Popular Post Dan the Man Posted February 24, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted February 24, 2019 Good news for electric unicycles comes from Germany: Micromobility has enormous future potential, believes Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer. Like bicycles, e-scooters should only be treated with special regulations. They can be used on cycle paths; if they are missing, they can also be used on the road. The scooters need an insurance sticker. A helmet does not have to be used, nor does a driving licence. At the same time, the Minister wants to introduce an exemption regulation for equipment without a handlebar. For example, self-propelled skateboards, called hoverboards, will be allowed to be used on public roads in the first half of 2019. 11 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fat Unicyclist Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 Awesome news! Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoadRunner Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 Well news are not so great if you go into details. Max speed 20kmh You need technical papers for your device, which none has, otherwise you don’t get insurance, but you need insurance to drive. So that’s pretty silly. the regulation paper has 54 pages which only an advocate can read, german style, overregulated. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unventor Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 It is a starting point. Similar laws have been suggested in other eu countries. Eventually I think they will raise the speed limit. I don't see why it should not be like an ebicycles 25kmh. Any faster as it seems right now I doubt that is going to happen any time soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post LanghamP Posted February 24, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted February 24, 2019 I'm actually just fine with a 16 to 20 mph speed limit of all eScooters and EUCs, because 12 mph runoffs get sketchy. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexY Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Just got my Ninebot One S2 confiscated by the police in Berlin after riding it daily for almost a year. They also mentioned that legislation could be ready in a couple of months. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Backe Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 1 minute ago, AlexY said: Just got my Ninebot One S2 confiscated by the police in Berlin after riding it daily for almost a year. They also mentioned that legislation could be ready in a couple of months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post meepmeepmayer Posted February 27, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted February 27, 2019 On 2/24/2019 at 4:04 PM, Unventor said: It is a starting point. Similar laws have been suggested in other eu countries. Eventually I think they will raise the speed limit. I don't see why it should not be like an ebicycles 25kmh. It's the end point. It's an excuse to never make anything better and kill alternatives to diesel cheater cars by making them technically possible but practically completely castrated and useless. Even ebikes, that aren't exactly new news, are either limited to 25kph (so a regular bike is always faster and ebikes are pointless), or you need a driver's license (seriously) and can't use your bicycle on bike paths. Literally treated like motorcycles (but still limited to 45kph), and that hasn't changed and is never going to change. 10 hours ago, AlexY said: Just got my Ninebot One S2 confiscated by the police in Berlin after riding it daily for almost a year. They also mentioned that legislation could be ready in a couple of months. There's no justification for that, so get your wheel back. Annoy them to death. Say the battery will go bad if you don't look after it, etc. The more I think about it, the more I think I should prepare to just floor it if the police stops me and tries to take my wheel. 3 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoadRunner Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 4 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said: There's no justification for that, so get your wheel back. Annoy them to death. Say the battery will go bad if you don't look after it, etc. Definitely do that. I have a friend who had the same problem, he send them a few e-mails told them about the battery and said that they will have to pay when the wheel is dead, a few days later they told him to pick it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travsformation Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 (edited) 10 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said: The more I think about it, the more I think I should prepare to just floor it if the police stops me and tries to take my wheel. Amen! Me too! Edited February 27, 2019 by travsformation 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post RenaissanceMan Posted February 28, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted February 28, 2019 I hate to be the kill joy at this party, but EUCs are explicitly excluded from this new regulation in Germany (because they lack handlebars, seriously!). There is rumor that in addition to those new rules there will be a temporary two year trial period and exemption for other personal light electronic vehicles (PLEVs) including those without handlebars which then theoretically could also cover EUCs. However, this new regulation requires all PLEVs to be certified by the German Technical Control Board (TÜV) to comply with a long list of specifications, one of them being limited by design (not by an app!) to a max speed of 20 km/h (yes, that's twenty kilometers per hour!). By the way, that limit came out of a governmental study that started in 2016 and was finally released in November 2018, but only using hardware that was available in 2016 (SBU V3 and Solowheel 122Wh for EUCs) and in the end essentially ignoring EUCs altogether since nobody could ride them! Without said TÜV certificate you also won't be eligable to buy vehicle liability insurance which is mandatory in Germany. Since very few EUCs with a max speed *by design* of 20 km/h still exist today and are even less likely to be produced in the future, the vast majority of EUCs won't ever become legal here. So in the end it will be like it is today: EUCs are practically forbidden on German public grounds on pain of serious penalties (while at the same people will be free to crash their rental e-scooters anywhere - but that's another story). And as you'd expect German police lacks much of the Laissez-faire attitude of their French counterparts which means we EUC riders will very likely continue to be hunted und punished like today and throughout all the years; perhaps even more so, just as a result of the newly gained publicity created by this new regulation. What a waste of opportunities, especially in the light of dieselgate. - Very, very sad. I spare you another bunch of bureaucratic and nonsensical peculiarities of these new regulations which would fill more pages than @travsformation 's combined works altogether in this forum (which I actually enjoyed very much, to end on a more reconciliatory note ). 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scubadragonsan Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 Lazy, dumb politicians.. I didn't like Berlin, now I'll never come to anywhere in Germany for her EUC intolerance. Inconsistent standards for bicyclists and EUC riders. I am glad San Francisco has none of these hypocritical barriers toward EUC riders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanghamP Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 On 2/27/2019 at 6:07 AM, meepmeepmayer said: Even ebikes, that aren't exactly new news, are either limited to 25kph (so a regular bike is always faster and ebikes are pointless) Since the justification of limiting eBikes to 25 kph is because of safety reasons such as colliding with someone, then am I right in assuming that all automobiles will also be limited to 25 kph? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scubadragonsan Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 "I hate to be the kill joy at this party, but EUCs are explicitly excluded from this new regulation in Germany (because they lack handlebars, seriously!)." Technically speaking, most EUCs such as the KingSong 16s, Gotways... do have handles. You can have it extended while riding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 These bureaucrats have no idea ... if you want to get people out of their cars, then you need to give then useful alternatives, not slow, expensive, pointless paperweights requiring expensive insurance because that will just keep these vehicles niche. Requiring people to undergo some kind of education on safe riding and showing proper consideration for pedestrians and other vehicles would greatly reduce the kind of problems seen in France with scooter rentals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scubadragonsan Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 Can we blame Emmanuel Kant for this kind of rigidity? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanghamP Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, scubadragosan said: Can we blame Emmanuel Kant for this kind of rigidity? We can trace the restrictions on EUC to 2016 when a man riding a Gotway killed 12 people in Berlin by running them over with his monstrous 18 inch wheel. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Berlin_truck_attack Since that attack, the Germans have been very strict about EUC usage. Several more attacks were thwarted when suspicious amounts of garden shovels, super glue, and rubber bands were being bought. It seems very clear from internet searches and a prototype that ISIS was building unicycles of mass destruction. Evidently many of the political refugees were being let into Germany when they claimed their emotional support pink Teddy Bears that appeared to be female were actually self-identifying as male. Edited March 1, 2019 by LanghamP 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Blondlot Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 6 hours ago, scubadragosan said: now I'll never come to anywhere in Germany for her EUC intolerance. I'm afraid that France will follow the same view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olav Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 32 minutes ago, LanghamP said: We can trace the restrictions on EUC to 2016 when a man riding a Gotway killed 12 people in Berlin by running them over with his monstrous 18 inch wheel. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Berlin_truck_attack Since that attack, the Germans have been very strict about EUC usage. Several more attacks were thwarted when suspicious amounts of garden shovels, super glue, and rubber bands were being bought. It seems very clear from internet searches and a prototype that ISIS was building unicycles of mass destruction. Evidently many of the political refugees were being let into Germany when they claimed their emotional support pink Teddy Bears that appeared to be female were actually self-identifying as male. Whats the point with this comment? It isn't funny, its wrong, its degrading towards people that had to flee their homeland due to varying (valid!) reasons... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travsformation Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 8 hours ago, RenaissanceMan said: I spare you another bunch of bureaucratic and nonsensical peculiarities of these new regulations which would fill more pages than @travsformation 's combined works altogether in this forum (which I actually enjoyed very much, to end on a more reconciliatory note ). Hahahaha . Remember I joined the forum less than 6 months ago, so I'm only on Volume 1 of "Travsformation's Guide to the Galaxy" (I expect it to amount to 42 volumes) Glad you're enjoying my endless rants...my girlfriend thanks you all for allowing me to channel them via the forum and spare her head from exploding On an on-topic note...things aren't looking much better in Spain either, but luckily, the laisser faire attitude is even more pronounced here than in France 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanghamP Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 On 2/28/2019 at 6:31 PM, Olav said: Whats the point with this comment? It isn't funny, it's wrong, it's degrading towards people that had to flee their homeland due to varying (valid!) reasons... It's hilarious, because a society that accords illegal EUCs as a greater danger than legal trucks is also unlikely to realize that inviting a bunch of illiterate young male savages into your country is dangerous. Germans, at least most of them, have a badly adjusted danger sensor, but don't worry a couple more years of turning Berlin into a 3rd world country will soon correctly adjust that sensor, as AfD members well know. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mono Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 (edited) On 3/4/2019 at 1:59 AM, LanghamP said: inviting a bunch of illiterate young male savages into your country is dangerous And not helping human beings that are in dire straights is inhumane and selfish (if you have the means to help them) even if these human beings are young male foreigners (that you call savages, oh boy). Make your pick. Edited March 8, 2019 by Mono 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mossi Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 I would like to know if more people who got their wheels seized by german police got it back in the end because of my knowledge they are allowed to destroy it since it was used in an criminal offense (no joke). I try to avoid police but I know some day they will catch me and I'm pretty sure they won't let me go. Last monday it almost was so far, they tried to cut off my path. Luckily I went the other way and I could drive around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoadRunner Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 31 minutes ago, Mossi said: I would like to know if more people who got their wheels seized by german police got it back in the end because of my knowledge they are allowed to destroy it since it was used in an criminal offense (no joke). I try to avoid police but I know some day they will catch me and I'm pretty sure they won't let me go. Last monday it almost was so far, they tried to cut off my path. Luckily I went the other way and I could drive around. Never heard of police destroying a wheel. Friends of mine got it seized but had it back within a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travsformation Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 On 3/4/2019 at 1:59 AM, LanghamP said: It's hilarious, because a society that accords illegal EUCs as a greater danger than legal trucks is also unlikely to realize that inviting a bunch of illiterate young male savages into your country is dangerous. I upvoted your initial comment on the subject thinking you were being ironic, in an absurd Ponty-Pythonesque style. Didn't realize you were being serious. Sorry for the downvote...would rather not delve into why I disagree with you (this isn't a political/sociological/racial/religious thread/forum), so let's just leave it at "this is NOT the right place to express such ideas"... We're talking about EUCs, not views on exile, refugees, immigration and whatnot... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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