hoover boards on cycle paths

JosDel

Two in front of me this morning..

If it got out of hand it could create some safety problems..

rollingscone

JosDel wrote: »

Two in front of me this morning..

If it got out of hand it could create some safety problems..

Give it six months before they spontaneously combust

_Brian

rollingscone wrote: »

Give it six months before they spontaneously combust

I'd agree.
They will either stop working or the battery will stop holding much charge. Either way they will be nothing but a passing fad and be gone within a year.

JBokeh

So long as they pick up their front teeth after themselves I'm not overly concerned by them. I should have become a dentist,they'll be making a fortune from all the face plants off them. Aren't they Illegal here anyway? I can see them all being banjaxed by mid Jan anyway

chocksaway

At least someone is using the cycle path

Gaygooner

Beats their vacuum cleaners!

endacl

May be a good thing. Most cycle paths could do with a regular hoovering...

gctest50

_Brian wrote: »

I'd agree.
They will either stop working or the battery will stop holding much charge. Either way they will be nothing but a passing fad and be gone within a year.

"obsolete" already, these are much better :

jimmynokia

rollingscone wrote: »

Give it six months before they spontaneously combust

Or banned..

Thargor

I cant believe the batteries and motors are holding up so well in them, kind of excited to think what electric options will be available to us in 5-10 years. Ill still be pedalling for fitness and convenience but seeing things like Hoverboards actually working is interesting.

JustTheOne

Are they not banned?

jimmynokia

JustTheOne wrote: »

Are they not banned?

Not Yet but they probably will be... Wait till something serious happens first you know how it is here.

mrcheez

jimmynokia wrote: »

Not Yet but they probably will be... Wait till something serious happens first you know how it is here.

Even if they are, there will hardly be any enforcement by the law confiscating them unless they are used on busy pedestrian paths or on streets.

They will be classed as illegal in the same way going through a red light is illegal: the Gardai are unlikely to chase after you, but might just pull you over if you are passing by.

So expect to see these for a while yet.

(incidentally I'm considering getting one to use on quiet stretches of path - not cycle lanes - but that one-wheel version looks pretty excellent. Probably better for use on a beach too.)

ThisRegard

jimmynokia wrote: »

Not Yet but they probably will be... Wait till something serious happens first you know how it is here.

They actually are banned in public places a while now.

smacl

jimmynokia wrote: »

Or banned..

I see people taking long boards down the featherbeds often enough, getting some serous speed up on roads shared with cars on a mode of transport with no brakes. Whatever about bans, the Darwin awards remain hotly contested

JustTheOne

Thought I read last week loads were seized cause illegal.

ThisRegard

JustTheOne wrote: »

Thought I read last week loads were seized cause illegal.

I think that was over safety concerns regarding spontaneous combustion as opposed to illegal to use.

JBokeh

smacl wrote: »

I see people taking long boards down the featherbeds often enough, getting some serous speed up on roads shared with cars on a mode of transport with no brakes. Whatever about bans, the Darwin awards remain hotly contested

I used to do a bit of that, mainly down the hill to the family house, then I'd hold onto the brothers jeep along the flat bit, basically our own road anyway so no fear of meeting cars. It has been at least 6 or 7 years since we did it last and the mothers blood pressure still shot up when we mentioned it at christmas I tried it coming down the Vee once too, that wasn't my finest moment. However they can be stopped in around the same distance as a road bike once you're actually going fast enough to whip it sideways in the first place. Wouldn't dream of going down a hill like that one on, the surface is in bits and it is miles too busy

Raam

Jesus Christ, the future really is now.
Best. Complaint. Evar.

bazermc

Those things require road tax?

crosstownk

Another reason to cycle on the road.......

roverrules

bazermc wrote: »

Those things require road tax?

No such thing as road tax.

bazermc

roverrules wrote: »

No such thing as road tax.

Touché

Orion

JustTheOne wrote: »

Are they not banned?

Not banned. They were never legal.

Carawaystick

Everything is legal unless there's a law against it.

I presume motorised vehicles need third party insurance and the mibi would be the people involved in any uninsured collisions. You need to call the cops in any accident so.

roverrules

Legal or illegal, grey area, according to wiki,

Ireland: Segways are permitted in most public places. A Segway tour of the Phoenix Park is available. They are permitted in certain areas on bicycle paths around Dublin and Cork. The Airport Police Service stationed at Dublin Airport use the Segway i2 police patroller model. In 2011, a private tour operator started a City of Dublin Segway Tour. In October 2012 the Garda Siochana began using two examples in the Grafton Street area, funded by the Dublin Business Community.

I suspect that segways are the closest analogy to hoverboards, so if wiki are correct then they aren't illegal.

traprunner

I'd rate rollerbladers higher up the problem list for cycle paths especially along Clontarf. They can't keep any sort of straight line to be able to judge when to pass.

Still. These fake hover boards should be on the footpath and not the cycle lanes.

beauf

Carawaystick wrote: »

Everything is legal unless there's a law against it.

I presume motorised vehicles need third party insurance and the mibi would be the people involved in any uninsured collisions. You need to call the cops in any accident so.

Electric bikes under certain power don't

Orion

Carawaystick wrote: »

Everything is legal unless there's a law against it.

I presume motorised vehicles need third party insurance and the mibi would be the people involved in any uninsured collisions. You need to call the cops in any accident so.

Well the police came out a few weeks ago and said they were illegal to use on footpaths and on roads so i think that covers this quite well.

easygoing39

And who will issue tickets to users??? The guards are too overworked as it is.

Usernemises

It's generally just kids that have them is it not?

Orion

Usernemises wrote: »

It's generally just kids that have them is it not?

I've seen adults using them around dublin city too.

Usernemises

Orion wrote: »

I've seen adults using them around dublin city too.

I have only ever seen a couple of kids on them, if that's the case that adults are on them then some form of regulation is definitely required. In my experience adults are more of a liability than kids regarding these sort of things.

looksee

What is the reasoning behind the view that 'hoverboards', as wheeled vehicles, should be used on a footpath rather than a cycle path? (assuming that they are legal in the first place).

HivemindXX

looksee wrote: »

What is the reasoning behind the view that 'hoverboards', as wheeled vehicles, should be used on a footpath rather than a cycle path? (assuming that they are legal in the first place).

Well, cycle paths aren't for "wheeled vehicles", they are for bicycles (and parking, and passing on the inside and...well let's not go there). So I guess the reasoning is that if these things are either not really a vehicle at all they belong on the footpath, or if they are a vehicle they belong on the roadway.

At the moment it seems like they reside within the sort of grey area that lets their users do whatever suits them at the time. The two people I regularly see on the canal with them are always on the footpath.

Daroxtar

mrcheez

or "Self-balancing boards" as most people call them, the hoverboard name seems to have emerged in the last 2 months and gone mainstream.

ThisRegard

Orion wrote: »

Well the police came out a few weeks ago and said they were illegal to use on footpaths and on roads so i think that covers this quite well.

It was the department of transport I think that clarified it.