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Points on driving licence for riding euc


Gimlet

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I've not had any problems personally despite being stopped by inquisitive police on numerous occasions who were very enthusiastic and supportive.

This report, if true puts a new slant on euc riding in the UK. Bearing in mind that licence "points means prizes" in the form of higher insurance rates for the cars you drive it is very discouraging.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/man-ended-up-six-points-12031624

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His unicycle got confiscated by not having insurance that show a deep level of corruption by UK judges and legislators since they are fully aware that unicycles can not be insured and that insurance for unicycles do not exist, if a judge asks for something that he knows does not exist that is beyond the law that is called corruption.

In the USA there are similar levels of corruption for example gasoline motorized bicycles in California are legal acording to article 406a, but the article says they have to be registered, and I was told that I had to register the bicycle and get plates, I went to DMV and got a temporary permit since they had no clue on how to proceed several weeks later I get a notification that my registration is void. I go to DMV and I am told by them that only vehicled that have a VIN can be registered, then I ask them what do I need to do and they reply " nothing it is a bicycle and we do not register bicycles, we only register vehicles that have a VIN", well acording to Californiia law a bicycle with a motor of under 2 HP and with an speed under 30mph is allowed on the roads based on article 406a as long as it is registered, but such a registration is not allowed since bicycles do not have a VIN. So this is the case of a junk law in which compliance it is impossible.

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Yes...this is shocking. I only found out because my colleagues alerted me. I would like to know the back story. Was the guy riding inconsiderately, did he collide with car, was he disrespectful to the officers. 

I rang up the company that insures my electric bike and added the unicycle ( the guy had to check with his boss first, but sorted it out with £2m public liability cover). Now, at least, they will have to find another reason to prosecute me :-)

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20 hours ago, checho said:

His unicycle got confiscated by not having insurance that show a deep level of corruption by UK judges and legislators since they are fully aware that unicycles can not be insured and that insurance for unicycles do not exist, if a judge asks for something that he knows does not exist that is beyond the law that is called corruption.

In the USA there are similar levels of corruption for example gasoline motorized bicycles in California are legal acording to article 406a, but the article says they have to be registered, and I was told that I had to register the bicycle and get plates, I went to DMV and got a temporary permit since they had no clue on how to proceed several weeks later I get a notification that my registration is void. I go to DMV and I am told by them that only vehicled that have a VIN can be registered, then I ask them what do I need to do and they reply " nothing it is a bicycle and we do not register bicycles, we only register vehicles that have a VIN", well acording to Californiia law a bicycle with a motor of under 2 HP and with an speed under 30mph is allowed on the roads based on article 406a as long as it is registered, but such a registration is not allowed since bicycles do not have a VIN. So this is the case of a junk law in which compliance it is impossible.

Same joke here in Germany: all over 6kmh is a "vehicle"...which needs insurance by law!

But you will not or only hard find a insurance company, because in their view its not a vehicle, has no official papers and so on and so on....

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1 hour ago, Stephen Greenslade said:

Yes...this is shocking. I only found out because my colleagues alerted me. I would like to know the back story. Was the guy riding inconsiderately, did he collide with car, was he disrespectful to the officers. 

I rang up the company that insures my electric bike and added the unicycle ( the guy had to check with his boss first, but sorted it out with £2m public liability cover). Now, at least, they will have to find another reason to prosecute me :-)

Which country do you live in? 
Which insurance company do you use? My road bikes insurance is coming up for renewal, so I could kill two birds with one stone.

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On 10/18/2016 at 11:24 PM, Stephen Greenslade said:

England - the insurance company is assetsure

I called them yesterday, it's been going back and forwards all day - they have confirmed, although they can insure an EUC / Segway for loss, they will not provide and other cover. I even quoted your name, and said I would like the same, they said they are unable to help. 

Thanks anyway.

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When I read things like that, it makes me sick, because public idiotism makes me sick.

Sometimes I have the feeling, as if the politicians and legislators don't want to let new technologies thrive, but want to save old gas and diesel transportation. Or maybe it's just bureaucracy.  I'm curious which things will await me in my country, if more people start using EUCs.

BTW, what will they do if you have no driving license ?

Will they sting you 6 times in your finger ?

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Not lived in the UK for about 5 years now and well before I started riding an EU so not been looking at the laws there that much.  As Hong Kong law is based on UK law from when it was part of of UK.  If the laws are still similar, people might want to check on this:

In HK it states that a "motor vehicle" means any mechanically propelled vehicle;

However in the same legislation it also states:

"vehicle" means any vehicle whether or not mechanically propelled which is constructed or adapted for use on
roads.

In ordered to be considered a vehicle by law a device needs to pass set criteria to become roadworthy.  As EUs were never meant to be used on the road they can't be classed as vehicles.

So really if you are riding on pavements / sidewalks or cycleways (Not to be confused with cycle lanes which are part of the road) then getting busted by the police is harder.

This is of course assuming that the laws are still similar between HK and UK (You will need to research further yourself) and also assuming that you or the guy in the article didn't get busted while riding on the road.

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On ‎27‎.‎10‎.‎2016 at 0:14 AM, HermanTheGerman said:

...if the politicians and legislators don't want to let new technologies thrive, but want to save old gas and diesel transportation. Or maybe it's just bureaucracy. 

It's both. They fall between two stools because they never cannot suck enough money from people - and they fidgets in their chairs because they say "go green" but in the same time don't want to make EUC's legal before they've found a good way to make some money on them..

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People will have to organise lobbying efforts if they want to ride ebikes, EUC and electric skateboards. For this example I would suggest writing to ministers for environment or climate change. You could try contacting environmental activist groups and see if they are willing to speak up about the issue.

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  • 2 weeks later...

As a new EUCer ( damn you @John Eucist ! Only joking?) I, too am concerned about this grey area or "falling between two stools" as @Vik's puts it.  (Is that a Norwegian expression?

but imagine you are an insurance company.  Some dude walks in off the street and says "insurance my EUC. £€$2,000,000. Public liability should do, and make it cheap". What would you do? I'd show him the door he just walked in through. 

Now tweak the situation to car or motorcycle insurance.  question: how long have you had a licence? Which country issued you license? have you had insurance before? With whom? Etc etc.

WE DONT HAVE LICENSES PEOPLE!!! No one know what level of proficiency or safety we possess.  I'm a EUCer (John !!!) but I can't jump up or down kerbs, go backwards, or loads of other things you guys take for granted, and some can leap tall buildings in a single bound ( @EUC Extreme , I'm looking at you here)

how can we expect someone to put £€$2,000,000 of their dosh on the line if you don't know who you are insuring?

maybe we need a worldwide governing body (voluntary membership) which, amongst other things, issues licenses based on video proven, community established levels of accomplishment in several key areas of EUC safe handling skills.  It would be like a driving test, only you would have yourself videoed ( with proof of  ID similar to how AirBnB does it) doing all the required EUC procedures to a satisfactory level. Submit the video with ID proof, pay your fee, get shiner EUCer lichen in the mail.   I know I wouldn't pass, if I was tested today, I'm still learning.  But most of you could.

there would have to be a processing fee, and admin fees for when governing body X or insuring body Y enquirers into EUCer Z's legitimacy. And the cost of printing the natty plastic EUCer licenses.  Sounds anti, our freedom loving sport/activity, but governments across the glob will be cracking down on us more and more as the number of EUCers increases, and the number of EUC related incidents rise.

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On 03/11/2016 at 0:03 PM, lizardmech said:

People will have to organise lobbying efforts if they want to ride ebikes, EUC and electric skateboards. For this example I would suggest writing to ministers for environment or climate change. You could try contacting environmental activist groups and see if they are willing to speak up about the issue.

I checked on the petition before the UK parliament it got to 6000 Signatures and stalled, another one got to about 2500 in the 6months window it had and was rejected as insufficient support.

 

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Although I'm English, I have never EUCed in England.  But I was planning to take my EUC back with me when I return, some day. 

Where do you English EUCers ride? Do you risk punishment by riding on public roads/ pavements/ sidewalks.  Or strictly off road ?

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I live in a rural Hampshire village and use mine for nipping out to the shops mostly. i live maybe 10mins walk away, ok sometimes its nice to walk into the village but when you have a dire emergency such as finding that you are out of marmite its easier to wheel to the co-op than get into the car and then find a parking space. 

Ive also used it a fair bit on the seafront in Brighton where there is a really good cycle lane. One day I'll take it to London where I have seen others using them.

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49 minutes ago, nute said:

<snip> i live maybe 10mins walk away, ok sometimes its nice to walk into the village but when you have a dire emergency such as finding that you are out of marmite its easier to wheel to the co-op than get into the car and then find a parking space. <snip>

Yikes, Marmite :furious::furious::furious:. On the continent, that would require an extra "transportation of hazardous material" license and environmental protection insurance :P

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5 hours ago, Keith said:

I checked on the petition before the UK parliament it got to 6000 Signatures and stalled, another one got to about 2500 in the 6months window it had and was rejected as insufficient support.

Petitions are useless, that's not effective lobbying. You have to endlessly nag the politicians via email, mail and social media, while contacting media and trying to get them to report on the issue.

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2 hours ago, Smoother said:

Although I'm English, I have never EUCed in England.  But I was planning to take my EUC back with me when I return, some day. 

Where do you English EUCers ride? Do you risk punishment by riding on public roads/ pavements/ sidewalks.  Or strictly off road ?

I ride on cycle paths and pavements, and off-road country tracks - only on public roads when I need to cross them, or if they are completely empty of other traffic.

The only way the law will ever change is if there are enough people out there showing it can be done safely and with consideration for other people. Until regulation and some sort of safety standard and skills assessment is developed, this is the only thing we can do to get single-wheelers accepted as 'normal', or at least 'unthreatening' by the general public.

We need to convince any police that stop us first and foremost, on an individual basis, allowing them to use their discretion to basically let-off the people who are doing it well, and not causing any problems. That's not always going to work, but it seems our best hope for now.

That, together with constant online discussion, frequent campaigning and more people doing it properly is what is needed to get an eventual change in the law.

Our work is very much cut out for us, hey ?

CBR

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Thanks guys.  You mention cycle paths, pavements, the sea front at Brighton, etc.  It sounds like you are saying that these places are legal, but our Welsh dude was EUCing on the pavement.  I'm confused. Are you just less likely to get "hassled by the man" if you stay off the public highway?

 

welsh dude got into an altercation with a car driver, and that apparently is when the fuzz got involved. Do we suspect his EUC got away from him and struck the mans car, or something similar. Can't imagine an altercation without damage.  

do you think this  might not have gone to court if there had been no altercation?  Are there any other prosecutors in the UK FOR EUCing  ( not puking)

@Tilmann marmite is an acquired taste. I'm sensing you haven't acquired it.  You need marmite training.  It has to be spread veryyy thin.  When I'm spinning through Germany I'll come EUCing with you and we'll have a good  marmite session.  You'll love it.?

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