Love them or loathe them, e-scooters are becoming an increasingly common sight on UK highways.
While privately owned ones remain illegal to use on public roads, cycle lanes and pavements due to an ancient law dating back to the 1800s, trials of rental e-scooters are taking place in more than 30 areas across England.
They were brought forward to support a ‘green’ restart of socially-distanced travel and help mitigate reduced public transport capacity amid the pandemic.
While a little late to the party compared to other cities, London launched its hire scheme in June, offering up 1,200 through operators Lime, Dott and Tier. According to Lime, its e-scooters have already been ridden 7,500 times across the capital.
But despite e-scooters offering a more environmentally-friendly way to get around, there have been concerns over how safe they are as a means of transport. Six people are believed to have died in the UK to date – the first being YouTuber Emily Hartridge in July 2019 – with others suffering serious injuries in road accidents.
Figures show the number of riders harmed in collisions in London alone leapt from 27 in 2019 to 181 between January and November 2020. The number of pedestrians hurt by e-scooters doubled over the same period, from 13 to 26, according to data released under Freedom of Information legislation.
Some campaigners are even calling on the government to stop the e-scooter hire trials and ban retailers from selling them until further safety reviews have taken place, claiming they’ve made towns and cities ‘no go zones’ for blind people. There are also concerns about people riding them illegally on pavements and while intoxicated.
It paints a pretty bleak picture, but the use of motorised scooters has been permitted in many European cities including Germany, Denmark, France and Sweden for years, and their popularity has skyrocketed.
With speeds limited to 15.5mph in the UK (12.5mph in London), helmets encouraged (but not mandatory – the same rule that applies to London’s cycle hire scheme) and mandatory ‘in-app training’ before your first ride, there are some safety precautions in place – so just how practical are they as a means of commuting? Here FEMAIL writer Hayley Richardson took one for a spin in Kensington.
Having seen various headlines about people getting hurt – and worse – while riding e-scooters I was somewhat anxious about the prospect of riding one around central London.
For a start, balance isn’t my strong point, and my only previous encounter with a motorised vehicle that wasn’t a car saw me hurtle my school pal’s scooter into the back of a parked car because I couldn’t locate the brake.
I’ve only ever cycled through the capital once – on a weekend – and a relatively close-encounter with a double decker bus was enough to send me running for the Tube.
Therefore I thought it’d be a wise idea to practice on an e-scooter off-road first. As I live outside of the trial zones, I whizzed around my cul-de-sac onboard a Micro Explorer from Micro Scooters, which boasts an 18-mile range and a 15mph top speed. It also weighs just 13.5kg (considerably less than the rental e-scooters), comes with a free helmet and folds up, making it a good option should privately-owned ones become legal on UK roads.
Feeling distinctly more confident, I headed to the nearest e-scooter rank to our office, where I was met by a colourful collection of at least 20 vehicles. Having downloaded all three hire apps to my phone – Lime, Tier and Dott – I was spoilt for choice.
Despite registering beforehand I did spend a good 10 minutes faffing around on the apps – thankfully it wasn’t raining for a change – which wouldn’t have been ideal if I was in a rush on my way into work, but like anything, once you’ve done it once it’s a pretty quick and easy process.
After scanning the e-scooter’s QR code I was ready to roll and cautiously made my way to the road. It was a quiet street, ideal for getting to grips with the accelerator lever and testing out the hand brakes, which were reassuringly responsive.
Much to my relief, the e-scooter felt very sturdy; it was much heavier than the Micro scooter and glided smoothly around corners. Within a few minutes I felt quite comfortable and ready to take on the busy high street.
One of the (very few) perks of the pandemic for cyclists was the introduction of more designated bike lanes and improvements to the cycling infrastructure in the city.
These have also benefitted e-scooter riders – though I did feel my presence wasn’t particularly welcome at times. Several cyclists whizzed past me even as I hit top speed, which I couldn’t help but think put them more at risk of having an accident than me.
Equally while the majority of car drivers gave me a wide berth like they would a cyclist, others accelerated past me a little too close for comfort.
