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The future is not 30 mph EUCs


Jerome

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On 5/13/2018 at 2:30 PM, WARPed1701D said:

I think ebikes are actually limited to 20mph on Florida. Last I read there was no recognition of speed pedelecs at all and nowhere else in the US where they are recognized have I seen it being legal to use them on sidewalks, bike paths, or trails. If you've seen otherwise please let me know. 

You're right on the 20mph limit. As far as I understand there is a loophole in the federal regulation of s-pedelecs. Specialized and other brands use it to legally sell their 28mph s-pedalecs. However, my argument is that there is no good reason for those speed limits, specially when sharing roads with way faster and bigger vehicles.

7 hours ago, dmethvin said:

Sidewalks may go unused in Florida but that is only because being a pedestrian in Florida is to be living in a killing field. Eight of the 10 most dangerous cities are in Florida. 

Having any sort of mixed traffic sharing a space with a big speed differential is dangerous. That is why they don't allow bicycles on interstate highways. If you allow EUCs on sidewalks and they can go ten times faster than the pedestrians sharing the space, there will be bad accidents. 

People don't like to walk in Florida primarily because it is too damn hot.

EUCs are portable devices that should be allowed to go onto sidewalks to travel safely and to enter and exit their destinations.

A more sensible regulation would regulate the speed limit when around pedestrians.

And then there is the issue of enforcement. Until these regulations reach parity with EUC functionality and common sense, these premature laws are meant to be broken.

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On 5/14/2018 at 3:51 PM, ir_fuel said:

EUC's should be allowed where bicycles are allowed. Simple as that.

This would ban EUCs from being legally operated on sidewalks in many countries. This would not be my favorite legislation spot. There is a good case to be made that EUCs mix better with pedestrians than bicycles do already due to the space requirements. I'd personally prefer to be banned from streets over being banned from sidewalks. Banning them from sidewalks would also significantly impede popularization, IMHO.

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On 5/12/2018 at 11:08 PM, Jerome said:

hope

This is a quote from the Swedish Transport Agency (transporstyrelsen) website:

 

"Dessa självbalanserande fordon är i lagens mening att betrakta som cykel utan tramp eller vevanordning och ska vara utrustat med broms. Som klassificerad cykel ska en hoverboard eller airwheel vara utrustad med ringklocka – eller annan ljudanordning som kan varna. Varningssignalen behöver inte vara monterad på brädan, den kan hållas i handen.

De ska också vara utrustade med reflex och lyse med fast sken fram och bak vid färd i mörker.

Maxhastighet är 20 kilometer i timmen och fordonen ska köras på gång- och cykelbanor. Barn under 15 år som åker hoverboard eller airwheel ska använda hjälm."

What the Swedish Transport Agency is saying is that an electric self balancing personal transport vehicle - for example a one wheeled unicycle such as the airwheel - is legally a bicycle as long as the operational speed is limited to 20 kmh. The wheel need to be equpipped with lights in the front and rear, and you need to have some kind of a warning system (such as the bikes ringing bell). The warning bell can be carried in the hand.

So the electric unicycle is already regulated in sweden and is perfectly legal given that you follow the bicycle rules.

I would personally prefer if the speed limit could be increased to 25 kmh to at least match the allowed speed for electric bicyces.

But on the positive side the electric unicycle is at least not banned in Sweden, but legal with restrictions.

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On 5/12/2018 at 11:08 PM, Jerome said:

I have yet to see a posting, however, mentioning the white elephant in the room. Do people really believe that riders will continued to be allowed to ride >=30 mph vehicles without registration/insurance/type acceptance standards, etc. very far into the near future?

Most people don't believe that. Surprising even "only" 30% of the below poll responders are of the (totally crazy ;-) opinion that EUCs which can be driven without license or insurance should have no legal speed limit. Some related topics:

 

 

 

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On 5/13/2018 at 7:37 PM, wheelr said:

There is no good reason why an EUC shouldn't be allowed to travel at speeds of 30+ mph.

LOL

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All cars on the road can physically travel much faster than what the speed limit allows.   However just because your car can go over 100MPH/160kmh doesn't mean you're constantly driving with the gas pedal onthe floor riding the fastest your car is capable of moving....   It also doesn't mean that you would ever want to purchase a car that was limited by the manufacturer to 60MPH/100kmh or whatever the posted speed limit is in your area. 

30mph+ eucs give us the buffer to not worry about beeps, tiltback, or a cut off and also allows us to use our own discretion for the right speed for the right conditions.   On day you might be on a wide open track were 30mph feels like 15MPH on a sidewalk.  I also feel that a wheel that is capable of doing over 30mph is going to be that much safer when you're riding it at 20 mph

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