Rant Self balancing Boards now ''illegal'' to use in public

I've seen guys use both on footpaths. The skateboard was I think whats called a long board which is specifically for getting around as you can't really do tricks and that on it.

 

I feel like the legislation being applied here is so outdated people on self balancing vehicles are lucky they're not being tried as witches.

How about this:

• Footpaths/Pavements - pedestrians only.
• Dual use cycle/pedestrian routes - pedestrians, bicycles, skate, small personal electric transport (all at low speed and exercising greater caution)
• Cycle routes - bicycles, skate, small personal electric transport.
• Small low traffic roads designated as safe cycle routes - Cars/motorcycles, cycles, skate, small personal electric transport, pedestrians.
• Road - Cars/motorcycles, bicycles
• Motorways/Dual-Carriageways - Cars/motorcycles

With all self powered vehicles that do not require a licence (electric bicycles, self balancing scooters etc.) having to comply with rule governing maximum power/speed according to the nature of their design and controllability (as electric bikes do already).

 

that's bloody hilarious

 

That crushing feeling when you posted a careful, thought-out reply to a topic an hour before it exploded. I was really proud of my post! Now I'd have to read half a bible's worth of sparring just to bring the points forward and make them relevant again.

Anyway I don't have time to do that and we're not in the Serious subforum so I'm just going to say it: longboards and skateboards are stupid! *slams door*

 

I can understand the frustration, but there are few things I care enough about to produce a series of 12 point/counterpoint posts. I don't have the time and I certainly do not care enough about getting the last word in to make the effort.

 

Off topic; I wish I had the time to do that these days, or should I say that I wish I had the time to care about anything enough to do that.

On topic (and having read very little of the thread) I think this is a silly ban and that we live in a nanny state run by greedy, hypocritical idiots.

 

It all seems rather silly. I understand that laws are there for a reason, but in instances like this common sense should prevail. Let them use them on the pavements. It only walking speed after all, and the only people I can see that might get hurt are the people riding the things.

 

I think it's more for the passer-by benefit.

Spectator, merrily going about his weekly shopping in the town center see's a young hoodlum on his hoverboard. "By jove! What is th*BANG*...." As he walks face first into a lamp post.

 

MRW reading this thread



In all srsnss tho...

I thought banning segways was a pretty stupid idea in the first place, but it does logically follow that if segways are banned then these balance boards should be banned too - they're practically the same thing, just smaller and with less power. Unfortunately it falls into a category that so many things do: many of our laws are hopelessly outdated and vague, so the application of those laws depends very much on how you interpret it.

As for cars, cycling, alternative transport, etc.

I don't drive but my other half does and to get from being parked on our driveway to finding a parking space in the office car park takes ~15 minutes (yes, I timed it once; yes, I'm that sad). However because I don't drive and my partner needs the car to get to the city centre, I catch the bus. I leave at 0650 in the morning and it takes me anywhere between 40 and 60 minutes to get to work; coming home on the other hand is a total crapshoot - sometimes it takes only 40 minutes, but on several occasions it's taken me over an hour and a half to get back. This is without going into the experience of actually travelling on the bus: smelly, packed full (several times recently I've had buses drive past without stopping because they're already full), noisy, stuffy, etc. I don't like to cycle to work because the roads are pretty dodgy - it's either single-track country lanes with people driving way too fast, or a 50mph main road where people regularly do 60-70mph. Plus I had a pretty nasty bike accident as a teenager, and a certain amount of apprehension around cycling on main roads has never gone away.

I really would like some form of electric vehicle for my daily commute but it just isn't going to happen. A quick check on autotrader shows no EVs selling for less than £6000 within 50 miles of me. For £1500-£2000 I can buy a relatively recent second hand car with a fairly low mileage; fuel will cost me naff all since we don't travel great distances very regularly, commuting to work would be no more than 55 miles a week and there's a supermarket more or less around the corner.

 

This is an important distinction though when it comes to safety an compatibility with other users.

Electric bicycles already make this distinction. Under 15.5mph/250 watts and you can ride it exactly as you would a normal bicycle.

Segways always struck me as to big, powerful and heavy to be used alongside other pedestrians or maybe even bicycles. I can imagine getting hit by one is more like getting run over than a collision. However I do think there is a line that can be drawn under a a certain power/weight where it's acceptable.