Rules VS. Reality - Can you survive riding EUC in Poland?

Hey there!
I've been riding EUC in Poland for quite a while, so here you can see how different the rules are from reality. Since I've been riding in other countries as well, Poland seems like its one of the more dangerous ones, due to the extreme speeding of the cars.
But even though it sounds quite negative, riding PEVs in Poland can have its upsides!
Hey, do you know that there is even more Monocat content out there?
If you're interested, check out my instagram @monocat.kate

[@TheDownloader86]

I visited Poland many times as a driver. Nobody gives a shit about speed limits, people parking anywhere and I have to say that I really enjoyed my time in Poland, finally coutry where people drives like me :).

[@davidhumphries6371]

There’s a lot of grey areas regarding the law on PEVs in most countries. I go with the belief that it’s easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission

[@NemoEUC]

It's the wild west here in cali. I wish i lived in an area with streets as clean as poland

[@NemoEUC]

@Cynthia May yeah like hunger games on wheels 🙈

[@geordynut]

Hoping to get out there paragliding assuming it’s Cali Columbia

[@CristianCocheci]

Nice filming Adam ... ;-)

[@ek-nz]

Nice to see lots of inline skating in Warsaw. It looks like a nice city.

[@jamesm217]

you're almost at 1K subs, go monocat!!

[@yanickgenest1324]

I see 1.05 k now ! She did it ! :)

[@jamesm217]

@@yanickgenest1324 nice!!!

[@SourSavage777]

Love the content! Awesome work can't wait to get my first euc

[@idowheelie8598]

Seems to be less about the laws right now and more about the leniency of local law enforcement.

[@Intertracer]

Riding around Katowice and it's a bliss. Lots of bike lanes and there's always a forest trail to get away from the cars and a terricone to practice on slopes.

[@DardanAirlines]

Love the level of detail in your videos! Hope to one day see Europe from the perspective of a PEV.

[@AndreiPetunin]

Time to move to Poland? Riding in london is a total nightmare in comparison.

[@techaficionado38]

Thank you for explaining thoroughly on the situation there. I love the flow of traffic in Poland. Not very congested. In the Philippines traffic is everywhere but the authorities are also lenient here regarding PEVS.

[@rhalfik]

Wait for rush hours. The city planning has screwed up two zones which are piling everyday. One is so chaotic that people called it Mordor.

[@Hhh-j8o]

Poland has actually infrastructure. It's slightly harder in Australia where everything is almost more car oriented than the USA.

[@Rydbjerg]

I was once stopped on a bicycle by two officers in Wroclaw because I had my phone in my hand. I made an apology and told them I wasn't aware of the Polish rules so they let me go with a warning. :D It took me some time to get used to the fact that driving a bicycle on the sidewalk in Wroclaw was quite normal. Nobody was cycling on the road.

[@onevision2203]

it is cuz we are somehow afraid to ride on the road with those crazies x]

[@vidgre]

Poland is my dream EUC destination :D

[@tooxel]

Nice video! Here in France the law says that the engin should be limited to 25km/h. We are obliged to go on bike lanes when they exist, otherwise, in urban areas, we can use streets having a speed limit of 50km/h or lower. But in reality all depends on the city / area you live in. I often go over 25km/h in Rennes for example, and use smaller low traffic roads to hop from village to village even if they have a speed limit of >50km/h.

[@rhalfik]

Doesn't make sense to me. 50km/h is a good limit I think, but going at 25 when cars go 50 is dangerous. It's better to let people go at the speed of cars. But then you shouldn't be forced to go on a cycle path at 25 km/h if you can easily go at 50 on the street.

[@erictofsrud7932]

Well done video Kate, with excellent narration!!

[@MichaelRada-INDUSTRY50]

Great explanation. Thank you. Very similar to Czech with one exception which is PRAGUE, where generally due to bad experience with SEGWAY TOURIST TOURS, almost all devices including EUC are prohibited in major part of the city, including the city center

[@jack50000d]

You lucky! In Italy you can run with monowheel, only in area pedestrian at 6 kmh !! Ridiculous . . .

[@AndreTheDragon]

Great video new follower here GG on passing 1K love Poland 🇵🇱 UwU

[@patrickbedruz6475]

I love that you use Kilometres in your videos!

[@tonymejias8171]

Nice ride. Unicycle time is to relax and enjoy. Best ride ever had.

[@ettorevaccari1113]

Thanks is beautiful video , monocat you are fantastic

[@ScottFlies]

You ride so graceful!

[@baubelepreux1561]

Hi Kate. I live in french country and ther's just a few bicycle lanes (except "voie verte"in my erea), I use to ride on narrow roads where the traffic is very light at medium speed (30-35 km/h), or full off road where I cross squirrels and mushrooms pickers. If I have to ride on std roads (speed limit 80 km/h), I need to reach over 45 km/h to feel safe among traffic.

[@sunseeker8457]

Kind of the same rules here in Sweden. But again as in Poland. It doesn't make any sense when cycleist are allowed to go over 40 km/h without the police saying anything. But EUC, eBikes, eScooters etc. get stopped for going faster then 20 km/h???? Different rules and laws for the same thing!

[@Sarajevomusic1]

Very fluid riding now 💪

[@PusTIP]

Looks pretty similar to Russia) In Moscow we have almost the same problems, but new rules are coming. And yes, our infrastructure for bicycles looks much worse than yours. But as for now, you can ride anywhere, just be cautious and do not create troubles. And i think things will doesn't change much with new rules.

[@gregsweet9552]

Russia or Moscow? Choose one

[@rhalfik]

Yes, infrastructure is more important than rules. Rules are made by old people who envy progress. These speed limits in Poland are ridiculous. Cars should have speed limits because of very low awareness of drivers, low visibility long breaking distance, very high probability and lethality of accidents. PEVs don't have these problems. They're also much smaller, so collisions happen less often. I think there should be very big cycling paths with high speed limits like 60kph. Sort of like stroads, but for PEVs and bikes, isolated from pedestrians completely or separated with a row of small trees or a hedge. They'd still be 5x narrower than car streets, but safe for overtaking and soo cheap to make and fast to commute. You put two paths like these across your metro lines and you get a super fast, safe and _not_stressfull_ alternative to car traffic. You would ride up to 1km to this path at 30kph or pedestrian speed and then blast through the city to a metro line or to the office sector across your town. Paths like these would beorders of magnitude cheaper to make than metro, but would pose a real alternative to cars, not by being a gimmick, but by being faster. They'd have far bigger throughput than streets and would not need traffic lights. But no one will agree to it, because those who make law are boomers mentally stuck in the 70s, who are afraid of closing even a single road to cars. So yeah, the infrastructure first, rules second.

[@ZagZagSama]

25 km/h is logical as it is the median of the cyclist speed. Furthermore if the wheel fails it is still possible to jump off and sprint without falling! The best sport to take on with EUC riding is trail running or parkour, as your leg will be prepared for fast adaptation of movement change(it helps to avoid the wheeler belly and extend the range of the batteries ;).

[@Cr125stin]

Thanks for the video!

[@marek100play]

Nice, looks easy and relax if you ride with common sense, Unfortunately totally opposite in the UK where am, The only legal form of PEV,s are rental e-scooters that's it, No EUC or Private e-scooters allowed on public roads. :-( .... I'm still riding my KS16X and avoiding the eyes of the law.

[@edmundkhoo524]

riding in my part of the world (Asia) seems the same, it's always best to ride during low peak hours and at least Poland there are bike lane but not in my country (sad). We have to share road with the cars and it's always dangerous. Hope someday could ride in Poland on a rented EUC (if there's one). Looking forward for more content from you, how big is the EUC community and do you have get together ride in Poland ?

[@olgac9121]

Thanks my dear Kate for the video and for having a channel for women. I ask you: in Varsovia are there steep hills? (climbed). From Medellin Colombia

[@monocat.1011]

Thank you very much! Sadly there at not many hills here, it is rather flat. But in the north of Poland, like in Gdańsk, there are more hills with some nice off-road trails :)

[@martinsaunders2942]

Another excellent and informative video, thank you. Keep it coming, I much enjoyed. ….. And I presumed, I guess because of Adam, that you were also Polish Kate… where are you from originally ?

[@koycdjartage2571]

I was looking for this type of information

[@ansonlam3157]

very good advice video

[@baryton76]

Driving on my electric scooter in Warsaw I have only one case that the policewoman stopped me and requested to ride on sidewalk instead of bike's path. That was before the new law. I was shocked that she did do that because police does not care about regulations especially if those regulations are against common sense . This is the case in many situations in Poland and I think it's a part of a eastern European law culture that people during socialistic regime learned to live freely even if there were plenty of regulations made by a government.

[@muzzypussy5012]

I think for UTO there is only 20km/h speed limit no matter where you ride. I didn't find anything about 25. 25 is a speed limit for ebikes as I know. Great video. Cheers

[@jakubvyborny770]

I am considering moving to Copenhagen because they have best laws and infrastructure for us ☺️

[@AndreiPetunin]

They do? :p

[@jakubvyborny770]

@@AndreiPetunin Yes and it is beautifully City 🇩🇰🇩🇰

Could you provide a link or source? I thought they have the same stupid law, like most of the EU: max 20-25km/h for the pev. Could someone confirm?

[@AndreiPetunin]

@ a mate lives there and says it’s rideable with caution ⚠️ - getting stricter ⛔️

[@AndreiPetunin]

@ he still rides electric but went from Gotway tesla to Elon tesla :-)

[@noels8817]

Nice vid!, so clear how each zone has a speed limit. I’m just curious if getting a high speed wheel is worth it now that they could cap speeds on these machines

[@bernardobuffa2391]

do you have any demographic estimation of euc adoption in Poland? Warszawa? Kraków? Poznań?

[@visionar007]

In Czech Republic when I ride around 50 Kph the cars often overtake me. Like you ride 5 kph too slow, Ima overtake you, snail.

[@thegreenhansel]

Great Video... 👏👏🥳

[@mariuszlesniewski6830]

hi @monocat, I do not see in current Act the limitation you mentioned in minute 2:18, that we are allowed to ride on streets only when there is speed limit 30 km/h - there is a different sentence however (Art. 33a), that e-scoters cannot ride on sidewalks when there is such limitation - so the meaning is completely different

[@monocat.1011]

Thank you very much for that information!! I don’t speak polish, so all I know is what I heard and learned from others, mostly EUC riders. It sounds similar to the regulations for bicycles.

[@mariuszlesniewski6830]

thanks for the feedback ​@@monocat.1011 :-) I wrote you about this detail but other observations (cars, Police, etc.) are very accurate. Bicycles are a bit closer to e-scooters - they may use sidewalks when the top speed is higher than 50 km/h. To my understanding of the Act - this detail (30 km/h) in case of EUC looks like misunderstanding that is unfortunately repeated even in the press.

[@laurent4363]

Jeez I thought cars speeding was bad in Canada, my bad, you got it worse!

[@mgrinzRafal]

Czyli, że trzeba uważać.

[@whitecrow984]

good vid. good points i say riders on euc's should use common sense try to respect the speed limits shown in cities, towns other then that just keep it 50km/h inside any of this areas, nothing wrong going where pedestrians are as long you keep it between 5km/h and 13km/h again common sense but if you have bycicle path deffinetly take that and ride there between 20-40km/h depending how crowded it is, exceptions if you konw the route and nothing can pop up from left or right outside a city on a bycicle road and its clear noone on it and its straight ahead for miles go for it baby 70-90km/h same on main roads thats how i ride my sherman got 7K+ km in it and having it only since 8months loving it and so far i never caused accident noir did i get involved in one. hope it stays like that but you never know so all of you out there stay safe dont try to impress strangers with stupidity cause you might injure yourself or worse others especially watch out for kids and drunk/druged they dont have the same danger preception as teens/adults as euc riders we gotta pay attention 3xtimes more then any other type of driver to what we do how we do one big fuck up godforbid that woudl take anotehr persons life and we will get all kind of regualtions and bans around the wrold so keep it smart

[@Index-o1234]

Hi!...question...I don't know how much or how many wheels you have ridden but which wheel would you say is the best fit for a woman/grl? To use?

[@TomaszDwojak1]

Kate, you are wrong about one thing. EUC are only allowed on bike paths and must not be used on bike lanes. But yes, e-scooters are allowed both on bike paths and bike lanes.

[@monocat.1011]

Oh, thanks for the information! I never heard of this one before, where did you find the information? :)

[@TomaszDwojak1]

​@@monocat.1011 ​ @monocat. Just reach to the source and find document called "Prawo o ruchu drogowym" and Google Translate (or ask Adam) these parts: - For e-scooter search for "Art. 33." which says: "Kierujący rowerem lub hulajnogą elektryczną jest obowiązany korzystać z drogi dla rowerów lub pasa ruchu dla rowerów..." - For EUC search for "Art. 33b." which says: "Kierujący urządzeniem transportu osobistego jest obowiązany korzystać z drogi dla rowerów..." As per above the legislator allows e-scooters both on bike paths and bike lanes but EUCs only on bike paths. I can only guess that the reason for this is that the legislator does not want EUCs to be used on bike lanes for safety reasons because bike lanes are usually nearby fast car traffic.

[@mariuszlesniewski6830]

​@@TomaszDwojak1 this sentence does not mean that EUC must not use bike lanes - it simply means that e-scooter must use bike lanes when it is present (subtle difference is here). But besides that - nice to see that anybody else reads the Act.

[@beil06]

I'm living in Budapest and it is very similar. During rush hours bikes are almost more dangerous for me than cars. I feel like visiting Poland in EUC. What about Krakow, Zakopane?

[@rhalfik]

Krakow is very pedestrian oriented. and bike infrastructure in Poland in general is not as good as in Budapest, but it's not bad either. There are some separate routes for bikes but the surface is often a bit uneven or just a dirt path. I don't remember bikes in Zakopane, but it's a small town and quite isolated.

[@Roskellan]

eScooters appear to be the thing most likely to upset the apple cart. They are being sold in large numbers in the UK and unlike the community spirit that appears more typical with other sorts of PEV, eScooter seem to be attracting some poor examples of both attitude and ability. I'm not sure the Police readily discern the difference. We need an independent organisation representing us, through membership we would have 3rd party insurance and it would be a sympathetic authority looking at issues, lobbying authority, advising on training, liaising with clubs, with its own magazine, news, events, small ads, etc. It's a model used in respect to other hobbies (Gliding, Radio Amateur, Sailing, etc).

[@ek-nz]

Go ahead and start one! Even the AA started small :)

[@jonas.wut.y1518]

What about sweden

[@lefotografion]

Oh ha what a dream... Compare this to Germany 😭

[@TheEVside]

Great video

[@pakitech3413]

Quality content

[@bryans3287]

nice video

[@gaspard6428]

Princesse mononocat

[@failedpuppy]

i mean the most useful tip is to avoid police :)

[@skiddysm]

Imagine making laws for something you have 0 understanding for lol