We must find new balance on roads

With all the recent talk about e-scooters and the upsurge in walking and cycling, I think we can all too easily fall into the trap of double standards.

Concerns are raised about e-scooters on pavements (and people cycling too).

Yet I regularly witness motor vehicles being driven on pavements in Bath, sometimes so they can be parked entirely blocking the pavement.

Concerns are raised about the impact of scooters on the heritage look of the city.

Well, in my view the Royal Crescent looks at its best when the line of rather uninspiring cars is temporarily removed. Scooters are far more discreet.

Above all, concerns are raised about speeding maniacs doing a dizzying 15.5mph, reduced to lower speeds in some areas using satellite tracking.

Yet the majority of vehicle drivers in Bath are not sticking to the limit of 20mph (30mph in some places).

I do not wish for anyone to get hit by a car, a bike or a scooter, but I can guess which is going to do the most damage. Particularly when we consider the ever-rising bumper and grille heights on the popular SUVS and how that would behave in an accident with a child.

Solutions are afoot, which is why I fully support the current initiative to introduce Liveable Neighbourhoods. Quiet roads will make separation of different travel modes so much easier and reduce conflict.

A partial solution to speeding vehicles is also coming. Automatic speed limiters become mandatory on all new models of vehicle from 2022.

I urge the council to start preparing for this by specifying vehicles with that technology now, and also insisting companies benefiting from public money (such as First Group and taxi companies with school-run contracts) have clear plans to implement automatic speed limiting as soon as possible.

One has to wonder this: if motor vehicles were an emerging technology in 2020 (like the e-scooter) would we allow them the ability to routinely break the speed limit as many do? Would we insist they were limited to 15.5mph in urban areas? Maybe that will happen before long.

At the heart of this is people – we behave in very different ways for many reasons.

If you have never ridden a bike you will not know how scary it is when a car passes you 50cm away.

If you have never driven a car you will not know quite how disconcerting it is if an e-scooter weaves from the road, to the pavement then back into the road.

We have probably given too much priority to people driving for too long and now finding a new balance is a challenge.

We will have to rise to it.

Guy Hodgson Weston