I’m going to sound like an old person but: What was a 10 year old doing on their own in central London (let alone how did a 10 year old manage to steal an ebike)?
Well the streets are pretty safe!
The “how did they steal it” is probably by copying someone they saw. There’s enough hire bikes being ridden around with the locks clicking away or alarms beeping after being forced that it’s probably not much of a secret any more.
If someone hit me with their car I wouldn’t go to BMW for compensation.
I think the argument here is out of negligence on Lime’s part as they aren’t the manufacturer, they rent these to people. Like why does the bike even work if not part of an ‘active ride’? Surely it should be locked down and the electric motor shouldn’t work, making sure that you can be more certain that you always have the details of the renter for insurance reasons exactly for this kind of incident.
There are a lot of things that I think need more regulation for these things, I nearly had somebody hit me the other day on a pedestrian crossing and had similar situations with hired electric scooters in the past. Things like:
- powered riding should not be possible if the renter (having provided ID etc.) is not present - some kind of phone proximity or re-verification after a period of inactivity
- the excessive weight and speed of these bikes is really dangerous given how often they are used by inexperienced riders who ride on the pavement with pedestrians and not on the roads. Being hit by an idiot on a rented pedal bike is one thing, this is quite another thing
- a speed/power limit is already activated in certain areas, they should also detect (by front facing camera or something) if the bike is being ridden off the road, to reduce the impact of collisions
I can’t blame her for trying to go after Lime, what else is she meant to do seeing as the kid disappeared? She suffered really quite awful injuries. Had Lime had mechanisms in place to prevent unauthorised riders or limit speed and power then this wouldnt have happened. Yes we can blame lack of regulation but I don’t think that should absolve them of their responsibilities.
That all sounds like theft protection kinda stuff. If lime doesn’t want to protect their stuff who are we to care?
You can also just buy an ebike and use it just the same so why would restrictive regulation on lime make a difference there?
If someone steals your car and wipes out a family, you are not guilty of murder.
I don’t really agree - theft prevention is one thing but I’d argue that if they have permission to rent their bikes out in unmanned public space locations then they have a duty of care to the population of that area to make sure their bikes are not mis-used.
Your point about personal e-bikes isn’t really directly equivalent simply because of the additional expense involved - if you send a lot of money on one then you are less likely to be quite so irresponsible. The financial punishment for misuing a Lime bike is negligible.
Honestly I want to see significantly more regulation surrounding these things in general. They are becoming a real issue.
Haven’t really seen any problems from ebikes tbh. They seem great as an option for elderly or disabled people to get around, especially the 3 wheeled ones. Not so fond of the unregistered electric motorcycles going down the bike path though.
Thats more what i mean, even the lime ones are absurdly fast, not like a lightly assisted e-bike. And the electric motorbikes are being ridden where pedestrians walk, often incredibly dangerously
I highly doubt the lime ones are. The speed limit does only apply to motor assist though, if you can pedal hard enough you can go as fast as you like.
Especially on short bursts you can easily cycle over 20mph, probably 30. With a long hill helping you could even exceed 40.
When theres bills to pay and everybody says no, you have to try every angle.
I don’t really see how it’s Lime’s fault that someone rode their bike into someone else. It didn’t malfunction from the sound of it.
Some compensation from the mother + child would be good, but I don’t know how much money they could even reasonably give.
More bikes in cities is usually better, but it does come with some risks of you’re acting like a moron. Less than cars but still.
I can see the argument.
I am a Swede, and will make a comparison to Swedish law, I don’t know if this law is the same in the UK butnit makes sense.
Here you have a legal requirement to make sure that no unauthorized person is able to drive your car, leaving the keys in the car and walking away is illegal.
I can see the argument that Lime failed to secure their scooters against use by unauthorized use well enough.
These are pedal bikes no? We have no license needed for those or restrictrions on who can use them that I’m aware of.
I thought they were ebikes…
Looks like you’re right, though I’m not sure if they are peddle-assist or not. Never used one myself.
Neither need a license as far as I know (correct me if I’m wrong).
