E-bike riders caught by police drone

When I get a new wheelchair then are taken off immediately, they are dangerous.

Dangerous safety equipment; sounds about right!

Never knew as never had a problem with them.

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To get off a pavement that doesn’t have a drop kerb most longtime wheelchair users will raise the front castors by balancing on the back wheels and slowly drop over the kerb. However just as you drop over the kerb these anti-tilt thingies catch on the kerb slamming the front castors in to the road and very likely the occupant out of the chair in to the road too. This is something you will only ever do once and remove them at the earliest opportunity.

Tongue in cheek reply:
Ebikes don’t use petrol/diesel, are cheap and useful. Unfortunately, they don’t make money for the petrochemical industry and are often ridden by undesirables (for a given value of undesirable… so many to pick from), also it gives the public the idea that the plod is DOING SOMETHING, and it’s ‘high-tech’ i.e. something the public have heard of fairly recently
:slight_smile:

It is, of course, possible to ride e-bikes legally and with consideration (apparently, I’m told, you can do this with drones as well), but e-cyclists, just like ‘proper’ cyclists, have always included a ‘certain element’. Even back when I were a lad, and dinosaurs walked the earth, they rode on pavements, never had lights, ignored traffic lights (and traffic laws in general), and pissed everyone else off. It must have been pretty predictable that the ‘certain element’ would tweak their e-bikes to go faster that the 15mph they are supposedly limited to!

This crowd get lumped in with the electric motorbike scofflaws, who also ignore ‘da roolz’ and ride on pavements at stupid mph. Then there are the delivery riders; at least some of these guys use lights, but they’re often not long in the country and don’t know the laws and, by the look of things, have never ridden bikes before. You’ll see them whizzing around with the Just Eat bag on their backs fucking up their centre of gravity with their feet out, looking for broken ankles next time they hit a pothole! They’re on commission, paid by delivery; did anyone think that this situation might lead to problems?

The Meeja, bless 'em, come down hard and inaccurately on any new tech that people might enjoy. Drones, obviously, but back in the 80s & 90s it was mountain bikes, then commuter bikes in the noughties and teenies. Or walkmans (walkmen) with headphones, followed of course by mobile phones. So, if we’re not being chastised for riding bikes that keep us fit and keep cars off the roads (which is of course our real crime), we stay in and play computer games and are mocked for being a bit overweight and nerdy*. You can’t win!

As a lifelong cyclist who has always tried his best to ride legally and considerately, I completely support the idea of compulsory licencing, PL insurance, and plates. In return I want a bike phase at traffic lights and bike priority lanes on roundabouts.

*Actually, to be fair, I am a bit overweight and nerdy…