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This really isn't how they should be regulated, though - while I have yet to form an opinion on electric scooters, their impact should be evaluated and specific
by larkeith 8y ago
This really isn't how they should be regulated, though - while I have yet to form an opinion on electric scooters, their impact should be evaluated and specific legislation enacted for them, rather than banning them wholesale with no consideration thanks to legal happenstance. That a law enacted nearly 200 years ago is being applied to vehicles significantly out of scope or intention of the original intent strikes me as a legislative failure, regardless of the merits or dangers of scooters on sidewalks.
- JdeBP 8y agoExcept that they are not significantly out of scope or intention. At time, there was a fair amount of innovation going on in the field, and the concept of people riding mechanical devices on the pavement already existed. The velocipede had already been around for nearing a couple of decades.
- checkyoursudo 8y agoThe reality is that the UK (and the US and anywhere else with a long tradition of relatively continuous and stable government) has lots of laws that are currently enforced that are dozens to hundreds of years old. In common law countries, we have laws that we can trace back many hundreds of years. If you think a law is outmoded or no longer reflects society's values, then you have recourse: get it repealed or amended. Or flaunt the law and take your chances. People do that all the time, with greater or lesser degrees of success. Societies ruled by law should not ignore old laws just because we think the original authors could not have possibly basic good judgments like, say, pedestrians should be safe on pedestrian thoroughfares.