (OP)
It's quite possible kickbacks are involved. Any reasoning like maintenance is just trivial.
jlluh@reddit
A couple studies claim that escooters are actually safer than bikes.
Yes, escooters on the face of it have much worse safety stats. But they're ridden almost exclusively in urban environments, whereas bikes do lots and lots of miles on safe recreational bike paths and that skews the numbers. Supposedly, when you compare them exclusively on "riding in the dense urban core, escooters come out ahead.
Here's one of the studies: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022437525000878
As someone who rides both, this feels... plausible. I certainly feel more secure on an ebike. That may be part of what makes me less safe on one --+ I ride more cautiously on the scooter. The escooter is also slower, more agile, and I'm in an upright position.
pxnolhtahsm@reddit
Well, that's the study for ya - that's the purpose of all of the funny studies. I was too lazy to read - where did they gathered data from, and what was the threshold for accident to be deemed "crash"? Maybe it's similar thing as the claim that "most of bicycle accidents involve head injury", because nobody calls police and ambulance after simply falling, so only severe crashes enters statistics?
Funny side note - few years ago, when my bicycle was accoustic, I did a trip to our capital, which is something like 260 km away. I arrived there a bit above midnight, and while going to my destination, I rode through one certain park, when I reached exit at the corner of street, I encountered guy riding rental e-scooter - he tried jumping onto sidewalk, made a mistake and flew over handlebars. I couldn't help but make remark "too small wheels" when passing him, lol.
JARDIS@reddit
Yeah this is it. Who would be a more capable rider: the person who owns and rides regularly or some random person just grabbing one off the street for a joy ride or quick commute? The rental only system is absurd logic.
Nebulon-B_FrigateFTW@reddit (OP)
Same shit in New Jersey. You don't need a license for an ebike if it's a rental company ebike.
Kombatsaurus@reddit
Man, that place sounds awful.
chrispark70@reddit
They ain't got time to go after crooks, rapists and other malcontents, but they have all the time in the world to commit highway robberies and investigate non-crime-hate-incidents.
Britain is an authoritarian police state. It is sad to see what happened with one of the architects of the free world.
KabosuCheemz@reddit
Yeah, good job fascist Nazis. Oh… wait…. It’s leftists and labour all over the world doing this…