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Title: Transport laws to be reviewed to improve everyday journeys Post by: grahame on March 19, 2019, 07:32:55 From the DfT ... more urban and road based ... I may move the topic later ...
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/transport-laws-to-be-reviewed-to-improve-everyday-journeys Quote Transport laws to be reviewed to improve everyday journeys Review announced in government's 'Future of mobility: urban strategy' to explore regulation around new transport modes. Quote The biggest review into transport in a generation will pave the way for transforming the way people and goods move around our cities, the government has announced today (19 March 2019) in its Future of mobility: urban strategy. The review will explore regulations around new types of vehicles including e-scooters and e-cargo bike trailers, how sharing data can improve services by reducing congestion, and how journey planning and payment can be made more simple. This wide-ranging review will also explore modernising laws from the 1800s that are providing a barrier to innovation. Alongside this, the government is launching a competition for up to 4 new ‘future mobility zones’, backed by £90 million, to test ideas to improve journeys for people across the country. With 80% of people in the UK now using smartphones, ideas will include smoother payment systems, better, more up-to-date travel information and the use of innovative forms of transport, making travel in towns and cities more convenient, more reliable and cheaper. Title: Re: Transport laws to be reviewed to improve everyday journeys Post by: Lee on March 19, 2019, 08:30:30 If we want to make travel in towns and cities more convenient, more reliable and cheaper, how about we introduce ring-fenced transport grants? Who knows, maybe local councils could use them to pay for evening, Sunday and non-profitable but socially necessary daytime bus services.
Oh wait... Title: Re: Transport laws to be reviewed to improve everyday journeys Post by: ChrisB on March 19, 2019, 08:35:15 e-scooters (and those of a push-along variety)....
Road-going or pavement going? topic desparately needs discussing & regulating....are they to be allowed on the roads and/or pavements? They're ann accident waiting to happen on both - against pedestrins the way they hog the pavement & try to pass pedestrians, thinking they have more rights than pedestrians and pushing past on busy pavements when they have no more rights to go faster than walkers.... But on the road, certainly in urban areas, face dangers more than cyclists do. Unprotected, no requirement for helmets or other protective clothing. No lights, minimal brakes, etc etc. Title: Re: Transport laws to be reviewed to improve everyday journeys Post by: grahame on March 19, 2019, 09:07:20 e-scooters (and those of a push-along variety).... topic desparately needs discussing & regulating ... Totally agree on the discussion. Regulation will probably follow, but as you've written in ChrisB you seem to have assumed an outcome of the discussions that does include regulation - so not "if we regulate" but "how we regulate" If I add to the "hot topics" likely to come up in this thread / in these discussions - Mobility scooters where I believe there are existing rules on things like speed limits, but lots of users feel that the speed limits don't apply to them and they hurtle along pavements - Segways which strike me as quite a clever option but (?) aren't allow on public paths / pavements in the UK ?? Title: Re: Transport laws to be reviewed to improve everyday journeys Post by: ChrisB on March 19, 2019, 09:09:53 Yup - how we enforce reguklations already in place as well as new regulations required!
Title: Re: Transport laws to be reviewed to improve everyday journeys Post by: Marlburian on December 08, 2019, 22:18:58 e-scooters (and those of a push-along variety).... Road-going or pavement going? topic desparately needs discussing & regulating....are they to be allowed on the roads and/or pavements? They're ann accident waiting to happen on both - against pedestrins the way they hog the pavement & try to pass pedestrians, thinking they have more rights than pedestrians and pushing past on busy pavements when they have no more rights to go faster than walkers.... But on the road, certainly in urban areas, face dangers more than cyclists do. Unprotected, no requirement for helmets or other protective clothing. No lights, minimal brakes, etc etc. On Friday a youth was circling the concourse at Charing Cross station on an e-scooter - I wasn't sure if this was specifically against the bye-laws? E-scooters, traditional scooters and roller-skates can be great ways of getting around, and e-bikes are now becoming popular. Trouble is that they don't mix well with road vehicles, pedestrians and, indeed, each other. A friend of mine who cycles around London curses e-bikes and scooters using cycle lanes. And there's a sizeable minority of users of these minority forms of transport with "attitude". Pity, as well as environmental considerations, they take up far less space, both on the road and when parked, than solitary commuters in their SUVs. Marlburian Title: Re: Transport laws to be reviewed to improve everyday journeys Post by: mjones on December 09, 2019, 08:34:18 Pity, as well as environmental considerations, they take up far less space, both on the road and when parked, than solitary commuters in their SUVs. Marlburian Quite. These new modes of transport provide an opportunity to rethink the purpose of roads and which user groups should be prioritised in different locations. If escooter users are at risk from motorised vehicles, as pedestrians and cyclists are, perhaps it is the motorised vehicle that should be restricted, not the sustainable mode. Future generations having to live with climate change will be astonished to learn that gas guzzling SUVs were widely used on our city streets while lightweight low energy scooters weren't permitted. Title: Re: Transport laws to be reviewed to improve everyday journeys Post by: ChrisB on December 09, 2019, 12:05:03 I think the bigger problem are the way these new modes of transport interface with the slower form of getting about - mainly pedestrians.
Mostly trying to get passed slower walkers, they're a right pain on pavements & all seem to have an attitude that rather travel at the same pace as the majority of pedestrians, they have a right to get passed you. grrr Title: Re: Transport laws to be reviewed to improve everyday journeys Post by: Bmblbzzz on December 09, 2019, 12:32:42 E-scooters, traditional scooters and roller-skates can be great ways of getting around, and e-bikes are now becoming popular. Trouble is that they don't mix well with road vehicles, pedestrians and, indeed, each other. They are road vehicles. It's undecided whether they belong on the carriageway or pavement (footway) but either way, they belong on the road. This isn't just a pedantic point, it's important to consider them as vehicles for transport, not just toys. It also bears on the points made by mjones and ChrisB.I think the bigger problem are the way these new modes of transport interface with the slower form of getting about - mainly pedestrians. Part of the problem is that, as mjones indirectly touched on, we give the majority of our road space to motor vehicles, leaving not enough for pedestrians, cyclists and the various low-speed individual electric things (escooters, hoverboards, those funny monowheel things and so on). Mostly trying to get passed slower walkers, they're a right pain on pavements & all seem to have an attitude that rather travel at the same pace as the majority of pedestrians, they have a right to get passed you. grrr Title: Re: Transport laws to be reviewed to improve everyday journeys Post by: Reading General on December 09, 2019, 14:02:16 As a skateboarder of 30 years I can tell you that the law are uncertain of what can be used where too. Back in the 90’s, if stopped by the City of London police (the city was great for skateboarding on a Sunday as it was empty and the surfaces smooth) they would escort you to the City boundary, sometimes on the opposite side of the road. The last occasion I saw a policeman in the city I asked him why they no longer moved us on and he told me it’s because the law couldn’t differentiate between stunt (for want of a better description) skateboarding for leisure purposes or the various contraptions on wheels that young office workers now arrive to work on. Certainly in london, the amount of for transportation skateboarders has increased, people of all ages too.
Title: Re: Transport laws to be reviewed to improve everyday journeys Post by: rogerw on December 09, 2019, 19:08:47 Unless the law has changed very recently it is an offence to use an escooter on a public highway. The same applies to ebicycles that can't also be propelled by pedals. Both are classed as motor vehicles but there are, as yet, no regulations to cover such matters as tax and insurance. Whilst the police may turn a blind eye to their use on the main carriageway, serious problems could arise if they were used on a footway or footpath, Also road traffic laws apply. Some may remember the go-ped drink driving case some years back when the appeal court decided that the go-ped was a motor vehicle in law(self propelled) and the rider picked up a hefty fine and ban for being over the limit.
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