Just saw a kid - under 10 - zipping down a residential sidewalk on an electric scooter. (No helmet, of course.) In my city (a Chicago suburb) I often see children - clearly under driving age - using e-bikes and scooters on sidewalks and streets.
As I understand it, there are 3 classes of e-bikes, but even the lowest class is capable of going 20 MPH. That’s pretty darned quick for a bike - my sister and I are pretty fit and serious bikers, and I don’t think we’ve ever exceeded 18 MPH under our own power.
Do you think there should be any minimum age before a person should be allowed to use a electric powered bike or scooter?
IMO, they are little different from any other powered vehicle such as gas powered minibikes or go-karts, neither of which are legal to use on streets or sidewalks. I would favor disallowing such devices by anyone under 16.
I got my first mini bike when I was 7 and a dirt bike when I was 9, back when helments were for sissy’s. We didn’t ride them on the sidewalks, mostly back alleys and railroad tracks. But streets, yeah we drove them on neighborhood streets, but never downdown. We were taught to elude, I mean respect the police.
The OP has framed a debate that has nothing to do with our past experiences or what kids on scooters are doing at the skate park. Let’s try to stick to the debate posed. Thanks.
I’m going 10yo and up.
A training program should be in place and traffic laws enforced.
I don’t like to see them on sidewalks with pedestrians. I’m not sure how they could address this. Short of pushing a kid out in the street. That seems too dangerous.
I’m finding it more and more difficult to delineate the effective difference between some e-bikes and motorcycles on city streets. If you can’t drive a motorcycle without a license or helmet, the rules should be the same for a powered bike that can go 20 mph or faster.
I’m not a huge fan of e-bikes mainly because of how fast they go on multi-use paths designated “no motor vehicles.” But I understand the current trend and that mine is a losing (already lost) battle.
But as these things get more and more common, I’ve seen them ridden by more and more young kids. Besides the fact that I think kids ought to be able to power themselves, the speed at which these go seems to make them pretty dangerous, especially when piloted by middle schoolers (or younger.)
Kids, or indeed anyone, need to learn basic safety tips like to wear a helmet, how to handle the thing, how to brake without ejecting themselves forward. Not clear that an age requirement directly addresses any of that.
Would motorcycle skills be directly transferrable to scooters with tiny wheels or bicycles that are much lighter and slower? Whatever is the rationale that kids under 16 or 18 should not ride heavy motorcycles, it may not apply to bicycles.
As for riding drunk, riding like a maniac on streets or sidewalks, blatantly disregarding traffic laws, those activities are already restricted in that they are illegal and as such may draw the attention of traffic cops (who could theoretically stop the person and ticket them and/or impound the scooter; I’ve seen it happen)
Instead of a specific minimum age there should be a minimum age range and short duration of approximately one month any time between the ages of 40 and 50. This allows people to work out that part of the midlife crisis where they participate in activities best left to the young while the injuries they suffer have no real impact on their soon to be rapidly declining physical abilities but still provide a good excuse not to act like an idiot again.
Anyway, if that doesn’t catch on then yes, there should be a minimum age for use on public streets. Perhaps requiring licensing just like cars and motorcycles. Even more than that insurance should be provided by whoever owns the thing because they are a hazard to people, vehicles, and structures. Especially when they are left out free to use and just dropped anywhere.
The scourge of urban rent-by-mobilephone wheeled thingies is a different problem from people riding e-bikes badly is a different problem from kids doing that badly / recklessly as kids are wont to do.
In the UK, electric bikes can be ridden on public roads aged 14 and over. Electric scooters where permitted (many places don’t allow them) are for over 16’s only.
I have to retract much of my prior post because I just took my best friend for a walk to pick up the mail and two very young people probably no older than their mid-30s came down the street on an electric scooter and an electric bike. Those things are really cool and now I want one. I don’t care if I end up getting hurt, life is all about playing with cool toys!
My first step might be to head into Providence on a quiet day and grab one of the free bikes they foolishly allowed some company to provide. Riding that around will let me know how much bigger and faster the one I buy has to be!
The kid on an electric bike who nearly ran into me and, when I objected and suggested he try riding on the road instead of on a crowded sidewalk, challenged me to a fist fight, looked at least 18 or 20. I do not think 10-year-olds are such a two-wheeled menace.
