The battery powered bikes and scooters are getting out of hand.
A friend's wife went for a walk on a pedestrian path last year and woke up in the hospital. This path often has bikers on it. Nobody saw the accident but police said that debris found at the scene indicated it was a bike that hit her, and folks at a nearby bar reported seeing someone(s) on ebikes going faster than traffic on the street on the path before people who found her came running to get help.
These things travel at crazy speeds relative to the driver's ability to control them.
She still is suffering from headaches and memory issues.
We shouldn't call them e-bikes and e-scooters anymore. They're just motorbikes and mopeds, even if battery powered.
They shouldn't be allowed on "bike speed" paths, and they should require mandated licensing and insurance.
BUT it should be noted that the speeds involved in THIS crash were easily obtainable on a "normal" bike - I've hit 15 MPH on the flat quite easily, and downhill you can get much faster.
To be fair, an e-bike/e-scooter that adheres to regulations in some european countries already effectively are regulated in the same manner. They are usually treated like mopeds in germany (speed limits, a car drivers license for some e-bikes that can go faster than 25 km/h).
It is still a bit messy as e-scooters appear to easily lend themselves to reckless driving (multiple people on one scooter, lack of control compared to bicycle, lack of natural limit on the ability to always go full throttle). E-Bikes are a bit better but they ime tend to be driven by less experienced/capable riders (a lot of seniors/tourists seem to use them).
The real problem is that she was drunk to begin with, people who don't care about using vehicles while being drunk won't care about any of what you listed either.
The number of people on scooters is far smaller than the number of bikes on the street, so per passenger-mile scooters might be more dangerous than cars.
Besides, the roads being dangerous is old news while people are mostly unaware of the new dangers on sidewalks which are commonly perceived as safe.
Surprising events that inform about new threats to life do deserve greater publicity.
I feel like where I live the transition from being a near-novelty service in the city (Uber, Lime) to becoming commonplace even in suburban areas was drastic.
Granted, there really isn’t a method for transitioning; preparing and educating communities in ways that would be effective these days (notices, meetings, outreach).
Then there’s the matter of service style bikes and scooter being too accessible, as evident here.
I was one hair from squishing a scooter dude who darted across in front of my truck useing a pefestrian crosswalk...... I see the scooters piled up on street corners....and someone on an electric bike basicly charged me while I was walking across the street, so I made him dodge hard.....I was going to grab his hat....fucker..but he did grin.....so
The battery powered bikes and scooters are getting out of hand.
A friend's wife went for a walk on a pedestrian path last year and woke up in the hospital. This path often has bikers on it. Nobody saw the accident but police said that debris found at the scene indicated it was a bike that hit her, and folks at a nearby bar reported seeing someone(s) on ebikes going faster than traffic on the street on the path before people who found her came running to get help.
These things travel at crazy speeds relative to the driver's ability to control them.
She still is suffering from headaches and memory issues.
We shouldn't call them e-bikes and e-scooters anymore. They're just motorbikes and mopeds, even if battery powered.
They shouldn't be allowed on "bike speed" paths, and they should require mandated licensing and insurance.
BUT it should be noted that the speeds involved in THIS crash were easily obtainable on a "normal" bike - I've hit 15 MPH on the flat quite easily, and downhill you can get much faster.
To be fair, an e-bike/e-scooter that adheres to regulations in some european countries already effectively are regulated in the same manner. They are usually treated like mopeds in germany (speed limits, a car drivers license for some e-bikes that can go faster than 25 km/h).
It is still a bit messy as e-scooters appear to easily lend themselves to reckless driving (multiple people on one scooter, lack of control compared to bicycle, lack of natural limit on the ability to always go full throttle). E-Bikes are a bit better but they ime tend to be driven by less experienced/capable riders (a lot of seniors/tourists seem to use them).
The real problem is that she was drunk to begin with, people who don't care about using vehicles while being drunk won't care about any of what you listed either.
Sure - and rental bikes and scooters can mandate breathalyzers.
Nobody wants to have the discussion that perhaps bars shouldn't exist at all.
I'm not sure, I feel like in most peoples mind these scooters are just funny electric bicycles and not motor vehicles.
Most people don't wear a helmet when driving these but then lecture their kids to wear one on a bicycle.
When a drunk driver on a scooter kills someone it's news on almost every outlet. When a drunk driver in a car kills someone it's a Wednesday.
The number of people on scooters is far smaller than the number of bikes on the street, so per passenger-mile scooters might be more dangerous than cars.
Besides, the roads being dangerous is old news while people are mostly unaware of the new dangers on sidewalks which are commonly perceived as safe.
Surprising events that inform about new threats to life do deserve greater publicity.
I feel like where I live the transition from being a near-novelty service in the city (Uber, Lime) to becoming commonplace even in suburban areas was drastic.
Granted, there really isn’t a method for transitioning; preparing and educating communities in ways that would be effective these days (notices, meetings, outreach).
Then there’s the matter of service style bikes and scooter being too accessible, as evident here.
Walking in Dublin, with a green pedestrian light, I almost got taken out by a pretty big dude going at least 25MPH on the main road on an e-scooter.
It would have been ugly.
I was one hair from squishing a scooter dude who darted across in front of my truck useing a pefestrian crosswalk...... I see the scooters piled up on street corners....and someone on an electric bike basicly charged me while I was walking across the street, so I made him dodge hard.....I was going to grab his hat....fucker..but he did grin.....so