I once thought I would write here about my love of cycling, but other topics always won. Today it is about the bike.

Heading out on a Sunday ride from Lisbon toward Sacavem, I planned to do very little, just 30–40 kilometers. The route was familiar: a bit of road, a bit of bike path, and that was it. Reaching the Vasco da Gama bridge, I turned around and started back. Bike path, a few delivery riders, nothing that looked like trouble.

Seeing Portuguese kids on e-scooters coming toward me, I slowed down a bit, but stayed calm. The bike path is wide, and they were on the opposite side. But as we were about to pass each other, one of them suddenly swerved right under my front wheel without even braking, jumped off the scooter, and just threw it under me. With no way or time to react, I rode straight over that scooter.

From the impact my cycling shoes unclipped from the pedals, and I flew onto the asphalt, sliding on my knee and arm for about a meter. I am very grateful to the Portuguese family who ran over immediately, asked if I was OK, and gave me water to wash the dirt and sand out of the wounds. It was a very humane moment.

Result for me: an arm scraped to mince, the same for my knee, and a bruised shoulder.

Result for the bike: a blown tire, a cracked rim, what looks like a cracked rear stay on the carbon frame, a handlebar twisted to the side, and I am not sure, but it looks like this might be the end for the bike that has gone a long way with me.

Now to the main point: why the hell are kids riding these e-scooters everywhere in every country? Why the hell are these shared e-scooters still not banned?

Of course private electric scooters are not the real problem; I do not think they should be banned. But shared fleets…

First, streets are full of these scooters waiting for the next kids in the most unexpected places, and they take up a lot of space, especially on narrow streets in cities like Lisbon.

Second, people often leave them in the middle of sidewalks, in the road, or even on the bottom of the Tagus River (I have seen it myself).

Third, rental companies absolutely do not care that not only kids, but any so-called ‘adults’ on these scooters are a real danger to pedestrians and cyclists, and to themselves as well. How many more knocked-down pedestrians, injured ‘racers’ on scooters, and wrecked cyclists with broken bikes do we need before someone finally takes responsibility for this urban chaos?

Stop electric scooters!