Allowing e-scooters on footpaths

is apparently being considered by the state-government. Why? These things can go up to 25km an hour - or so I am told. Yes, they might put a speed limit of 10km an hour on them but there will always be riders ready to break the speed limit.

When I returned to this state it was not legal for anyone over the age of twelve to ride a bicycle on the footpath. The only wheeled form of transport anyone over twelve could use was a wheelchair.  

I had come from the wildly civilised (at least in that sense) environment of our nation's capital where it was legal to ride on footpaths - but not within ten metres of an open shop. Going back on the roads was not something I enjoyed but I did it until the day I was stopped by a couple of the local members of the police force. I had been pedalling as close to the curb and as fast as I could down one of the major roads because I had no choice.

I was not close enough or fast enough for the police. "Get on the footpath,"they told me.

"But I'd be breaking the law."

"We would rather you broke the law," they told me. They agreed I had been doing what I was supposed to be doing but they also thought it was not safe for me. I was only too happy to have them put me safely on the footpath. I was given a reference number and told to quote it if I was stopped again and told to get off the footpath. I pedalled happily. After that I even had police lift me and my tricycle over a major obstacle one day. They once moved their mobile radar gear (before it got very high tech) and sent a message to the other end, "Look out, tricycle coming through." 

And they changed the law. I like to think it was because I wrote a letter or two about the need to do it.

But there are certain rules I made for myself before the law changed - and which I have kept to this day. The first is that, if I am on the footpath, I go now faster than what would be a brisk walking speed for other people. The second is that I do not ring my bell and expect people to move over. I wait for them to become aware of me and only pass them when it is safe to do so. The third is that I give away to pedestrians first. There are occasions when they will stop and stand back and wave me through but it is first and foremost a footpath for pedestrians. They have right of way.

More than once people have said, "You should have rung your bell" or "You could have zipped past me" or something similar. No. I have missed trains because I refuse to do that. I do not want to be responsible for someone else getting injured. I am always conscious it could happen but if I am doing the right thing then it is much less likely.

I do not know that a person riding an e-scooter at even 10kmh will be able to be as careful as that. It is faster than a brisk walking speed. There will be accidents. People will get hurt.

And there is always the question...why are people in such a hurry all the time?