City and Holbeck Trial Electric Scooter on the District's Roads
Monday, December 22, 2008
City and Holbeck Road Traffic Unit is trialling an electric scooter for responding to incidents within Leeds city centre.
PC Worsnop with the Electric Scooter - Click to view a larger image PC Worsnop with the Electric Scooter
The battery-operated Vectrix scooter has an engine as powerful as a 400cc motorbike and can reach a top speed of 65 mph, and has proved useful for officers weaving through congested traffic.
During the last 10 days the bike has been used to respond to over 50 incidents including thefts from person and theft from shop, theft from motor vehicle, and road traffic collisions, with a number of arrests made.
Officers using the bike have also issued more than 30 tickets to drivers for motoring offences where vehicles have caused obstructions, particularly to bus gates and box junctions, to ensure that traffic is kept flowing around the city centre.
The bike's response to road traffic collision has also led to gridlocked roads being quickly cleared.
The bike's battery allows it to travel a maximum range of 60 miles, and takes around four hours to fully recharge.
PC Chris Worsnop has used the bike throughout the trial period. He said: "We've enjoyed a really good response, particularly from bus drivers and Hackney carriage drivers, who say the bike has made a real difference when it comes to keeping the traffic flowing and make it easier to pass through the city centre.
"But it's been particularly useful when chasing down suspects, either to make an arrest or to pursue them until more officers arrived.
"We haven't had regular use of bikes in the city centre for a number of years, and it would be great to introduce a bike back on the beat in the near future."
A veritable accolade for the machine!