Why e-bikes and e-scooters are making the streets a ‘nightmare’ for blind people
According to a new report, electric bicycles and scooters cause fear and anxiety for blind and partially -minded people.
The increasing use of e-bikes and e-SCOOTS makes the streets with blind and partially seen for people or when they parked on the sidewalks.
The Royal National Blind Institute (RNIB) is sure of only one (9 percent) blind people who are sure that the Royal National Blind People Institute walked in their neighborhoods thanks to the use of micromobil transportation.
The majority of people who participated in the survey for the report (92 percent), who were blind or partially seen, said that they should walk on the roads because parked cars, bicycles or e-SCOOTERS were blocked.
More than one -third of the participants (34 percent) said that they have collided with a street obstacle in the last three months.
One person has now announced how they have to trust a cane because the guide dogs withdrew back after being stressful, trying to walk along the blocked sidewalks.
Many cities introduced the dock rental plans for electric bicycles and scooters.
Users are asked to park vehicles in a way that does not disturb other people, but this does not always happen, bicycles and scooters are usually spread to the sidewalks.
Erik Matthies, a policy of travel and transportation of RNIB, said that blind and partial pedestrians and wheelchair users to act independently due to “more obstacles in the streets”, he said.
He continued: “I have to check twice or think about how to walk.
“This tiring takes more time and makes me feel insecure.
“The remaining e-SCOOTERS on the sidewalks and the bikes-free bikes contributed to the problems related to the spread of cars and advertising boards parked on the sidewalks.”
He added that knowing that an e-bike or e-SCOOTER is about to pass you at “speed”, causing “mental health problems için for some people.
RNIB invites the government to create “inclusive standards for the pavements that can be applied firmly” and invites local authorities to maintain access to pavements during road works, better monitoring of food distribution courier cyclists and improved arrangement of rental e-SCOOTER and E-Bicycle schemes.
An Ministry of Transport (DFT) spokesperson said: “Security is our priority and private e-SCOOTERS remain illegal on public roads.
“With any trial plan, we have clear that local authorities should ensure that e-SCOOTERS should not prevent others, especially disabled people.
“In order to compress careless parking, we bring new powers to organize e-SCOOTERS and e-bikes, while allowing local areas to better meet the needs of schemes, we are struggling with bad parked loops that are destructive for many road users.”
Tom Hunt, who chaired the inclusive growth committee of the Local Government Association, said, “Councils, roads and pavements can be very serious for everyone.
“The inclusion of more advanced regulatory powers in the Revolutionary Law for local authorities to manage shared e-SCOOTER and E-Bicycle schemes will help to combat the thoughtless parking space of such vehicles.
“The government must act on the use of an estimated e-SCOOTER with an estimated one million private property, which is illegal to use in our public roads and deprives of any security restrictions of e-SCOOTER RENTAL programs.
The latest DFT figures show that 52 pm were seriously injured in collisions with the E-SCOOTERS in the UK in 2023.
Although private E-SCOOTERs are a common landscape in many urban areas, they cannot be legally used in the public areas in the UK.
Since July 2020, the legal essays of rental e-SCOOTERS on roads in towns and cities in the UK are continuing.
