Hard won easy lost.
Why the Government allowed a bike with a motor on to escape the Road Traffic Act.
Answer:
Government had decided that Cycling was a healthy pursuit with knock-on benefits to the Health Service and so were keen to promote it. They would support the opening up for cycling purposes disused railway lines, canal footpaths, bridleways and anywhere else that cycling could take place. They would get Councils to mark out Cycle Lanes on roadsides and do anything they could to promote cycling for Social and Domestic pleasure but there was a problem when it came to luring the great British Public to take up cycling and that was ‘hills’. They decided that the only way to lure people into returning to cycling or indeed to take it up would be to allow some form of auxiliary power system to be added to the bike but this act in itself paused a big problem and that would be how to isolate such a machine from the demands of the Road Traffic Act which covered motor powered vehicles on Public Roads.
There had to be a get around.
The answer was in the way a bicycle or tricycle was defined. The definition had to be in such a way that a play on the words of that definition for a bicycle would isolate a powered version a ‘Pedelec’ from having to adhere to the requirements of the Road Traffic Act. This is how I would do it. I would define a Bicycle as being a relatively low powered two wheeled Personal Transport machine. (Three wheels for a Tricycle) Discreet in build and relatively silent in operation. Forward movement being as a result of the turning of the Crank Arms and Pedals. And that is it. No mention has to be made of a rider because a rider is not necessary in defining what is or is not a bike.
It can be argued that a rider less bike can go nowhere and that to be a bike in the true sense it must have a rider. If that is so then a ‘Pedelec’ cycle which also relies on a rider for its operation must also be a bike and is therefore eliminated from having to conform with Road Traffic Act regulations. Other vehicles which may look superficially like a
‘Pedlec’ but can operate without the need for a rider to turn the Crank Arms and Pedals cannot be classified as being a Bicycle under the above definition which would be the one that the Law would use in Court. They would be defined as being hybrid Motor Vehicles and as such would have to adhere to the conditions of the terms of the Act.
Please read Pedelecs - Home Page – Legal- Dft Factsheet.
So tread carefully my friends. Throttles for now are out but I believe they won’t always be for I can foresee a time when revenue from current motor vehicles is not up to the level that government requires and then some other form of revenue stream will have to be implemented. At that time I can see Government promoting ebikes for other that Social and Domestic pleasure and allowing unregistered quite powerful ebikes with throttles to use the road network. Indeed they might even give you one which would be registered to you for a small fee. Micro Transmitters in the bike would trigger sensors at the roadside and once or twice a year you would get a bill for mileage while riding it.
That’s all I have to say apart from Happy New Year and happy riding
Yours sincerely
Linfitter.
Why the Government allowed a bike with a motor on to escape the Road Traffic Act.
Answer:
Government had decided that Cycling was a healthy pursuit with knock-on benefits to the Health Service and so were keen to promote it. They would support the opening up for cycling purposes disused railway lines, canal footpaths, bridleways and anywhere else that cycling could take place. They would get Councils to mark out Cycle Lanes on roadsides and do anything they could to promote cycling for Social and Domestic pleasure but there was a problem when it came to luring the great British Public to take up cycling and that was ‘hills’. They decided that the only way to lure people into returning to cycling or indeed to take it up would be to allow some form of auxiliary power system to be added to the bike but this act in itself paused a big problem and that would be how to isolate such a machine from the demands of the Road Traffic Act which covered motor powered vehicles on Public Roads.
There had to be a get around.
The answer was in the way a bicycle or tricycle was defined. The definition had to be in such a way that a play on the words of that definition for a bicycle would isolate a powered version a ‘Pedelec’ from having to adhere to the requirements of the Road Traffic Act. This is how I would do it. I would define a Bicycle as being a relatively low powered two wheeled Personal Transport machine. (Three wheels for a Tricycle) Discreet in build and relatively silent in operation. Forward movement being as a result of the turning of the Crank Arms and Pedals. And that is it. No mention has to be made of a rider because a rider is not necessary in defining what is or is not a bike.
It can be argued that a rider less bike can go nowhere and that to be a bike in the true sense it must have a rider. If that is so then a ‘Pedelec’ cycle which also relies on a rider for its operation must also be a bike and is therefore eliminated from having to conform with Road Traffic Act regulations. Other vehicles which may look superficially like a
‘Pedlec’ but can operate without the need for a rider to turn the Crank Arms and Pedals cannot be classified as being a Bicycle under the above definition which would be the one that the Law would use in Court. They would be defined as being hybrid Motor Vehicles and as such would have to adhere to the conditions of the terms of the Act.
Please read Pedelecs - Home Page – Legal- Dft Factsheet.
So tread carefully my friends. Throttles for now are out but I believe they won’t always be for I can foresee a time when revenue from current motor vehicles is not up to the level that government requires and then some other form of revenue stream will have to be implemented. At that time I can see Government promoting ebikes for other that Social and Domestic pleasure and allowing unregistered quite powerful ebikes with throttles to use the road network. Indeed they might even give you one which would be registered to you for a small fee. Micro Transmitters in the bike would trigger sensors at the roadside and once or twice a year you would get a bill for mileage while riding it.
That’s all I have to say apart from Happy New Year and happy riding
Yours sincerely
Linfitter.
