London Declares War on E-Scooters

Automologist MAC reports on what London is doing to keep e-scooters under control. 

E-scooters. Are they the next best thing in transportation or a modern-day scourge? E-scooter ride-sharing schemes have been popping up everywhere but depending on where you are, they are either loved or loathed.

Police in London clearly loath them. Just last week, they rounded up 500 of them from the streets of London using ‘proactive patrols’, whatever that means. The action was taken across ‘all’ London boroughs and was apparently in response to the increase in use by uninsured riders.

The UK has quite strict traffic rules and to use a motorised vehicle on the roads, you need to have a visible rear light, visible vehicle identification number (number plate), signalling ability and, oh, there’s the small matter of insurance. Fail to have these and get caught operating one, you could be fined and get points on your license, assuming you bothered to get one in the first place.

I was an e-scooter rider, really enjoyed it, but blooming-heck was it dangerous! Other road users just cannot or do not see you, the little wheels easily get stuck in holes and when you take a hand off to signal, the entire thing became unstable and wobbly. So my beloved e-scooter has gone the way of so many other expensive toys in my household.

Just a little while ago, British TV presenter Emily Hartridge became the first known fatality in the UK when her e-scooter hit a lorry in Battersea, London, and she was killed. Across the channel in Paris, French Gendarmes are looking for the pilot of a scooter who struck a pedestrian and fatally injured her. A number of jurisdictions around the world have banned them for these sorts of reasons.

The UK still has no specific law for e-scooters, so for now they are still considered to be ‘powered transporters’ and thus to operate one, you need a license and insurance and pay road tax, but strangely you also need to get what the UK calls an MOT (road worthiness certificate). However, there  are a few London boroughs where scooters with front- and back-lights are being trialled to see if they are a feasible solution. But before you hop onto one of these, you need to get certified online.