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This is a slight tangent but.... It's unfortunate that we have such restrictive and inconsistent rules around the place concerning these light electric vehicle
by netcan 11y ago
This is a slight tangent but....
It's unfortunate that we have such restrictive and inconsistent rules around the place concerning these light electric vehicles. I realize that electric bikes really push the motorbike-bike line, but this stuff is being invented and experimented on at a clip and it's hard to figure out the best form factors when the rules are all defined around what was available and popular at some point.
And, it's important to advance... All these little electric vehicles are potentially really helpful. No emissions, low energy, far less infrastructure than cars and trains. All the segway fantasies could actually come true, in some form as these things improve. They just need to keep improving the battery tech and let these guys experiment with form factor.
Here's my request for the V2: double the size and design it to be used sitting in the lotus position. It'd be a flying carpet... that flies really low.
- vegabook 11y agoImagine two of these colliding head on in a mall or campus. Potential 15mph head banger. Definitely dangerous and maybe fatal. That's why these rules are proliferating. Fact is the radius in which any of these motorised mobility aids is safe is much larger than that of a pedestrian. Our legs, torsos are very strong, with dozens of muscles wired directly to our brains for minimum latency, so we can stop or dodge essentially instantly. These tools are therefore appropriate only in less densely travelled areas (factories, warehouses, etc) or on special pathways with strict traffic rules.
- kaybe 11y agoOne question is, how fast would they have to be to be useful? Is a speed of 3-5 km/h or even slower already fine? (Maybe for people who cannot walk far due to sickness or age?)
- dpark 11y agoWhere did you get 15mph from? These have a max speed of 6.2mph. That's equivalent to a fast jog.
- transitorykris 11y ago2 people riding these and colliding head on (12.4mph I guess).
- dpark 11y agoThe "double speed" interpretation of a head-on impact is incorrect. The physics don't work out that way unless one of the people has far more mass (like so much mass that they aren't using this board anyway). Two people colliding head on while moving at 6.2mph is not at all like, e.g., one stationary person getting hit by a car moving at 12.4mph. It's much more similar to getting hit by a car at 6.2mph, or jogging into a tree at 6.2mph, both of which could kill you, but neither of which likely will.
- deciplex 11y agoYou shouldn't be getting downvoted - you're right. Doubling your speed against a brick wall quadruples the energy involved in the collision, but two equivalent objects colliding at the original speed only doubles it. If they have the same or similar mass, the energy is absorbed equally by both, and so if two equal-sized people run into each other at 10 kph, each one of them will feel an impact equivalent to running into a brick wall at 10 kph, not 20 kph.
- hiou 11y agoYou seriously believe that if two people collided on these they would both die? You actually believe death would result? Just... I don't even...
- jasonm23 11y agoCareful, this is how people end up turning to alcohol!!!
- jotm 11y agoat 10 km/h (3 meters/second, 4-5 times faster than the average walking speed), it's plausible that you could to fall off, hit your head on the pavement and... die, yes.
- tomp 11y agoyou mean, the same as if you trip while walking, hit your head on the pavement and die?
- jotm 11y agopretty much, but at least you don't have 4 wheels to slide from under you as you try to keep your footing :-)
- Majestic121 11y ago10km/h is a regular jogging pace. For an amateur, not a professional runner. Anyone can die anywhere, you can die of an infection because of a papercut, but come on. 10km/h is not a dangerous speed.
- grkvlt 11y agoHow fast do you normally walk? 3m/s divided by five is around 60cm/s or about 2 km/h, that's pretty slow. I walk at around 5 mph or 8 km/h, although that is a little faster than most. I think average walking speed is normally about 5 km/h so this is really only twice walking speed at best...
- darkmighty 11y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PENSEenxRQo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PENSEenxRQo
- sschueller 11y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbxpJUWU7H0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbxpJUWU7H0
- hiou 11y agoThe simple solution is to eliminate street parking and use it for all the other better alternatives for driving. Most of the rules are there because of how incredibly dangerous cars and trucks are.