E -scooters: a scourge or saviour?
Unease over new form of transport that’s taking over Irish pavements
THE sight of adults zipping around our towns and cities on electric scooters would have raised eyebrows six months ago, but is becoming ever more commonplace as commuters embrace a new trend in personal transport.
This week, supermarket Lidl had planned to sell e-scooters at a significant discount but pulled the promotion at the last minute because of issues with a supplier.
An e-scooter can be bought for as little as €375 but you can, if you wish, spend as much as €1,000.
However, the sudden rise of escooters has been met with some consternation.
There have been calls for them to be banned outright while others argue they should not be allowed on roads, footpaths or in cycle lanes.
Ciarán Hughes started his business Gyrowheel in 2015, importing motorised unicycles.
However, he soon realised there was a greater demand for escooters and they have become the main part of his business.
Despite Dublin City Council and the Road Safety Authority both stating that the use of escooters in public is illegal, Mr Hughes insists that there should be no restrictions on where the eco-friendly scooters can go. He said: ‘I think that scooters should be allowed on cycleways and possibly footpaths as well but it’s important that the rider be aware of safety.’
Legislators have been caught on the back foot in moving to regulate e-scooter use.
Mr Hughes said: ‘It makes sense to put some form of regulation and parameters in place to make sure everyone is singing off the same hymn sheet.
‘In other countries they allow them on footpaths but limit the speed to 7kph on footpaths and I think that’s quite good. On roads and cycleways they limit it to 25kph,’ he said.
E-scooters are classed as ‘mechanically propelled vehicles’, meaning they should be taxed and insured similar to cars and their riders fully licensed. However, it is not possible to obtain tax or insurance for an e-scooter.
Cycling groups have expressed mixed feelings: they welcome the use of a clean energy form of transport – but only if they are not in their cycle lanes.
Spokesman for Dublin Cycling Campaign, Dr Mike McKillen, said: ‘I’ve no problem with them being on the road but I do have a problem with them being on footpaths and in cycle tracks, because if they are doing 30kph you don’t have the same control and stability over them as you would on a bicycles or an e-bike.’
Dr McKillen believes limiting the speed of e-scooters to 15kph is the only way for them to be acceptable on roads.
‘Doing 30kph, you don’t have control’