Disabled bike rider

[hallii]

I have been reading up on past posts and have done a bit of research elsewhere.

From this I deduce that an e-bike cannot be a disabled scooter or whatever you want to call them, i.e. a "Type 2 or 3" mobility vehicle.

There are various regs to comply with like 4mph or 8mph, lights horn and so on.

But there is, so far as I can see, no requirement to have any set number of wheels?

Bear with me I am getting there!

So, if an e-bike was fitted with lights and a horn, and restricted to 4 mph could it be legally ridden on the pavement etc.?

Locally there are "scooters" of 3 and four wheel type that go along the pedestrianised High St at around 10 mph, but if my wife (OK and me ), who is unable to walk far, rides her ebike down the High St she is told to get off and walk by the local CSO.

Now, if she was the holder of a Blue Badge and riding one of the GT Turbo scooters that would be OK. She cannot get a Blue Badge despite not being able to walk far, as they are not issued to anyone who cannot walk and has not been able to for some 2 years, as she is waiting for a hip op.

We will continue to ride down the High St, and I have invited the CSO to charge us with something, but so far she has declined.

Any thoughts?

Geoff

 

[Cyclezee]

Hi Geoff,

The first thing that strikes me is that riding and manoeuvring a two wheeled bike on a pavement along with pedestrians at only 4mph could be quite tricky unless you have good sense of balance.

 

[flecc]

I'd say no, for with pedals it is still a bicycle. The pedals are still a power source which can propel the bike well beyond both the 4 and 8 mph legal limits. Once something is classified and specified in law, I don't think you can convince the authorities to treat it as having any other classification.

If you took a small wheel bike and equipped it with a powerful hub motor designed for legality in large 28" wheels, that would already reduce the maximum speed greatly and give good climb torque, then removed the cyclist transmission completely, that might qualify. However, I think you are wanting to create something that retains cycling ability, but as said, I doubt that's possible.

Remember also that the Segway two wheeler already exists and that is banned from pavement and road use in the UK, so the prospects for legality are slim even without pedals.
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