Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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I am into cars and I am into bikes. What scares me is that I saw a video clip recently of an electric scooter being used on the M50. It was doing 60 km/h in the middle lane in traffic. The rider was keeping up with the traffic in the middle lane. Scooters are ideal transport in and around the cities and towns to allow people to do what they have to do. The heavier they are, the faster they are going because they then turn from being scooters into motorbikes. The person riding the scooter is balancing on top. The bigger they get, the more horsepower they will need to fit in with the wider tyres being used. With increased horsepower, they will go faster. From the point of view of making scooters lighter, their value is being lowered because they cannot exceed a certain speed. The larger the scooter, the greater the increase in speed. What if somebody gets hit by one of these or a person falls off? If we lessen the weight of a scooter, we are also lessening the horsepower involved, which would be a good thing. If we lessen the weight, they cannot put out the power and they cannot be driven at speed.

I would like to see the recommendations that come back from the Minister for Transport on the matter. As they are getting bigger, these scooters are becoming more dangerous. When the riders realise they have so much power at their disposal, they are going onto main roads and motorways. They are exceeding the speed limit of about 50 km/h on the motorways. A bicycle cannot go on a motorway. Can a scooter with a high-horsepower motor go on a motorway if it exceeds the 50 km/h rule? It is the same as a tractor. A tractor can go on a motorway if it can exceed 50 km/h, and once it does not come below that speed. If these scooters get bigger, they will start doing this and their riders will put themselves and the people around them in danger. It is warranted to have lighter scooters because then they are not as powerful. This means that they will do what they are supposed to, which is take people from A to B safely. Bicycles are made lighter in order that the rider, in addition to his or her own weight, is not peddling a big lump of steel along the road. There is a reason scooters are lighter; it is because we do not want them to be any faster.