Spaces for People? Let's kick electric scooters off Edinburgh's pavements for a start – Susan Morrison

There are cones in Leith. They’ve been here for a while, cutting off random bits of Great Junction Street.

Susan is not a fan of electric scooters on the pavement after her ankle felt the brunt of one (Picture: Getty Images)

The cones are there to ensure that the pavements can have “room for people”. I may now walk on the road like a sort of one-woman protest march.

This is to ensure that strangers don’t infect each other as they pass. Now, I hate to sound like one of those “my sister's husband has a cousin who’s brother-in-law knows a man who’s met a scientist” sort of a person, but it's my understanding that the chances of catching Covid from walking past someone outside in the fresh air are fairly low.

Few people are taking advantage of the leave to walk on the road. Why would you? The pavement has become wider, but the road has become narrower, which has led to traffic snarl-ups. We also have the tram works to contend with.

One badly parked van and Great Junction Street is a slow-moving convoy of cars, buses and trucks, spewing exhaust gases into the air.

We’re wearing masks down here to keep the fumes out.

If you want to keep the air clean of virus and gas, can I suggest removing the cones, unleash an army of parking attendants and keep the traffic moving smoothly?

But even more crucially, can we all agree that things with wheels, unless they are attached to babies buggies or wheelchairs, stay on the road?

Let's start slapping fines that matter on rogue cyclists and now, joining them, the electric scooter. I don’t know if you’ve encountered this new menace to life and limb, but it's essentially that loved toy from your childhood, the wee one-foot scooter.

Now, following a make-over by Mad Max, adults are zooming about on these expensive toys, and can reach speeds of nearly 20 mph, as I discovered when one slammed into my ankle the other day.

If you want to make the pavement fit for pedestrians, make it safe for pedestrians. On wheels? Get on the road and show consideration for the folk on two feet.

On an electric scooter? Grow up.

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