GARDAÍ HAVE CONFIRMED that they plan on purchasing “a lot more” e-scooter and e-bike speed testing kits, which will be distributed to garda stations across the country.
Earlier this month, The Journal revealed the first look at the kits, bench-sized dynamometers (essentially treadmills) which can be used to measure the appropriate speed of electric bicycles and scooters.
The new devices were acquired by gardaí in recent months from the Netherlands, and members of the roads policing unit have started training on the machines this week.
According to Jane Humphries, chief superintendent of the roads policing bureau, gardaí are only the second national police force in the world to use the kits.
She explained yesterday that current use of the kits is a “proof of concept” – meaning that gardaí are testing the practical use of the dynamometers before a full nationwide rollout.
“One kit has gone to each of the regions across the country,” Humphries said.
Gardaí currently have four of the dynamometers – located across the North, South, East and Dublin Metropolitan administrative regions.
“We will hopefully buy a lot more of the kits,” Humphries added.
Dutch police using the kit to test an e-bike. Politie NL
Politie NL
Regulations allowing the use of e-scooters in public places came into effect last year and restricted the vehicles to a maximum speed of 20km per hour. They must also meet particular lighting and braking requirements.
For e-bikes, pedal-assisted electric bicycles, a maximum speed of 25km/h is allowed, and they must have a motor that cuts off once pedalling stops.
Under the new regulations, gardaí have the power to confiscate any device that is found to be too powerful.
The new laws also banned the use of the scooters by those under the age of 16, and banned them from having fixed seats on board.
It also prohibited the practice of two people riding on one scooter.
Humphries said that the kits will aid gardaí with prosecutions and court cases involving e-scooters.
“It is very difficult to prove speed, weight and size of an e-scooter, but this kit now gives us calibrated machines,” Humphries said.
“Hopefully we will get a few through to the courts so that we can also test them through the court process.”
Although an increasingly common mode of transport, the use of e-scooters was technically illegal until last year.
This legal anomaly meant the world’s biggest scooter-sharing firm, Lime, was prevented from launching in Ireland, The Journal revealed.
