Campaigners from nine organisations have joined forces to urge the UK Government to bring forward legislation that would create a new powered light vehicle class.
The letter calls for e-scooters to be legalised so that, whether rented in shared use schemes or privately owned, the vehicles are subject to high safety standards.
The organisations are shared transport charity Collaborative Mobility UK (CoMoUK), the Centre for London think-tank, retailer Pure Electric, manufacturer Taur, WMG at the University of Warwick, research technology firm Cenex, campaigning climate change charity Possible, the Major Trauma Group of trauma victims and the London Cycling Campaign.
In the letter they said that although the UK’s e-scooter trials have been “highly popular”, there must be a change in the law to define e-scooters.
The campaigners point out that the UK is the only developed nation without legislation or a plan for it, and explain how new regulations would help to grow “clean jobs”.
Richard Dilks, Chief Executive of CoMoUK, told Zag Daily: “We are seeing growth across the board for shared transport options, which means lower carbon emissions and more accessible journey options for people, and this includes the shared e-scooter trial schemes.” By not legalising e-scooters, Mr. Dilks said that we are missing a decarbonising and high economic growth sector as a country, while also closing ourselves off to other future innovation areas around powered light vehicles.
Further to this, the campaigners stress that a change in status would help reduce emissions, cut congestion, improve air quality and repurpose street space away from cars.
