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Stopped by police today.....


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I think we should be universally nice and positive with any police that stop us. I am very rarely stopped as I ride past them, but when I am I make sure that I am the very paragon of politeness, consideration, and safety awareness :) I point out that I am riding every day as a practical demonstration of the safety of EUCs for personal transport, and that EUC riders are careful and considerate in choosing where to ride, and how fast. By reassuring police that I am considerate of pedestrians, sufficiently skilled to not cause an accident (by duff driving at least), and constantly aware of my speed and proximity to people and traffic. I find that if you have that attitude you may well be allowed to carry on, and that the police guys tend to chill out and be more interested in how it works and how clever EUCs are in general :) Always take the time to tell them, and enthuse about the wheel.

Even if it is technically against the law we 'should' find that police use their discretion to not enforce this with riders they can see are doing it well and safely. And if we convince enough police officers,and the public (some chance!), it is my hope that the law will eventually get a review so that it accommodates / sets standards for such devices, and hopefully, allows their use.  

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Well said @Cerbera.

The office I work at (and commute to by EUC) is located next-door to our local police station. 

Prior to buying my first wheel I stopped in and discussed the "rules" with them (as laws don't quite exist yet). And now I make a point to roll past their front window as much as possible, always riding politely and saying hello to any officers I happen to pass. 

So far I think I'm just "that slightly eccentric guy that works next door!" Which is just fine by me.

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  • 9 months later...
On 29/10/2016 at 2:23 PM, SinisterPrime said:

the only law i found that specified wheels as definition for the classification was the 1835 highways act that specified any motorised bicycle, tricycle or quadracycle needs to licenced taxed and insured.

Well I really didn't believe that the British Government was sooooo far sighted. They brought out an act in 1835 that covered motorised bicycle's, tricycles and quadracycles the best part of 30 years before the bike existed and probably 75+ years before it was motorised - wow!

Perhaps a quote from: http://www.roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com/1835highwayact/ below will give the true story. What is particularly interesting are the statements:

"at first, bicycles had no legal status, no legal right to be on either roads or footpaths."

"Cyclists were the newest user of the public highway and could easily be banned, nationally as well as locally."

Does that not sound EXACTLY where we now are with Personal Electric Vehicles. Clearly we are going to need a National or even International organisation very like the CTC to have any chance of gaining legal status.

Have a read of the quote below - it makes very interesting comparison to today in our world:

The 1835 act didn’t mention bicycles (pedal propelled bikes weren’t developed until the late 1860s) and so, at first, bicycles had no legal status, no legal right to be on either roads or footpaths. Since its foundation in 1878, the Cyclists’ Touring Club has fought tooth and nail to secure highway rights for cyclists.

The CTC was founded to:

“secure a fair and equitable administration of Justice as regards the right of bicyclists to the public roads. To watch the course of any legislative proposals in Parliament or elsewhere affecting the interests of the bicycling public, and to make such representations on the subject as the occasion may demand.”

The council of the CTC wanted cyclists to be seen as responsible citizens and it invoked the “golden rule”, the do-unto-others prescription:

“[We] specially urge on every individual rider the desirability of extending to all that courtesy which be would have shown to himself. The present prejudice against bicycling has been partly caused (and cannot but be fostered and increased) by a disregard to the feelings of other passengers on the road; and although the right of the bicyclist to the free use of the public highway should be at all times maintained, any needless altercation should be studiously avoided.” 

Cyclists were the newest user of the public highway and could easily be banned, nationally as well as locally.

In 1878, the year when the CTC was founded, the case of Taylor v. Goodwin was pivotal. Mr. Justice Mellor and Mr. Justice Lush, sitting in banco in the Queen’s Bench Division, held that bicyclists were liable to the pains and penalties imposed by the 1835 Highway Act. 

The case had been brought against a Mr Taylor who had been charged for “riding furiously” down Muswell Hill in London, knocking down a pedestrian in the process. His defence argued that as a bicycle wasn’t defined as a carriage in the 1835 Act there was no case to answer. The plea was disregarded and Taylor was fined. The case was appealed and justices Mellor and Lush ruled that bicycles were henceforth to be considered carriages under the law.

This was bad for Taylor, good for cyclists in general. It meant bicycles, for the first time, had a legal status. Described as carriages, they had full legal rights to pass and repass along highways (and highways are not just ‘roads’, they’re carriageways, footpaths, bridleways, everything).

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  • 4 weeks later...

Very informitive Keith enjoyed reading it i wasn't able the find the original source and found your post very informative i had so pulled my post as not to misinform i can only guess I have mixed more than one of my researched materials as i did it from memory and appreciate the correction :)

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  • 7 months later...
On 10/29/2016 at 3:47 PM, Cerbera said:

I think we should be universally nice and positive with any police that stop us. I am very rarely stopped as I ride past them, but when I am I make sure that I am the very paragon of politeness, consideration, and safety awareness :) I point out that I am riding every day as a practical demonstration of the safety of EUCs for personal transport, and that EUC riders are careful and considerate in choosing where to ride, and how fast. By reassuring police that I am considerate of pedestrians, sufficiently skilled to not cause an accident (by duff driving at least), and constantly aware of my speed and proximity to people and traffic. I find that if you have that attitude you may well be allowed to carry on, and that the police guys tend to chill out and be more interested in how it works and how clever EUCs are in general :) Always take the time to tell them, and enthuse about the wheel.

Even if it is technically against the law we 'should' find that police use their discretion to not enforce this with riders they can see are doing it well and safely. And if we convince enough police officers,and the public (some chance!), it is my hope that the law will eventually get a review so that it accommodates / sets standards for such devices, and hopefully, allows their use.  

Yes, I always do that.
Until I was stopped by a traffic police officer that greeted me with the words: "I will confiscate that thing" and I could see that this guy was totally adamant. No way I could start a friendly discussion. As I was reluctant to give him the wheel, I ended up at the police station and stayed there for a couple of hours.
So it goes well until it doesn't.  The nice contact I always had with the police took me actually off-guard.
In short: Diplomacy works until you meet "this bastard cop". And those unfortunately exist. Of course not only cops. There are also stories of bicyclist that tried to push off people from the monowheel. 

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