Police offers just told me it's 500$+ fine to ride EUC?

[techyiam]

Here is a video short posted at Freshly Charged Youtube  Channel (Jimmy Chang).

In the video, it was stated that the rider was stopped and ticketed by police while he was riding on a bike shared road. Not sure what that is. I guess it may have meant a main road with a bike lane on the side. 

I don't usually ride around the downtown area. But I do ride basically everyday on my electric wheel, and have never been stopped nor ticketed. I ride mostly along bike routes. 

I guess I am somewhat confused as to what the current enforcement policy is then.

 

[varamontelo]

Maybe Spence will try to sell more to companies. Companies or communities will use eucs in parks, warehouses, holiday villages, airports. If individual customers cannot ride they will form associations or clubs with authorizations from town halls or departments.

[woke rider]

I have only ever been warned not to ride on a trail by a ranger. He never says anything if I just avoid him (this was in Colorado). The one time I came across the ranger it was because I decided to ride past him to see if he would say anything. He wouldn't try to chase me down, and certainly wouldn't issue me a $500 ticket unless I was disrespectful or something.

[Flywheel]

8 hours ago, techyiam said:

Here is a video short posted at Freshly Charged Youtube  Channel (Jimmy Chang).

In the video, it was stated that the rider was stopped and ticketed by police while he was riding on a bike shared road. Not sure what that is. I guess it may have meant a main road with a bike lane on the side. 

I don't usually ride around the downtown area. But I do ride basically everyday on my electric wheel, and have never been stopped nor ticketed. I ride mostly along bike routes. 

I guess I am somewhat confused as to what the current enforcement policy is then.

Shared lanes have no separator between vehicles and bicycles. The whole lane is shared between the two.

According to this article enforcement seems to be at the discretion of the officer.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/electric-unicycles-ticketed-no-insurance

 

[Flygonial]

8 hours ago, varamontelo said:

Maybe Spence will try to sell more to companies. Companies or communities will use eucs in parks, warehouses, holiday villages, airports. If individual customers cannot ride they will form associations or clubs with authorizations from town halls or departments.

This actually seems like a good step and a more actionable step going through the trouble of forming activist coalitions and agitating. It would go quite a ways to normalizing our devices which is a big part of what we need to soften the blow from the hammer of the law.

EDIT: The most obvious downside of this is just the learning curve to EUC but I imagine it’d be helped by most of the wheels sold being on the lighter end. If the companies could incentivize employees to use them (having them pitched as being the most compact practical PEV to be stored at the workplace), but I suppose there would still be some growing pains.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Flygonial

[bpong]

"they cant stop it" ? ooooooo, strong words of defiance from a business owner.  well, the euc community is not that big, and the euc itself does not have any standards to follow in terms of construction and design.  i would think the only thing that follows some sort of construction standards are the batteries themselves but the rest of the unit i dont think follows any building or design standards.  like i always pointed out in either video commentary or posting on this forum,  the insurance industry is looking for its 'in' and law enforcement is just opening the gates in B.C.

i can easily afford the future insurance for PEVs,  can you ?  and on the flip side of this statement,  i can take it or leave it,  riding an euc.  if it does get outlawed (which im sure it wont cause the insurance industry has much to benefit from insuring all PEVs...),  i will certainly miss it,  but i wont lose any sleep...and i havent built up a ridiculous collection of eucs...

in the end,  i predict we PEV users will be paying a premium for our fav way of moving,  and the group that will really get hit hard will the the escooter users,  which IMO i dont mind considering my interaction with these assholes has always been negative...

[Clem604]

11 hours ago, techyiam said:

I don't usually ride around the downtown area. But I do ride basically everyday on my electric wheel, and have never been stopped nor ticketed. I ride mostly along bike routes. 

I guess I am somewhat confused as to what the current enforcement policy is then.

Same here, I ride about 6-7 days a week in and around downtown Vancouver and I encounter police almost everyday at intersections, red lights, and crosswalks.  I have had zero issues so far and I've even had some nice chats with some of the more curious officers 👮‍♂️. Either I have a horseshoe up my ass or they didn't feel the need (or want) to ticket me due to their mood or my riding style that day. Either way it's been working for me so I'll continue to do so until it doesn't  🚔

Edited July 21, 2023 by Clem604

[Hellkitten]

A group of us in Toronto got a warning from a cop the other night. They just stated to make sure to follow traffic rules and to ride safely. No tickets or anything. I think it depends on what you’re doing and the officer at the time. 

[Cerbera]

Goddammit - over in Sweden they just got IsThereAnyFood and confiscated his wheel 'for tests' ! he was doing some slightly faster than normal / slightly more adventurous stuff on roads with old bill right behind him, so not blameless by a stretch, and he handles it well, but a bit harsh to take his wheel off him the very first time he is stopped...

 

 

[Forwardnbak]

He handled that extremely well.

That sucks, warning maybe?? 

He wasn’t doing anything crazy and seems a nice guy. 

[GothamMike]

Wear safety gear

be polite

NEVER yell at pedestrians (I’m talking to you NYC AlleyCats)

stay off the sidewalks, 

know your national, provincial, and local laws.  Follow them.

whenever possible, tell the police the EUC is “Just like a eBike and Escooter, more energy is needed for self-balancing” 

 

I hate to say if your EUC is confiscated, they may try to extract the System Logs (SYSLOGs) out of it. Tell the cops the 60 MPH top speed comes from a “free spin” test we all perform every week. 😬 to ensure the wheel is balanced. Am I right?

let’s just hope it doesn’t catch fire in the Evidence Locker.
 

 

[Robse]

13 minutes ago, GothamMike said:

 Tell the cops the 60 MPH top speed comes from a “free spin” test we all perform every week. to ensure the wheel is balanced. Am I right?

 

 

just as right as correct that no cop ever is seeking information on the internet. And for sure that there is not one single cop among the +20000 users in this forum🫣

Edited July 22, 2023 by Robse

[Poker]

Sucks to hear about IsThereAnyFood. There was a story here in Norway about a guy getting his wheel confiscated late fall last year.

When they had it in custody the police put it on their moped tester to see the top speed. Its a longer story about an officer claiming to teach himself to ride it to while it was confiscated.

But it ended after the guy got a lawyer to send them a letter arguing that confiscation is an over reaction because of the high cost of an euc and so they choose to give it back. People assumed it was because there hasn't been any court cases here of EUCs and they didn't want the legal battle. 

[techyiam]

3 hours ago, Cerbera said:

over in Sweden they just got IsThereAnyFood and confiscated his wheel

Just a thought.

It appears police in Sweden actually enforce the laws pertaining to PEV's, then why is anyone there be riding an EX30? It's puzzling why he would not be riding at a discreet location and a certain time of day on an EX30. He rode an EX30 to work during rush hour? Is that wise?

It is just like @Cerbera keeps telling us that he doesn't ride fast in the UK, even though he rides a Master. Then in his video, sure enough, he was not riding slow.

The tendency to ride fast with a capable wheel is high. But luckily for him, he can sweet talk people, even the police. 

[techyiam]

In BC, the provincial government has been revising the rules and regions coverage for the PEV pilot project since the project began. 

It started with only 6 regions, and now it has been expanded to 9 regions.

Before, e-scooters can only ride on specific types of roads, and certainly no major roads. Now, basically anywhere a bicycle can.

Quote

Pilot community designated street and highway use for electric kick scooters:

If the speed limit is 50km/h or less:

• Use the designated lanes for cycling, or
• If no designated lane for cycling exists, ride as near as possible to the right side of the street

Link to BC Pilot Project

However, Vancouver city hall hasn't caught up with the latest provincial update, or Vancouver doesn't want to change. E-scooters are still not allow on major streets.

Quote

Electric kick scooters may not be ridden on sidewalks, major streets, or the Seawall.

Link Vancouver Bylaws

 

E-scooters, like e-bikes that meet the exception defined by Transport Canada, are not regulated federally in Canada, and are not given a VIN. 

Only the motor vehicle types defined in Schedule III of the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Act are regulated by Transport Canada. Electric wheels and electric scooters do not appear in any entries in Schedule III of the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Act. 

 

 

[Flygonial]

9 minutes ago, techyiam said:

In BC, the provincial government has been revising the rules and regions coverage for the PEV pilot project since the project began. 

It started with only 6 regions, and now it has been expanded to 9 regions.

Before, e-scooters can only ride on specific types of roads, and certainly no major roads. Now, basically anywhere a bicycle can.

Link to BC Pilot Project

However, Vancouver city hall hasn't caught up with the latest provincial update, or Vancouver doesn't want to change. E-scooters are still not allow on major streets.

Link Vancouver Bylaws

 

E-scooters, like e-bikes that meet the exception defined by Transport Canada, are not regulated federally in Canada, and are not given a VIN. 

Only the motor vehicle types defined in Schedule III of the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Act are regulated by Transport Canada. Electric wheels and electric scooters do not appear in any entries in Schedule III of the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Act. 

 

 

I would hope that if we ultimately end up under the microscope that we’ll have a 32 km/h non-registration limit or so (along the lines of e-bikes and the scooter pilots) with an allowance for more than 500W of power for the sake of self-balancing. 750-1000W I feel is the realistic max wiggle room I feel would be given.

I just fear that in the long term, the future of the performance end of the hobby may end up being limited to off-road.

[Funky]

5 hours ago, GothamMike said:

stay off the sidewalks, 
 

Better stay off the roads..

EUC place is on sidewalks. (At least smaller/slower ones for sure.)

 

And yes - i know in some dumb countries you aren't allowed to ride on sidewalks - which in my mind is backwards stupid. 

Edited July 22, 2023 by Funky

[techyiam]

33 minutes ago, Flygonial said:

I would hope that if we ultimately end up under the microscope that we’ll have a 32 km/h non-registration limit or so (along the lines of e-bikes and the scooter pilots) with an allowance for more than 500W of power for the sake of self-balancing. 750-1000W I feel is the realistic max wiggle room I feel would be given.

I just fear that in the long term, the future of the performance end of the hobby may end up being limited to off-road.

Well, at least based on what we have seen on how enforcement has been like on e- bikes, I am not too worry. The police around here don't seem to be enforcing the rules on performance. The only issue has been the issuance of $600 tickets for operating a PEV without insurance, when PEV's should not need insurance to operate since the federal government don't regulate them in Canada. My hunch is that so far, bicycles and PEV's has shown they don't do enough damage to require insurance to protect all parties. That is why bicycles, e-bikes and e-scooters don't require insurance. In addition, the numbers of PEC's are too small. The federal government is going to continue not to regulate PEV's.

[varamontelo]

With us the euc rolls on the road like other vehicles and it's not stupid. The sidewalks are for pedestrians, mothers with children in pushchairs, old people with dogs, the disabled, quiet tourists. We don't bite, visit France without crazy whellers.

[varamontelo]

I forgot here, no ticket in my city.

[techyiam]

1 hour ago, varamontelo said:

With us the euc rolls on the road like other vehicles and it's not stupid. The sidewalks are for pedestrians, mothers with children in pushchairs, old people with dogs, the disabled, quiet tourists. We don't bite, visit France without crazy whellers.

Are you riding along the side of the road, or in the car lanes with the cars and trucks?

[Funky]

I'm still pedestrian riding EUC, same when using regular old fashion bike. Simply going faster than other people who are walking.  

Then skateboards and roller skaters should also be riding on roads with cars.. Because they also are rolling and going faster than walking.

 

EUC can go where ever they want. Big monster EUC belong on roads with cars. Slower/smaller EUC belong on sidewalks riding true people. BUT same time even big EUC's can be driven on sidewalks, if they are going slower. EUC isn't like other vehicles. So regular old fashion rules/law doesn't apply to them. They are not big like cars/motorcycles. But same time they can go same speeds as cars/motorcycles.

You need to use brain and go according speeds. Then you can ride where ever you want. (Of course if your country doesn't have those dumb rules/law in place. Mine doesn't - so i ride where ever i want. EVEN if mine suddenly changed some rules/laws around - i would not care and keep riding the same as i have been for years. Because i don't care for dumb nonsenses.) 

Edited July 22, 2023 by Funky

[The Brahan Seer]

Eevee's just posted a vlog that had a comment referring to this. This is a very interesting view of Canadian snowboarders in 1985, sound familiar anyone...

 

[varamontelo]

The international forum allows you to see different habits, and the rules of each country.
We see that the wheeler can challenge his government. The respectful rider will say: 'I ride at 6 km/h like a pedestrian so I'm on a sidewalk when I want. The moron will drive everywhere at 60 km/ because he wants to live or die without the rules. I wish these two guys didn't meet. Who can choose to play with a life? We only have one, and we must not take another. These are my sentences but not my subject found in the pages of this site and others. I apologize to the author of the topic which is interesting, me a little less.

[winterwheel]

On 7/19/2023 at 5:36 PM, Cerbera said:

But I don't give a tuppeny shit what armour is 'acceptable to the public' - they are not wearing it and it is not protecting their bones !

If your ride is so dangerous that you need to wear all that gear you should not be riding in public places.

You are the reason we are making no progress toward legalization.