Love them or hate them, a UK government decision on e-scooters is well overdue | Oliver Wainwright

Despite local trials being cut short for safety concerns, regulation has been kicked down the road

Like magic mushroom spores and vials of human growth hormone, e-scooters occupy a mysterious grey area in UK law, being legal to buy but illegal to use – in public, at least. So, unless you have an exceptionally long driveway, a home filled with palatial corridors or a private airfield, the chances are that if you own an e-scooter you are a criminal.

Yet sales of these illicit micromobility devices are booming. An estimated 1m private e-scooters are now in use on the country’s roads, zipping along bike lanes, weaving in and out of traffic and sometimes terrorising pedestrians on the pavement.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/1LJTcVB