>> We were a bit slow to get them round here, perhaps see one or two
>> a month,always ridden on the pavement.
e-scooters presumably - an official trial? If they are privately owned then at the moment it is illegal to use them in a public place, so no need to register those. There is virtually zero enforcement as it is, so absolutely no justification for a whole new system of 'control'.
Similarly with riding bikes on pavements - it is illegal, and if people don't like it then they should be requiring the police or councils to enforce existing laws- if it is so ubiquitous it won't be difficult to nick some and fine them whereupon 90% will get the message.
Legal e-bikes are just bikes, to all intents and purposes - and effectively limited to around 15mph since no assistance is given above that, and that on a road. Unassisted 'road' bikes will commonly be doing 20mph+ so what are usually heavy hybrid-type machines ridden by pensioners aren't much of a scourge.
There are those who think they are above the law who build themselves 1000W bikes with "throttles" - they are illegal motor vehicles - prosecute them. They aren't that hard to spot.
It's appalling that this stunt is promoted by a lawyer whose trade is to help the rich dodge motoring penalties, and the popular support is IMO driven by irrational hatred of "cyclists". And irrational it is, as well as hugely hypocritical. The majority of 'hating' drivers are really complaining about the presence of people legitimately going about their business on cycles and preventing those drivers from breaking the speed limit.
In truth, cycles create almost no real danger for anybody other than their riders and where they do there already exist ways of dealing with them. Local issues, as in London with cycle couriers for example, can and should should be dealt with by exception and laws exist with which to do that.
There seems to be a tide of moronic mob behaviour, and a ruling class prepared to exploit that for its own and its donors' ends. If I stop to think about it, I despise the country the UK is becoming. This attempt to persecute people who dare to cycle is just a symptom.
Making more laws achieves nothing useful and is pointless if we won't enforce the ones we already have.
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