Electric mopeds and cycle paths

Nearly got taken out by an old duffer on what was basically an electric moped. It looked just like a moped. It had pedals but he wasn’t using them at all. It had a mount for a number plate but didn’t have one. It was relatively fast (for a cycle path) but he was wobbling around and veering from side to side between the footpath and verge on a segregated path.

Are these really allowed on the cycle path because he was an accident waiting to happen?

Mind you on the road he would be even more dangerous so maybe the question should be whether Octogenarians should be allowed out on badly manufactured Chinese death traps?

Report him to the Daily Mail

I think we’ll see a lot more of this and a lot more problems.

They are classed as a bicycle as long as power output of the motor is under 200w (reasonably fit cyclist sort of power) and cannot assist at over 15mph

Just wait for the strava outrage to begin….

You are right ninfan.

In my native Netherlands they are actually permitted on many mandatory cyclepaths, but not here in the UK! I think mopeds with under 200w are quite unusual, with most ‘small mopeds’ exceeding this output, and thus being illegal on cyclepaths. In the UK, the police do nto seem to care much about them, but you are right to say they are a big problem. They often attract troublemaking chavs with no respect for other people or roadusers. I saw one in Bristol recently hit an old lady on her shopper bike, knocking her off with a minor injury. (The moped got away).

GBR.