This really has nothing to do with signs, thus why it's in 'general chit-chat.........................................................................

[Gino]

Something I've been noticing around my area and spreading quite rapidly is the use of electric bicycles and scooter. It's been going on for a few years, but seems to have gotten outta hand in the last year or so. There're kids darting in & outta traffic all over the place. Running stop signs, traffic lights, driving out between parked vehicles and it's mostly around the main city lines. Sometimes I hafta go in town for things and it's worse than I remember. Not only is it dangerous, but most of these ding-dongs practically dare ya with their stares. What would happen if ya ran over one of their bicycles if they left it unattended and it got mangled ?? That's a lotta money to lose.

Just wondering if this is happening all over the place and not just here ??

 

[Humble PM]

What would happen if ya ran over one of their bicycles if they left it unattended and it got mangled ?? That's a lotta money to lose.

If you were unlucky, a mangled lithium battery catches fire while the bike frame is caught up in your vehicle.

London is flooded with the damned things, and it's not just the youth who ride without a thought, but regular people on the rental bikes not knowing the first thing about the rules and etiquette of the road and footpath.

 

[Johnny Best]

Yes, Reading is the only place where this electric bike thing is going on.

 

[myront]

Holy crap! I noticed this too. This is the first summer I've seen a lot of kids outside. That's great but, yeah, these scooters & bikes are all over the place now. And they're pretty fast. And, yes, I've encountered numerous times they've shown no regard for traffic. They'll ride right down the center of the lane with cars waiting behind them to pass. Interesting enough, the wife had just saw a post on Facebook from our local city police that showed a poster explaining the proper operating procedures of the scooters & bikes and how to co-mingle with actual car traffic. Coincidence or have hey noticed too.

 

[ikarasu]

Uber and a few other companies leave thousands of electric bikes for rent in major cities downtown cores...and it's started to spread to semi-major cities/suburbs as well. Our downtown area has over 100 bikes - Anyone, of any age with an uber app can rent a bike or scooter for $5... Then they just hope off and leave it at their destrination for the next person.

You get people who have never driven a bike on the road, let alone an electric bike using them... And theyre fast.

I've almost smoked idiots on them a few times - If you're in a vehicle that goes twice as fast, or sometimes more... you should need a license, even if its just a basic "Yes they took this course" license.

We've been dealing with it for years, but this summer I've noticed a bunch of 10-13 year olds riding on them now as well...

 

[Boudica]

They are everywhere. Our city contracts with a company called Lime scooters. They sprinkle them all over town for people to rent, then those people just leave them at their destination. One problem is that the scooters are left in stupid places blocking sidewalks and wheelchair ramps. Every year a few of them end up in the river.

 

[caribmike]

They are everywhere! I had a dirt bike when I was a kid but I was only allowed to ride it on the road to get to the field!

 

[GAC05]

Same here, parked in random places all over the island. Funny part is I've hardly ever seen them moving on the streets. Guess I'm not commuting when people are scooting.

 

[mfatty500]

We had a kid crash into a car, here in the south suburbs of Chicago, they had to airlift him to a Trauma Center, the kid on the scooter ran a stop sign. He is 13 years old. It's horrible in my subdivision also. Kids a little as 7 sometimes riding two-up on one of those things.

 

[Stacey K]

Yes, lots of them around here too in the city. Many people in the pits at the racetracks around here have electric scooters now too. You really have to watch where you are walking. My friend had one because he lost his license and he would go to the minimart and buy a case a beer and set his little kid on the case of beer and come to our house...it worked I guess LOL

 

[Solventinkjet]

Denver was an early adopter and they've been here for years. The beginning was horrible. They put them wherever they felt like. Found one in my parking space at home and chucked it. Over the years the city has done well to regulate where they can put them but the people who ride them seem to have a death wish.

 

[RabidOne]

Local School District here banned them on their property, the non politically correct version of the reasoning is "the kids are idiots and someone will get killed"