Laws for EUC in European countries

[Coco66]

I am going to soon edit Japan which says that EUCs are legal... while they are not, well, they are legal in "parks only". 

(the thread talks about Europe but the file is worldwide) 

Edited January 21, 2020 by Coco66

[Grumly]

I updated France from

Quote

Built in limitation to 25Km/h on bicycle paths or roads up to 50Km/h. Little enforcement if you behave. Insurance mandatory.

to

Quote

Built in limitation to 25Km/h required. Allowed on bicycle paths or roads up to 50Km/h within city boundaries. Outside of cities, only bicycle paths allowed. Little enforcement if you behave. Liability insurance mandatory.

First form was misleading as it could let believe you are allowed to ride 50kph if not on a bicycle lane. At least, that's what my own english let me understand.

[Eko]

On 1/19/2020 at 10:25 PM, travsformation said:

Ridiculous or not, fair or not, that's Spanish bureaucracy for you...

Towns and cities can put their own municipal regulations in place regarding riding on the sidewalk and bike lanes, but anywhere where there's no regulation, country-wide laws apply, so it'll soon be illegal to ride even on bike lanes in most of the country, regardless of the wheel's top speed. This also applies to escooters...so imagine, they're about to force all escooters to ride on the road...it's a disaster waiting to happen...

The good thing is that outside large cities, enforcement is either lax or non-existing...

Yes, in Italy there's a similar situation about distinguished town-laws compared to the country ones. In my little city a micro-mobility experimentation/test of 2 years started lately

I agree about the highlighted remark. Here the escooters have been equalized few weeks ago to normal bikes. Max speed 25kmh but they can ride almost everywhere (no in the freeways and always with 6kmh speed limit in the pedestrian areas)

Edited January 21, 2020 by Eko

[travsformation]

On 1/21/2020 at 7:07 PM, Eko said:

Yes, in Italy there's a similar situation about distinguished town-laws compared to the country ones.

Yeah, it's ridiculous. On my last tour (the one in my signature) I passed through 8 different towns: each one could have had its own, different PEV laws (that even contradict country-wide laws). How do they expect people to study up on and know them all, when most police officers you ask don't even know...?

On 1/21/2020 at 7:07 PM, Eko said:

In my little city a micro-mobility experimentation/test of 2 years started lately

I hope it's beneficial!

On 1/21/2020 at 7:07 PM, Eko said:

On 1/19/2020 at 10:25 PM, travsformation said:

they're about to force all escooters to ride on the road...it's a disaster waiting to happen...

I agree about the highlighted remark

After public outcry (by pedestrians) that e-scooters were a hazard (which I admit, they are), legislators decided they had to do something. . The most logical option would have been to give PEVs the same rights and obligations as bicycles (which are allowed on bike lanes and roads), but instead, they decided that since PEVs have motors, they are motorized vehicles. Therefore, they can't be on pedestrian areas (sidewalks) or bicycle lanes, because they aren't bicycles either. So, they can ride on the road only. But only roads limited to 30 km/h, because a) their technical capabilities have not yet been certified and b) They aren't allowed to ride faster than 25 km/h anyway.

In my city of about 70.000 there are a lot of e-scooters, and admittedly, they aren't particularly cautious or respectful. But force these people who don't have driving licenses or know the rules of the road to share streets with cars, and accidents are going to triple in number and severity. The threat a PEV poses a pedestrian can't be compared to the one a car poses a PEV. And what's worse, when accidents do skyrocket, they're going to blame PEVs (again), when all that was needed was common sense and proper infrastructure (not these half-assed, pothole-ridden bike lanes painted onto the sidewalk)

Edited January 23, 2020 by travsformation

[lucian75]

Hi,yestersay it was public debate mostly because they want to include electric scooters in the law but to exclude self balancing vehicles like unicycle , Segway etc.

Excluding Segway is quite strange because local police they use it in Bucharest and some other citys.

They argue that they choose France model..so we respond that 7 UE contry monocycle its ok and France is not forbidden .

Not so many chances i think..but we will see the final result.

 

[RagingGrandpa]

This older thread may have more info you want: 

 

[Eko]

On 1/21/2020 at 8:32 PM, travsformation said:

Yeah, it's ridiculous. On my last tour (the one in my signature) I passed through 8 different towns: each one could have had its own, different PEV laws (that even contradict country-wide laws). How do they expect people to study up on and know them all, when most police officers you ask don't even know...?

I hope it's beneficial!

After public outcry (by pedestrians) that e-scooters were a hazard (which I admit, they are), legislators decided they had to do something. . The most logical option would have been to give PEVs the same rights and obligations as bicycles (which are allowed on bike lanes and roads), but instead, they decided that since PEVs have motors, they are motorized vehicles. Therefore, they can't be on pedestrian areas (sidewalks) or bicycle lanes, because they aren't bicycles either. So, they can ride on the road only. But only roads limited to 30 km/h, because a) their technical capabilities have not yet been certified and b) They aren't allowed to ride faster than 25 km/h anyway.

In my city of about 70.000 there are a lot of e-scooters, and admittedly, they aren't particularly cautious or respectful. But force these people who don't have driving licenses or know the rules of the road to share streets with cars, and accidents are going to triple in number and severity. The threat a PEV poses a pedestrian can't be compared to the one a car poses a PEV. And what's worse, when accidents do skyrocket, they're going to blame PEVs (again), when all that was needed was common sense and proper infrastructure (not these half-assed, pothole-ridden bike lanes painted onto the sidewalk)

 

Yes, I think the same, I signed also european and italian petitions asking exactly that solution: to give Pevs (at least the main ones) same laws, same rights and same prohibitions as bicycles.  For now those distinguished laws between local towns and country general ones seem quite similar to the legal differences in the code-streets between the various euopean countries. And it's creating even more confusion and worries.

About pedestrians, I perfectly understand their reasons and I hope that every Euc rider will respect them 'before' than anybody else as the 'weakest' street-users, irrespective of local laws and speed limits. It's something pre-legal, of civic respect for other users of public spaces

About escooters in Spain : I simply hope the riders will be more logical and cautious than how the new laws wanna force them to risk their own (and others) lives, i.e. :  choosing to not ride their escooters in dangerous traffic situations or where the shared streets are too narrow or too full of vehicles (or at least to avoid riding in the worst congested hours).

 

Edited January 23, 2020 by Eko

[travsformation]

On 1/23/2020 at 4:42 PM, RagingGrandpa said:

This older thread may have more info you want: 

 

Unfortunately it appears to be a little bit outdated....

I'll leave a link to this thread on the other one and perhaps the info can gradually be at it merged...

[MBIKER_SURFER]

Hallo,

 

anybody there who knows status in Denmark? Forbidden? Tolerated? Allowed?

Edited February 9, 2020 by MBIKER_SURFER

[ElectriQ User]

On 1/16/2020 at 12:05 PM, atdlzpae said:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xgCTmNf7e2NzRWzMMsX19YQW9pGEMtPJM3KXfz19DZg

If you have some new info, please contribute. :-)

Can you give access to that document? Please!

[atdlzpae]

@ElectriQ User Sorry, it's not my document. I also lost access.

[euccommuter]

@ElectriQ User it seems that the spreadsheet was originally shared by @Flyboy10 in this thread:

https://forum.electricunicycle.org/topic/14488-euc-legality-chart/?tab=comments#comment-246868

 

Edited February 22, 2020 by euccommuter

[ElectriQ User]

Thank you guys! Thank you @Flyboy10! I have access now.

[DrifterOne]

Update for the spreadsheet: In France You can operate a EUC that is abaible by construction to go over 25KM/h BUT you MUST set the limit at 25 Km/h on the sofware un public roads insideurban agglomaration and set it to a MAximum of 50/kmh outside urban agglomeration https://www.ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/A4%20recto-verso%20V4%200110.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0pI1WHk3lvm2UXt-NNL0WvX0TajGS50I5Km-WuzGJr8FNd3Vwb2KMVG0A

 

 

Edited July 22, 2020 by DrifterOne

[null]

According to the linked PDF the speed has to be set by the seller or by construction, but its always 25km/h (which is IMO dangerously slow). The 50km/h in the text is the maximum road speed PEVs are allowed on (while still stuck at 25). Outside the city, PEVs are not allowed on the road (they all have higher speed limits) only on bike lanes and such.. Outside the city helmet is mandatory (no logic here are riding area is more restricted and less populated)

Edited July 22, 2020 by null

[e.motion]

I don't know about the actual legislation in Portugal regarding EUCs, but I've ridden mine in Lisbon and Porto, amongst other smaller cities/villages, and never had any problems. I've even had some friendly police officers ask me about it, out of sheer curiosity. No tickets nor reprimands. It's pretty chill here. 

[Javierito Gar Costinha]

i wanna see all the car drivers limiting the speed on their cars. 

eucs MUST HAVE more power for your own security

[CloudSatyr]

From the UK, the sheet currently shows:

Poorly formulated law leads to wide interpretations. In practice it is moderately tolerated, provided rider shows responsibility & is discrete or pedestrian sensitive. Insurance not directly applicable. Law in transition .

 

I would say that:

There is no specific law for EUCs and other PLEVs. The law that is relevant currently in the UK is the Highway Act 1835; "or shall wilfully lead or drive any horse, ass, sheep, mule, swine, or cattle or carriage of any description, or any truck or sledge, upon any such footpath or causeway", taking 'carriage' specifically from this sentence.

The rest rings pretty true, I've found generally it is moderately tolerated however I heard of people receiving warnings in the UK from the police, points on drivers licence and fines, also there is a potential for the device to be seized.

Insurance is not widely available as it is still illegal to ride in public. E-Scooters are on rental trials in some certain towns in the UK but personal devices are still not permitted.

Edited December 1, 2020 by CloudSatyr

[EMA]

still illegall in IT, but ignored and tollerated up to the past summer, Biggest cities has some trouble now, other city/regions no issue at all, usual random situations in Italy.

the kickscooter sharing disaster messed up the situation with PEV,  police start to watch EUC (becouse they are illegal, kickscooter regulated like bike) and stop some of us, someone get a ticket too.

one year ago i've been in Austria, ridden the Danube river from Passau to Vienna, no issue at all, beautifull holiday .

[Jean eRide.ie Community]

On 1/16/2020 at 10:05 AM, atdlzpae said:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xgCTmNf7e2NzRWzMMsX19YQW9pGEMtPJM3KXfz19DZg

If you have some new info, please contribute. :-)

Looks like I can't edit anymore? 

Ireland still illegal.

I got in big enough trouble recently myself (my fault, rode slowly on a junction while green for pedestrians, so basically jumped a red light, even if it was 100% safe), unmarked black car suddenly has blue lights and siren on... still not clear the full consequences, but I know what to expect (as others got it already):

1. Seized, towed by tow truck, used a taxi to get to work, left work early to go to police station for release form and had to collect it far from the city using a rented vehicle, paying 125€ tow truck fee. A few hours lost. 

2. Pending: 80€ fine and 2 points on driving licence for jumping the red light. 

3. Pending: letter asking me to go to court due 6 months after the date I got stopped. 

4. Pending: Judge usually gives 100-300€ fine and 5 points off driving licence to first offenders, but he has power to give up to 5000€ fine, 5 points, 6 months prison (I bet 2nd time offender gets more than 1st time one, so I stopped riding EUCs). 

5. Pending: Will only have 5 points left on my driving licence which increases the chance of loosing it (which would happen for sure if ever caught riding an EUC again). 

6. Pending: Criminal records, which I have to mention on different scenarios as applying for insurance, for a job, other... 

7. Pending: Lost 7 points on driving license, having never had insurance before, having motor criminal records... insurance costing a lot of money in Ireland, it would cost me some crazy amount of money to get my first vehicle insured. 

 

So I started using an eBike, which is useful and enjoyable too, but not as much as an EUC. 

News for Ireland: they are looking at legislating for eScooters and eBikes (illegal ones) in Q1 2021, so in a couple of months it might be legal, however, of course, very hard to believe EUCs will become legal, unless limited to 250w, which basically makes them illegal, but let's see. Maybe a EUC with 250w rated power, 20000w peak, is legal lol. 

 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2021 by Jean Dublin

[Coco66]

Criminal records for jumping a red light? 

[Rawnei]

12 hours ago, Jean Dublin said:

Looks like I can't edit anymore? 

Ireland still illegal.

I got in big enough trouble recently myself (my fault, rode slowly on a junction while green for pedestrians, so basically jumped a red light, even if it was 100% safe), unmarked black car suddenly has blue lights and siren on... still not clear the full consequences, but I know what to expect (as others got it already):

1. Seized, towed by tow truck, used a taxi to get to work, left work early to go to police station for release form and had to collect it far from the city using a rented vehicle, paying 125€ tow truck fee. A few hours lost. 

2. Pending: 80€ fine and 2 points on driving licence for jumping the red light. 

3. Pending: letter asking me to go to court due 6 months after the date I got stopped. 

4. Pending: Judge usually gives 100-300€ fine and 5 points off driving licence to first offenders, but he has power to give up to 5000€ fine, 5 points, 6 months prison (I bet 2nd time offender gets more than 1st time one, so I stopped riding EUCs). 

5. Pending: Will only have 5 points left on my driving licence which increases the chance of loosing it (which would happen for sure if ever caught riding an EUC again). 

6. Pending: Criminal records, which I have to mention on different scenarios as applying for insurance, for a job, other... 

7. Pending: Lost 7 points on driving license, having never had insurance before, having motor criminal records... insurance costing a lot of money in Ireland, it would cost me some crazy amount of money to get my first vehicle insured. 

 

So I started using an eBike, which is useful and enjoyable too, but not as much as an EUC. 

News for Ireland: they are looking at legislating for eScooters and eBikes (illegal ones) in Q1 2021, so in a couple of months it might be legal, however, of course, very hard to believe EUCs will become legal, unless limited to 250w, which basically makes them illegal, but let's see. Maybe a EUC with 250w rated power, 20000w peak, is legal lol. 

 

 

 

That was a consequence of running a red light not riding an EUC, do the same with your ebike same consequence.

[Chriull]

1 hour ago, Coco66 said:

Criminal records for jumping a red light? 

 

10 minutes ago, Rawnei said:

That was a consequence of running a red light not riding an EUC, do the same with your ebike same consequence.

As stated in wikipedia "In most jurisdictions the liability for red light violations is a civil offense, rather than a criminal citation, issued upon the vehicle owner—similar to a parking ticket.'

But most countries will have some paragraph in their criminal code for endangering life and limb of others as traffic participant.

As for example in Germany §315 StGB "Endangering of traffic/road hazard/dangerous driving" with up to 5 years jail...

[Nostris]

Certainly in Europe, I live n Italy, things are in a state of flux because of the sudden increase in PEV’s over the last couple of years. There has been this sudden enthusiasm for, and encouragement to use PEV’s for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the green movement and issues of air quality in towns and cities. Unfortunately, the law has not adapted to this sudden change in mobility, and as a result, there are certain ‘Knee Jerk’ legal reactions, where there is a perceived need to control these new vehicles and the people using them. Here in Italy, the ebike has been growing in popularity over the last few years, particularly amongst the older people. ( Viareggio, where I live is very flat, so has always had a lot of bicycle users). Over the last few months, escooters have arrived on the streets and sidewalks, many of which are rental jobs, and many of the riders of these things are completely irresponsible idiots ( only last week I saw one trying to ride the wrong way around a roundabout and causing mayhem in heavy traffic! ).. so, I can see the need for some rules just to keep everyone reasonably safe. However, I don’t really understand why an EUC should be viewed as different from an ebike or an escooter. State and local authorities will, I am sure, eventually conclude that if bicycles and e bicycles are allowed, so should EUC’s. In the meantime, each and everyone of us can do our bit by being safe, responsible and considerate, and not riding like a f#@kwit when near pedestrians, vehicles or other PEV riders. 👍. 

[Nostris]

Furthe to this, I see in the news that there is a debate on this in the U.K.  They are allowing trials of rental e scooters in some cities as they correctly think that micro mobility is a good idea in principle. HOWEVER.... they will only be allowing rental scooters, it will be illegal to ride a your own!!  This is apparently because of insurance requirements, and only rental companies can get insurance ( seems both stupid and strange that a private individual can’t buy insurance cover,). Scooters will be limited to 15mph and can only travel on roads ( also stupid and dangerous as they won’t be able to travel at urban traffic speeds ). Riders must be 16 years or older and have a provisional driving licence! ..... Skateboards, Hoverboards and EUC’s would be illegal, on the grounds that they are ‘Dangerous’ 😱😳.. The press still go on about a girl who came off a scooter and was killed by a lorry... hence all PEV’s are dangerous...oblivious to the fact that between 100 and 150 cyclists are killed on the road each year, and bicycles are deemed safe!   
So, if bicycles are safe transport, are ebikes safe or unsafe? I personally can’t see the difference really. An ebike is a motorised bicycle...a modern Moped ( like a Solex or Ciao of years ago ...also considered safe!! ) ...So, if an ebike is safe, why is an escooter not safe?  And an EUC?... well they are unsafe because they are ‘apparently’ difficult to ride and control, therefore dangerous. .....Obviously the decision makers have forgotten that learning to ride a bicycle is not easy when you start to learn!  Hopefully sense will eventually prevail in this fast developing sector, and hopefully some enterprising company will offer insurance for PEV’s before too long. 👍