Illustration by John Sadler www.johnsadlerillustration.com

• E-SCOOTERS have arrived quickly. Plainly the police have no coherent response.

The benefits have been much spoken of, the drawbacks rather less so. They can travel much faster than even a fit cyclist, easily able to hit 25mph, some even faster.

Talk of limiting speed is absolute nonsense. They can be easily modified after-market, and only a technical examination could determine whether or not that had been done.

They are completely silent. Most do not have bells. They will come out of nowhere, at speed.

Most are made in China at a time when we should really be reconsidering buying Chinese products.

They are heavy, because of their batteries. Easy to steal. And often don’t have lights, so commuters will have to install them. Except many won’t, as we have already seen with cyclists.

And thieves will have a field day in Camden with these – much less trouble than mopeds.

Furthermore they can be thrown over your shoulder in order to scale a fence or a wall. The police will not know what hit them.

Our road system is not ready for them. Those tiny wheels hit a Camden pothole and you are an absolute goner, diving headfirst into moving traffic. We already have some problems accommodating bicycles. And now thousands of illegal e-scooters?

They are already all over pavements and in our parks. Legislating for them and policing will be a nightmare.

Registration? How will that work? Nobody knows. Insurance? The same. Helmets compulsory? Age restrictions?

Thousands of people on our roads, paths and in our parks without having taken a test, without insurance, travelling, potentially at speeds a serious cyclist could only maintain for a minute or two.

The law will look ridiculous as it always does when it is not enforced; but is the alternative really only to accept their arrival as a fait accompli?

Because if that is truly the case, and increasingly it looks as though it is, then the streets of London will turn into the Wild West.

There is a place for these devices, but we are nowhere near ready for them. Nowhere near.

T KYLE,
NW3