The Reader: Should we welcome e-scooters on our roads?

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Questionable: e-scooters
In Pictures via Getty Images
10 July 2019
WEST END FINAL

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TRANSPORT for London’s Mike Brown is absolutely right that we need to make sure e-scooters are used safely and responsibly on London’s streets [“TfL chief’s safety call as he predicts electric scooters will be legal on the roads”, July 8].

E-scooters for hire — alongside e-bikes and ordinary bikes — could help to tackle pollution and congestion in the capital.

With proper implementation — speed limits, compulsory helmets, insurance and user training — we are convinced that e-scooters can be safely integrated into London’s transport infrastructure. ​
Fredrik Hjelm​
CEO, VOI Technology

YOUR editorial about e-scooters says “the trick is to get the rules right without standing in the way of change”. The problem is that people simply won’t obey the rules because they know the police can’t enforce them. Once again, injured pedestrians will be regarded as collateral damage on the road to “progress”.
Alan Clark

EDITOR'S REPLY

Dear Fredrik and Alan,

I’m perturbed at the rise of e-scooters, and not just because I was overtaken by one on Lea Bridge Road as I cycled to work the other day.

They appear to be more than a fad but are they also a public nuisance? They certainly appear to be a danger to those who ride them on the road, having neither the visibility nor the turn of speed to help keep the rider safe. How long until we have our first e-scooter fatality?

They’re a potential danger to pedestrians if ridden on pavements. Perish the thought of one careering into a child or pensioner at 15mph.

But they’re much “greener” than cars or taxis, and more fun than the Tube. As the law stands, they’re illegal. Should the law be enforced? Not as a priority. The Met Police has too few officers, and too few dedicated to catching dangerous drivers. Vehicle collisions have killed about 40 London pedestrians and cyclists already this year.

Let’s focus on the real danger.

Ross Lydall, City Hall Editor

Our US envoy was just doing his job

I WRITE as a former ambassador and a friend of Kim Darroch’s, so I cannot claim impartiality. But it would be utterly craven if he were to be disowned — or his term in Washington truncated — as a consequence of malicious leaking.

Of course he has been reporting on a dysfunctional White House and the manifest failings of Donald Trump. It would be astonishing and unprofessional if he had not. I have no doubt that the US ambassador in London has been reporting on the embarrassing circus taking place here. The latest leak is just more evidence of the cancer eating at the institutions of our democracy, and the threat of politicisation that hangs over our neutral Civil Service.

Ambassadors are employed to represent their countries; to advance their interests as best they may, and to report back frankly and in confidence. If this no longer becomes possible, in an age of culture wars and bitterly polarised politics, we will all be the poorer for it.
Anthony Cary
Former UK ambassador to Sweden

Let’s co-operate to stop road deaths

FURTHER to your article “8 deaths in just 5 days on roads in London” [July 5], my sympathies are with the bereaved and those involved in collisions. As a bus driver I regularly encounter cyclists and motorcyclists. On many occasions I have had to take evasive action as cyclists try to cycle on my nearside close to the kerb.

There seems to be an issue of trying to beat the bus, which is dangerous. There should be a compulsory road test/assessment for cyclists. I am also aware some drivers of vehicles (buses included) are equally at fault. While we are trained to avoid collisions, at times one can easily become distracted. I hope respect and tolerance can be given all around in an effort to reduce potential collisions and give everyone a fair chance of coming home safely.
Les Ellis

Brexit only spells disaster for the UK

Nearly all economists, including Government advisers and two former PMs, believe leaving the EU will be an economic disaster. It will have serious consequences: our NHS will continue to be underfunded while the police will struggle to control stabbings and drug trafficking. Government data states that some 3.7 million children are now living in poverty. We are in a total mess over Brexit.
Carl A Gray

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