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UK EUC rider stopped by police and given 6 points on driving license


guyr

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4 hours ago, guyr said:

Article calls it a hoverboard but later reveals it's an airwheel electric unicycle. 

The police and prosecutor must really dislike this guy. The 6 points he received from riding the Airwheel pushed him over the limit and now he is banned from driving any vehicle on the roads for 6 months. Hash penalty! Maybe the prosecutor has stock in Gotway or KIngsong and really hates AW. 

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5 hours ago, steve454 said:

BTW, over here bicycles have to be walked across intersections.   And we have to wear a helmet or risk getting a fine.

If true, those are Dallas laws.  Definitely not state (Texas) nor federal law.

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On 12/22/2017 at 10:22 PM, Rehab1 said:

The police and prosecutor must really dislike this guy. The 6 points he received from riding the Airwheel pushed him over the limit and now he is banned from driving any vehicle on the roads for 6 months. Hash penalty! Maybe the prosecutor has stock in Gotway or KIngsong and really hates AW. 

That would be dumb of the prosecutor since this ruling impacts all "wheelers", and not just one manufacturer.

Edited by EternalEnigma
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This is concerning and frustrating to hear. Penalties like this seem so heavy-handed and flawed - if it was a child or non-driver they couldn't be given points on their driving license!

My understanding is that it's not possible to insure an EUC in UK because they're not an approved/recognised road-worthy vehicle type (see here). That's quite an old article now though, does anyone know if things have changed?

If I could insure & tax my EUC I would do at the drop of a hat.

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I met a chap on a wheel at the October critical mass thing on the South Bank. He had insurance for his wheel through his house insurance. He'd actually contacted them and got them to write him a letter specifically confirming the cover and he carried it around with him in case he was stopped. 

I think even if you were stopped and could prove insurance they would find something else to nail you for. Obviously a small minded policeman as i have ridden past dozens and they have not stopped me - that said I've been ridding responsibly, carefully, and always go out of my way to give way to pedestrians. 

I wonder if there is something else about the guy in the OP, maybe he was being reckless...still a sad day though...

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Laws are almost always there to protect other people from you. EUCs and bicycles aren't regulated in most places and rarely kill someone else while cars are heavily regulated and often do. Methinks the vehicle that causes the lesser damage to others should be encouraged. Why would you not do so? 

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  • 5 months later...
On 12/24/2017 at 12:02 PM, Keith said:

Like others I’d happily pay any insurance or licence fee but it doesn’t exist. A 15.5MPH electric bike is perfectly OK and does not require licence or insurance but as soon as it does not have peddles it is illegal. Dumb or what!

I wonder if we attached some dummy pedals (even if they didn't drive the wheel) we would be ok LOL

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  • 11 months later...

The EUC may be insured against theft or damage by house insurance but the point is that it would need to be insured for third parties. If you caused a crash then the third parties would need compensation.

The UK bike rules are pretty strange. I don't see how having peddles makes any difference. A speed limit does make sense and possibly the power. 15.6mph seems arbitrarily low since you can easily cycle faster than that perhaps it stops less experienced cyclers going too fast.

It would be nice to get them legalised. I think from an environmental point of view could be a good angle: everyone on an EUC is potentially one less car on the road. I don't think it would get rid of the cars but at least they wouldn't be used as often.

I do think there is a problem with where they ride. I don't think it should be on the pavement because that's a danger to pedestrians. On the road or cycle lanes causes more issues for those users but maybe they (myself included) should get over it. If we were all on EUCs then the roads would be a much nicer place to be! Actually, saying that, when I'm cycling the worst thing I find is if someone is too slow, not too fast, everyone bunches up behind them and need to overtake.

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On 5/10/2019 at 3:25 PM, Oliver Polden said:

The EUC may be insured against theft or damage by house insurance but the point is that it would need to be insured for third parties. If you caused a crash then the third parties would need compensation.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's how it works too. You need specific EUC insurance that covers third parties/liability

On 5/10/2019 at 3:25 PM, Oliver Polden said:

The UK bike rules are pretty strange. I don't see how having peddles makes any difference. A speed limit does make sense and possibly the power. 15.6mph seems arbitrarily low since you can easily cycle faster than that perhaps it stops less experienced cyclers going too fast. 

It would be nice to get them legalised. I think from an environmental point of view could be a good angle: everyone on an EUC is potentially one less car on the road. I don't think it would get rid of the cars but at least they wouldn't be used as often.

They are strange indeed, and seemingly very arbitrary. You'd think that with the boom of PEVs, government would be in a rush to regulate so they could charge road taxes and whatnot, as well as boost their image (electoral purposes?) in terms of green mobility. But then again, legislators have never been fond of change, and aren't particularly flexible or good at adapting (think "The Internet")...not to mention the money-moving interests of the fossil fuel and automobile industries...:eff0541f4a:

On 5/10/2019 at 3:25 PM, Oliver Polden said:

I do think there is a problem with where they ride. I don't think it should be on the pavement because that's a danger to pedestrians. On the road or cycle lanes causes more issues for those users but maybe they (myself included) should get over it. If we were all on EUCs then the roads would be a much nicer place to be! Actually, saying that, when I'm cycling the worst thing I find is if someone is too slow, not too fast, everyone bunches up behind them and need to overtake.

I'd vote for bike lanes + road. But unfortunately, until there's a legally accepted definition of what an EUC actually is, we're going nowhere...

 

 

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I believe the EUC rider should ride both on the sidewalk and on the street.

Why do so many ride on the sidewalk? Because the cars go fast and it's dangerous to be there, while a collision with a pedestrian is preferred than being run over by a driver.

EUCs blend nicely with foot traffic because they are extremely narrow. I'd even guess that most wheels are alright on the sidewalk because I suspect most wheels are small wheels that don't go very fast.

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Guest PogArt Artur
On 12/24/2017 at 11:44 AM, LewisF said:

This is concerning and frustrating to hear. Penalties like this seem so heavy-handed and flawed - if it was a child or non-driver they couldn't be given points on their driving license!

My understanding is that it's not possible to insure an EUC in UK because they're not an approved/recognised road-worthy vehicle type (see here). That's quite an old article now though, does anyone know if things have changed?

If I could insure & tax my EUC I would do at the drop of a hat.

Hi @LewisF , there's post on General discussion regarding insurance in UK.

You might be interested to sign in.

By the way it's two of us in Bradford, me and @stephen from Queensburry, and we've arranged meeting with @Gasmantle last Friday, he's from Skipton area.

We're close enough to catch up together next time, if you interested.

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  • 2 years later...
35 minutes ago, Cee said:

Can you get insurance to ride a electric unicycle in the UK that will stop police from taking it? 

Does anyone know of insurance? 

EUC's are currently illegal to ride on public roads in the UK  so you can't get insurance for them yet. 

Edited by The Brahan Seer
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Speedy Feet mentioned in a recent video there were a number of UK EUC riders Ian was aware of that were stopped by the police and had their wheels taken and not returned. I suppose that's the risk of doing something illegal. If you are ignore great, but if the police decide to pay attention to you it can get expensive. 

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5 hours ago, VikB said:

Speedy Feet mentioned in a recent video there were a number of UK EUC riders Ian was aware of that were stopped by the police and had their wheels taken and not returned.

I'm surprised. Finally, it seems like he's coming round to actually admitting that EUC's are not in a 'grey area' like he has repeatedly said on previous videos..

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On 9/17/2021 at 2:29 PM, The Brahan Seer said:

EUC's are currently illegal to ride on public roads in the UK  so you can't get insurance for them yet. 

They are illegal because they're seen as a motor vehicle without insurance and you can't get insurance because they're seen as illegal. It's catch 22. It's the same thing with escooters and it's a ridiculous situation. I'd happily get insurance if it was available and it made me legal. We should have a central group that promotes how useful and economic these types of transport are.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sounds like the Police in the UK are on a mission.  It is so incredibly rare to see Police in Auckland except when they're rushing to a murder with their lights and sirens going.  I mean they must be out there but not where I tend to ride.  The couple of times I have seen them seemingly 'on patrol' and not blazing along at 100 km/h in a 50km area I've avoided eye contact and legged it (or more accurately wheeled it) just in case they get curious.

I make sure I don't carry any ID on me but do have a Roll.nz business card - if I were ever to be pulled over I'd tell them my name is Kevin Grimes and here's my card :-)

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