The scooters' issue

I read with interest George Debono's article on resolving the e-scooter and e-bike issue. However, I would like to make the following points. E-scooters, e-bikes and bicycles belong on the public highway, not on the pavements or promenades, and rightly so. To cast them (and bicycles) to the wayside, the pavement, is to hold them in regard as a non-road user, with all the disrespect that follows.

The issue is one of education, not just of two-wheeled users, but the public. Additionally, most roads alongside promenades are wide enough to take a cycle path anyway. Let's not forget that a cycle path is there as a safe direct route for cyclists, not a method of containment. Lest we be hit by a bout of local council cyclopathitis!

Most EU countries have cycling lobbies, motorcycle training and cycle paths, yet little is done here in Malta except one token annual car-free day. Big deal.

Motorcycle parking bays are pitiful when available and conspicuous by their absence elsewhere. What makes you think e-bay's will spring up all over the island? The problem here is that the car is king! Few commuters want to leave the perceived safety of their cars and see these as a status symbol, so I doubt if we will see a surge of e-commuters. I also doubt whether our generating system could cope with thousands of overnight charging e-vehicles competing with thousands of existing air-conditioners!

I value the training schemes I attended in the UK as a teenager and the simple roadcraft this instils. True, two-wheeled e-vehicles could enhance this in even younger road users, but only if the training is there. As a qualified youth worker I would be delighted to be involved in such a scheme if it were ever launched in Malta. However, the crux of the matter are the costs involved. So we ban the scooters, simply because we are incapable and irresponsible enough as a society to concede that the onus of responsibility towards training and passive roadcraft is our own?

As a year-round motorcyclist myself, I also commute 10 kilometres to work once or twice a week via mountain bike. I sympathise with the e-commuters who complained. But there are a few cycle and bike commuters who by their example reduce traffic and the volume of larger engined car pollution. However, these are few and far between. Yet Sicily is a veritable two-wheeled paradise, so a two-wheeled society can be achieved.

Oh, by the way, if any local council wants to set up a cycle path for commuter cyclists, please, oh please, take a good hard look at your one-way systems. Many circumnavigate the village core and tend to make cycle journeys over-long, particularly if the cyclist needs to travel in the opposite direction, a point worth remembering for e-vehicles with short ranges. Let us have some true cycle paths into and out of the village cores.