Who invented the electric kick scooter?

Lots of people! But the version closest to the scooters of today was invented by Arthur Gibson, an American.

In 1915, he invented the motorized Autoped, which sold up until 1922.

But did you know that kick scooters started out as toys?

They were invented for children of rich families and were made of wood, had 3 wheels and no brakes.

In the 1950s, scooters were given a pedal. Pressing on it made the back wheel go round. No need to kick anymore to move forward!

Grown-ups started using scooters as a means of transport.

But bikes and cars, much faster and more comfortable, made people forget scooters.

It wasn’t until the late 1990s that scooters came back into fashion.

They were lighter and less bulky, they could do fancy moves and weave in and out of pedestrians.

Today, scooter sales are rocketing, especially electric ones.

But with scooters, hover boards and gyro-wheels on sidewalks, it’s chaos, and there are more and more accidents!

These new types of transport may be handy for avoiding traffic jams and causing less pollution, but they travel at over 12 miles an hour.

To live together in harmony, we need to learn how to share public spaces.