Good grief, yet more nonsense. Don't they realize people thinking of coming here read these articles? Alleged hazardous operation aside, they are basically toys.
Patong tourists charged after driving unregistered electric scooters
Four tourists in Patong were charged with using unregistered and untaxed vehicles after they drove electric scooters near a beach resort. Several people had complained that the tourists were driving the scooters recklessly, threatening the safety of pedestrians and drivers alike. One of the tourists was stopped near a police booth on Pee Road last Wednesday evening, and the other three were arrested later, and all were eventually charged. Police will investigate to find the scooters’ owners and charge them.
On top of using unregistered and untaxed vehicles, police found the tourists to be posing a hazardous threat. The police now warn that anyone using an unregistered vehicle can be fined and charged, though they don’t specify how much. They urge electric scooter drivers to be careful of the safety of everyone around them. The complaints about the scooter drivers were made to police on social media. Two of the tourists were caught on Bangla Road. Police are not revealing the tourists’s names or nationalities.
Electric vehicles have become popular in Thailand over the past decade. In 2014, they became available in Phuket when an expat opened an electric bike shop there. The owner, Joseph Memmel, believed electric bikes were a practical alternative to gasoline powered scooters and motorbikes.
SOURCE: The Phuket News
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source
Comparatively, e-scooters are illegal on public roads in the UK. Can only be ridden on private land.
In the US they're road legal but you must be 18 and possess a driving licence.
Good grief, yet more nonsense. Don't they realize people thinking of coming here read these articles? Alleged hazardous operation aside, they are basically toys
Sorry to disagree Pete, they are not toys they are classed as motor vehicles. Thry are capable of of doing 30 mph.
Weaving in out out of pedestrian areas they are dangerous.
Woke up this morning breathing that's a good start to the day.
What about electric bicycles, are they also considered something that has to be licensed and registered? To my knowledge the are basically pedaling devices with an electric battery boost to get up hills and to help when the rider gets tired.
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source
PeteC wrote: ↑Mon Feb 21, 2022 3:17 am I stand corrected.
What about electric bicycles, are they also considered something that has to be licensed and registered? To my knowledge the are basically pedaling devices with an electric battery boost to get up hills and to help when the rider gets tired.
I’m not sure about here but in the UK they do not need to be registered or the driver have a license as long as they comply with certain standards e.g. have a maximum assisted speed of no more than 15.5 mph and a motor of no more than 250 watts.
The EAPC (Electronically Assisted Pedal Cycle) requirements are as follows:
The bike must be fitted with an electric motor with a continuous power output no more than:
0.2 kilowatts (200 watts) in the case of bicycles
0.25 kilowatts (250 watts) in the case of tandem bicycles or tricycles
The electronic motor must not be able to propel the bike when it is travelling at more than 15 mph
The electric bike must be fitted with pedals capable of propelling the bike
The kerbside weight of the electric bike (including the battery but not the rider) must not exceed:
40 kilograms if it is a bicycle
60 kilograms if it is a tandem bicycle or tricycle
The electric bike must have a plate securely fixed in a readily accessible position displaying the following:
The name of the manufacturer
The nominal voltage of the battery
The continuous rated output (power output) of the bike
Electric scooter
At present, the U.K Government have declared e-scooters as electric motor vehicles, placing them into the same category as ICE (internal combustion engine) cars, electric cars, and motorbikes.
This means that an e-scooter must have a license plate, insurance, lights, and other necessities in order for them to be legal on public roads. And unsurprisingly, no vehicle insurance companies are prepared to insure electric scooters – apart from privately owned rental scooters.
Therefore, under U.K law, e-scooters are practically illegal to use on public roads, leaving most riders begging for some form of the law change in 2022.
Will we see any U.K e-scooter law change in 2022?
As mentioned above, the U.K government has approved only a select few companies to trial the use of electric scooters on public roads.
You also need a driving licence for a scooter, which is strange because you do not need one for an electric bike
Woke up this morning breathing that's a good start to the day.
It depends on what you call an electric scooter, there are those silly stand up things and proper motorscooters, something more like a Honda Click but powered by battery.
Here in Europe the proper scooters are covered by normal law with requirements for licences, insurance etc. but the former are a new form of transport that the law hasn't really caught up with yet.
^ As for the electric bicycles, many completely flaunt the regulations and they can be fairly easily altered giving speeds well in excess of 20 MPH. They are bloody dangerous in the wrong hands and literally no way of picking these idiots up. Zero registration or identification etc. There's been plenty of reports of both serious accidents and near misses.
"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things" - Yma o Hyd.
pharvey wrote:^ As for the electric bicycles, many completely flaunt the regulations and they can be fairly easily altered giving speeds well in excess of 20 MPH. They are bloody dangerous in the wrong hands and literally no way of picking these idiots up. Zero registration or identification etc. There's been plenty of reports of both serious accidents and near misses.
Agree. As a cyclist, a friendly bar owner here gave me a go of his e bike. First impressions were they can really shift!
He was telling me that for these in Thailand that you don't need insurance, tax, a road licence AND significantly cannot be done for drink driving!
Only going by what he said
IMO they are motorbikes. They're literally a bike with a motor on it! Albeit a quiet one..
I'd be tempted by one but in all seriousness I'd be wary of an accident.
Just ask Simon Cowell. Broke his back and his arm in two separate e bike crashes plus facial injuries
pharvey wrote: ↑Mon Feb 21, 2022 6:26 am
^ As for the electric bicycles, many completely flaunt the regulations and they can be fairly easily altered giving speeds well in excess of 20 MPH. They are bloody dangerous in the wrong hands and literally no way of picking these idiots up. Zero registration or identification etc. There's been plenty of reports of both serious accidents and near misses.
I have an ebike with a Bosch drive and its power output is controlled by computer that eases of the faster you go and cuts out completely at 25kmh. I don't think it would be easy to increase the speed as the battery, controller and drive unit all have matched electronics that work together.
There are a lot of ebikes in Luxembourg but the vast majority of them are used by older people and I've not seen any problems here with them, it's mainly people commuting and retired couples pottering about on them.
Great, let's over regulate everything, because of a few idiots. That's part of the reason I left the 'west', and now y'all want to turn SEA into the same over regulation sh!tholes.
Just when practical, affordable solutions to the polluting fossil fuel burning machines is developing, you want to shut it down. Go the way of drone, they offend me, so ban them.
I have an e-motorcycle, e-bike, and had an e-scooter (didn't like it, sent it back), but the latter 2 are no dangerous than a pedal bicycle or a skateboard for that matter, in the wrong hands.
Be nice if they simply passed 1 law ... 'irresponsible operation of a machine', and then handle things case by case.
KhunLA wrote: ↑Mon Feb 21, 2022 3:11 pm
Great, let's over regulate everything, because of a few idiots. That's part of the reason I left the 'west', and now y'all want to turn SEA into the same over regulation sh!tholes.
Just when practical, affordable solutions to the polluting fossil fuel burning machines is developing, you want to shut it down. Go the way of drone, they offend me, so ban them.
I have an e-motorcycle, e-bike, and had an e-scooter (didn't like it, sent it back), but the latter 2 are no dangerous than a pedal bicycle or a skateboard for that matter, in the wrong hands.
Be nice if they simply passed 1 law ... 'irresponsible operation of a machine', and then handle things case by case.
Whilst I’m with you on the making it a case of policing the “irresponsible operator”, I wouldn’t go as far as having no regulations - driving e-scooters on a main dual carriageway would be asking for trouble - by all means make provision for their use to help combat city pollution/congestion, but here in Thailand most of us have witnessed the irresponsible driving by many who would not be at all concerned at wiping out an e-scooter rider if they got in their way. Be careful what you wish for!!
I stand corrected.
