Calls for e-scooter laws to change as people flout the rules and police turn a blind eye

[RonK]

I've had some interesting conversations with my former cycle commuter workmates since I started riding an e-scooter to the office.

Mostly about how, in the current Brisbane heat and humidity, I arrive in office clothing fresh and ready to start work, while they arrive dripping with sweat and then spend around 30 minutes queuing for a shower, ironing a shirt and getting dressed. Then still taking another hour or so to cool down properly.

Many have remarked that like mine, their commute is not long enough for worthwhile exercise value.

So it's not surprising that I'm not the only e-scooter commuter to my office any more.

Fortunately Queensland has the most liberal e-scooter regulations for now, but they could be improved by allowing their use on more roads.

Pressure is mounting.

"It's the fastest quickest thing that will take you from A to B around the city. It's faster than driving a car, faster than public transport, faster than an Uber,"

And for many, faster and more convenient than commuting by bike.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-14/ ... fmredir=sm

[zebee]

I think the e-scooter is used by people for the same sort of thing I use my Brompton for: connection between modes of transport.

THe B is mainly for getting me to and from public transport. Bus or train. The bloke at work who uses an e-scooter uses it for the same thing: ride to the train station, take it on the train, ride from the station to work. I dunno many would want to ride more than 20 -30 mins on one, which limits the distance it is the sole transport. And while a top speed of 25kmh would increase the distance I have no idea how many people would want to ride one at that speed for any length of time.

I've seen a few younger women on e-scooters but the ones they've been using around here have very wide stable wheels and platforms. I think a commuting one would have to be very stable, the crash reports from the US indicate that the skinny small ones are nasty little buggers.

As usual there will be an issue with fast easy-for-beginners vehicles on the tiny congested space car-owners think all non-cars must use. I think e-scooters much more than bikes or e-bikes will end up on crowded footpaths, and the fun aspect means maybe more drunken or aggressive young men than we would like. THey won't be the default but as we know from ped/bike crashes the few ped/scooter crashes will be massively hyped and re-interated.

I honestly feel that the only way to deal with the congestion problem is to make more of it. To remove space from cars and turn it over to active-transport-speed vehicles whether those are bikes or scooters. I'd love to start by removing street parking but the problem of the disabled and the users of taxis and buses has to be dealt with...

[RonK]

I dunno many would want to ride more than 20 -30 mins on one, which limits the distance it is the sole transport. And while a top speed of 25kmh would increase the distance I have no idea how many people would want to ride one at that speed for any length of time.

So by your own admission, you don't know, and you have no idea.

As per my original post, I’m talking about people whose commute is not long enough to have worthwhile exercise value.

A 30 minute ride would take me more than 10km on my e-scooter at the quite sedate and relaxed pace of 25kph.
Just as you choose a different bike for your train/bike journey, so you would choose a different scooter for an inner city commute or a last kilometre connection.

Scooters have a low centre of gravity and are extremely stable. That is why children who have barely started walking are able to ride them.

The scooter I'm riding has 10" X 3" pneumatic tyres, dual motors, dual suspension and dual disc brakes. It has a large platform to house the battery and has a range of 80km. It can handle pretty much any kind of road conditions I'm likely to encounter. At 25kph the ride is tame, in fact if the restriction is moved it has a design capability of 65kph.

Finally, people who invest in their own scooter are not the drunken fools you are likely to see hooning around on rental scooters.

[Calvin27]

Most of the xiaomi scooters I see on the bicycle trails are no where near legal I see a lot around 10km from the cbd circle but not beyond that. I usually draft thenm because they can hold 35kph easily and the standing position breaks a lot of wind for me. They cannot corner for the life of them though compared to a bicycle and the braking is very poor in comparison.

I don't have an issue with them, (personally I think the motor speed and motor restrictions could be a little higher) and they do seem to be a better package than an ebike for commuting purposes, but some of the ones I see are way too fast I rekon.

[bychosis]

The scooter I'm riding has 10" X 3" pneumatic tyres, dual motors, dual suspension and dual disc brakes. It has a large platform to house the battery and has a range of 80km. It can handle pretty much any kind of road conditions I'm likely to encounter. At 25kph the ride is tame, in fact if the restriction is moved it has a design capability of 65kph

Out of interest how heavy is your scooter? Sounds like a solid bit of kit.

As with most legislation it is a bit behind what people want and will struggle to be changed because of the media hysteria around pedestrian and ‘others’ interactions.

[Mububban]

The scooter I'm riding has 10" X 3" pneumatic tyres, dual motors, dual suspension and dual disc brakes. It has a large platform to house the battery and has a range of 80km. It can handle pretty much any kind of road conditions I'm likely to encounter.

Sounds like a commuting beast! What make and model is it?!?

[Bunged Knee]

The scooter I'm riding has 10" X 3" pneumatic tyres, dual motors, dual suspension and dual disc brakes. It has a large platform to house the battery and has a range of 80km. It can handle pretty much any kind of road conditions I'm likely to encounter.

Sounds like a commuting beast! What make and model is it?!?

Looks like this model.

[find_bruce]

As with most legislation it is a bit behind what people want and will struggle to be changed because of the media hysteria around pedestrian and ‘others’ interactions.

Ironically the powered scooter ban was created in NSW in the late 90s because of regular complaints - about noise of 2 stroke whipper sniper motors that were used, which used to annoy me almost as much as harley's & pop-off valves of the turbo hoons.

[Peter A]

I'm having trouble imagining scooters whistling through pedestrians, cars etc given the way, for example, the elderly can scare the cr*p out of you as they silently approach and miss you by a hairs breadth.

Do you ride them on the road, on the footpaths, bicycle lanes, shared footpath ?

A google showed the following available for $1K, seems way to quick anywhere but on a road or dedicated bicycle path.

Will helmets become mandatory, are they now ?

SCOOTER SPECIFICS
(Microhill E1)
Largest load：120kg
Top speed：35km/h
Range：40km

[RonK]

The scooter I'm riding has 10" X 3" pneumatic tyres, dual motors, dual suspension and dual disc brakes. It has a large platform to house the battery and has a range of 80km. It can handle pretty much any kind of road conditions I'm likely to encounter.

Sounds like a commuting beast! What make and model is it?!?

Zero 10X

[RonK]

The scooter I'm riding has 10" X 3" pneumatic tyres, dual motors, dual suspension and dual disc brakes. It has a large platform to house the battery and has a range of 80km. It can handle pretty much any kind of road conditions I'm likely to encounter. At 25kph the ride is tame, in fact if the restriction is moved it has a design capability of 65kph

Out of interest how heavy is your scooter? Sounds like a solid bit of kit.

As with most legislation it is a bit behind what people want and will struggle to be changed because of the media hysteria around pedestrian and ‘others’ interactions.

It's about 35kg.

[RonK]

I'm having trouble imagining scooters whistling through pedestrians, cars etc given the way, for example, the elderly can scare the cr*p out of you as they silently approach and miss you by a hairs breadth.

Haha. You mean - in the same way many cyclists do?

[bychosis]

The scooter I'm riding has 10" X 3" pneumatic tyres, dual motors, dual suspension and dual disc brakes. It has a large platform to house the battery and has a range of 80km. It can handle pretty much any kind of road conditions I'm likely to encounter. At 25kph the ride is tame, in fact if the restriction is moved it has a design capability of 65kph

Out of interest how heavy is your scooter? Sounds like a solid bit of kit.

It's about 35kg.

Pretty sturdy then. Wouldn’t be too keen to lug it up the stairs at the end of the commute.

[RonK]

Out of interest how heavy is your scooter? Sounds like a solid bit of kit.

It's about 35kg.

Pretty sturdy then. Wouldn’t be too keen to lug it up the stairs at the end of the commute.

Yeah, 80km worth of battery is heavy. But no problem. It goes in the lift easily.

[Ross]

E-scooters now legal to use in certain areas of ACT

https://greens.org.au/act/news/start-yo ... alised-act

Minister Rattenbury said the key changes are:

• Electric scooters, skateboards etc will be legal to use on shared paths and footpaths.

• They will not be permitted on roads or on-road bicycle lanes (except on residential streets where there is no footpath);

• They will be subject to a maximum speed of 15km/h on footpaths and up to 25km/h in all other permitted locations;

• Users must give way to pedestrians and keep to the left.

Minister Rattenbury said that safety is a key part of the reforms and as such there are minimum safety standards that apply. When using one of these devices you must:

• Wear an approved bicycle helmet

• Slow down to 10km/h when travelling across a crossing

• Have a warning device such as a bell fitted to your device or that is otherwise accessible

• Have lights and reflectors on either the device or your person when using these devices at night or in hazardous weather conditions

• Not ride while using a mobile phone or similar

• Not be impaired by alcohol.

[rolandp]

In WA, it is 10kph
when propelled only by the motor, or motors, the scooter is not capable of going faster than 10 km/h on level ground;

[Peter A]

Thanks Ross, a sensible/safe set of guidelines in the ACT.

[mikesbytes]

Escooters safer than Ebikes according to this article https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2019/12/e-bi ... -suggests/