With many cities participating in the national trial rental scheme rented e-scooters have become a common sight in our city. Whatever your views on them, it’s clear they have been adopted by some (mainly young) people as their transport of choice.  Use of private scooters on public roads and pavements is still not legal, but private ownership of e-scooters has taken off, and with some half a million having been purchased in the UK they’re not about to disappear. Given their green credentials and the difficulties around enforcing a ban, it’s likely there’ll be legislation to allow their use before long.

Across mainland Europe, privately owned e-scooters are allowed on public highways and byways in many countries, I recently took mine on a continental tour to investigate how well this was playing out and what we can expect in the UK as a result.

On mainland Europe speed restrictions vary from 20-30kph (around 12-18mph). Speed restrictions are most likely going to apply here, and rightly so. E-scooters doing 40mph pose a significant danger in the event of a collision, whereas scooters restricted to 16mph are actually slower than some cyclists.

Helmets are recommended but not mandatory in most European countries. Whether helmets are made mandatory here isn’t clear as yet.  I hope not, we’ve recently seen with masks how unenforceable such measures are in outdoor public places. Ironically masks are popular with scooter riders, anyone who has had a bee hit them in the eye at 16mph is likely to adopt them through choice.

No go zones – these exist in many cities with the current rental schemes, some of them are likely to be apply to owner riders, however it’s more difficult to automatically enforce using locational, geo fencing  technology on private vehicles.

Licensing and Insurance – special insurance is needed in some parts of Europe and could factor in here. Any attempt to introduce licensing will be controversial, as there is no need for a licence for a an e-bike, so why should scooters be treated differently ?

Some European countries have specific other restrictions, for example outlawing two riders on one scooter.  Confiscation is the likely punishment any for misuse that we occasionally see on the streets at the moment. Flouting the law is less likely if you’re riding a £500 investment that can be confiscated as a result than it is if you’ve paid a couple of quid to ride on a rental.

In fact I saw very little flouting of the rules in the continental cities I visited. My experiences abroad suggest that giving scooter owners rights and responsibility will actually reduce problems, for example scooters simply abandoned in inconvenient places are much less likely to occur than with rentals, imagine if we all owned our own shopping trolleys – I doubt so many would end up in the river.  Legalising and controlling private owner use is the way forward and hopefully it will happen soon.