Oxfordshire County Council proclaimed on Tuesday that ‘Residents and visitors to Oxford can benefit from a further expansion of the city’s e-scooter trial, which will now include a large area of the eastern and southern parts of the city.’ 

If this is, as they say, a trial, why do they pre-judge it by the use of the word ‘benefit’? 

I am an Oxford resident and regard e-scooters as a dangerous menace, likely to lead to increased pedestrian casualties and increased crime.

I do not wish to see them legalised on any street which I use, or in any park. 

READ MORE: Man FINED for using e-scooter on Oxford High Street

Councillor Tim Bearder, Cabinet Member for Highway Management at Oxfordshire County Council, asserted on the same day, without providing any objective evidence, that the ‘trial’ has been a ‘success’. 

Meanwhile Jack Samler, of the Voi scooter company, claims that scooter rides have replaced an estimated 8,950 short car trips. Where does he get this from?

Who will abandon a weatherproof car, with seatbelts, airbags, SIPs and ABS, for a metal plate balanced on two tiny wheels, open to wind and rain? 

These machines are actually replacing healthy walking and cycling with unhealthy, exercise-free rides. 

READ MORE: The rules on electric scooters in Oxford explained

They are no more green than Didcot Power Station, as their batteries are charged from the mains. 

What opportunities is the council giving to those who do not favour the legalisation of these unpleasant machines? Why has the ‘experiment’ not yet been inflicted on well-off North Oxford, full of influential people, or on the historic centre, but mainly on the poorer areas of the city? 

Have organisations for the blind or for the deaf been consulted? I sense a rush to judgement. Why?

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