6 ms·

Electric boards clearly shouldn't be on sidewalks, same as bikes. I'm often stuck slowing down bikes going gently downhill because my boosted board won't go fa

Electric boards clearly shouldn't be on sidewalks, same as bikes. I'm often stuck slowing down bikes going gently downhill because my boosted board won't go faster than 22. This becomes a safety hazard as bikes try to pass, etc. Bikes don't have separate speed limits in bike lanes and are capable of speeds much higher than 20. Ability to ride uphill is also a function of output power. This cap is fairly generous but I don't understand why its necessary at all if there's a speed restriction? It'll only limit acceleration and hill performance if there's a speed restriction.

bsimpson 11y ago
They could be Volkswagened: When on a level surface, cap the speed to 20mph. When on an incline, turbo mode!
- ghostfish 11y ago
  This is exactly what several electric "bicycles" do now. They have a road mode which conforms to the federal 750W/20MPH limit, and an offroad mode that allows something like several kilowatts and perhaps 40MPH.
- seanp2k2 11y ago
  Or they could be Volkswagened and say that it puts out 1000w when it really does 2000 :)
  - stcredzero 11y ago
    That would kind of be anti-Volkswagening, in that Volkswagen cars had more power than they would have, had they not cheated on emissions standards.
MereInterest 11y ago
> Electric boards clearly shouldn't be on sidewalks, same as bikes. Regarding bikes, it depends entirely on where you live. If you are in an urban area, where the sidewalks are crowded, and cars can't get up to high speed before the next stoplight, then certainly bikes should be on the street. If you are in a suburban area, where sidewalks are empty and cars travel at easily twice your maximum speed, then the streets are not safe for biking.
- trhway 11y ago
  >where sidewalks are empty and cars travel at easily twice your maximum speed, then the streets are not safe for biking. the streets are safe, the law explicitly requires 3 feet lateral separation or no pass. Choosing to endanger people on sidewalk just because not enough balls to ride on the street is kind of low.
  - MereInterest 11y ago
    What the law says and what drivers do are significantly different. A 45 mph road with poor visibility is not safe to bike on. Alternatively, I cannot endanger people on the sidewalk if there are no people on the sidewalk.
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    > Choosing to endanger people on sidewalk just because not enough balls to ride on the street is kind of low. Yeah, well, fuck it. I don't have the balls. I also have enough empathy to understand I'm two-three times slower than cars on the road in my city and drivers are seriously pissed at me when I'm holding down city traffic.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
    The law isn't going to scrape me up and put me back together after some redneck turns me into road pizza. I do my best to ride safely for myself and everyone else. Usually, that means taking my rightful place in the road. Sometimes it means riding an empty sidewalk, eyes peeled, at a reasonable speed. Staying alive is more important than demonstrating the size of my balls, thanks.
    - Wingman4l7 11y ago
      > The law isn't going to scrape me up and put me back together after some redneck turns me into road pizza. Like the old saying: "Sure, you were in the right -- but you're still dead."
hugh4 11y ago
They shouldn't be on roads either. What bikes have that electric skateboards don't is stability -- it's extremely rare for a cyclist doing 20mph to suddenly fall off entirely, but falling off a skateboard is pretty easy.
- tajen 11y ago
  Cars should be forbidden, at least in cities. As an asthmatic person, as an endangered pedestrian, as a citizen who cares about sustainable development, as an urbanist who cares about public space and population density, cars may solve problems like how to carry 3 children to school or how to show off about professional success, but I hope we'll limit its usage. My friends in Sydney who have a family, have no car.
  - Wingman4l7 11y ago
    Cities self-limit car ownership. There isn't enough parking and if alternative means of transport (Uber, Car2Go, buses) are dense enough, people can get away without owning them.
    - SilasX 11y ago
      Partly true, but a lot of cities inconvenience the general public to mask the general self-limiting phenomenon, for example by sacrificing space for parking lanes.
  - dogma1138 11y ago
    > "endangered pedestrian" Sigh that's level 10000 there. I've been by far hit/forcibly stopped/run out of my path by bikes (and other non-motored or low powered vehicles) than by cars. Bike riders seem that they think that they own anything that the drive on they never give way on a crosswalk when it crosses a bike lane, when they drive on the sidewalk they are a menace (and often are quite rude if you make them stop or slow down), and they quite often do what ever they want in intersections especially during red signals because no one ever stops them. Oh it's a red signal no cars are coming lets take a left here not caring that it's a green light for pedestrians we'll just hand signal and spam the bell then be annoyed when they actually don't let us pass and yell that they are engendering us because cars are now coming. I for one would not mind that people who want to commute on bikes will actually be forced to get a proper license and that police will start actively enforcing and ticketing them (as well as having a license plate that will allow people to call in and complain).
PhasmaFelis 11y ago
> Ability to ride uphill is also a function of output power. This cap is fairly generous but I don't understand why its necessary at all if there's a speed restriction? It'll only limit acceleration and hill performance if there's a speed restriction. Hm. It does say "averaging less than 1,000 watts". I wonder if that means it's allowed to turbo up to maintain 20mph on the uphill, as long the average stays within bounds during tests.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

bsimpson 11y ago

They could be Volkswagened: When on a level surface, cap the speed to 20mph. When on an incline, turbo mode!

ghostfish 11y ago
This is exactly what several electric "bicycles" do now. They have a road mode which conforms to the federal 750W/20MPH limit, and an offroad mode that allows something like several kilowatts and perhaps 40MPH.
seanp2k2 11y ago
Or they could be Volkswagened and say that it puts out 1000w when it really does 2000 :)
- stcredzero 11y ago
  That would kind of be anti-Volkswagening, in that Volkswagen cars had more power than they would have, had they not cheated on emissions standards.

MereInterest 11y ago

> Electric boards clearly shouldn't be on sidewalks, same as bikes. Regarding bikes, it depends entirely on where you live. If you are in an urban area, where the sidewalks are crowded, and cars can't get up to high speed before the next stoplight, then certainly bikes should be on the street. If you are in a suburban area, where sidewalks are empty and cars travel at easily twice your maximum speed, then the streets are not safe for biking.

trhway 11y ago
>where sidewalks are empty and cars travel at easily twice your maximum speed, then the streets are not safe for biking. the streets are safe, the law explicitly requires 3 feet lateral separation or no pass. Choosing to endanger people on sidewalk just because not enough balls to ride on the street is kind of low.
- MereInterest 11y ago
  What the law says and what drivers do are significantly different. A 45 mph road with poor visibility is not safe to bike on. Alternatively, I cannot endanger people on the sidewalk if there are no people on the sidewalk.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  > Choosing to endanger people on sidewalk just because not enough balls to ride on the street is kind of low. Yeah, well, fuck it. I don't have the balls. I also have enough empathy to understand I'm two-three times slower than cars on the road in my city and drivers are seriously pissed at me when I'm holding down city traffic.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- PhasmaFelis 11y ago
  The law isn't going to scrape me up and put me back together after some redneck turns me into road pizza. I do my best to ride safely for myself and everyone else. Usually, that means taking my rightful place in the road. Sometimes it means riding an empty sidewalk, eyes peeled, at a reasonable speed. Staying alive is more important than demonstrating the size of my balls, thanks.
  - Wingman4l7 11y ago
    > The law isn't going to scrape me up and put me back together after some redneck turns me into road pizza. Like the old saying: "Sure, you were in the right -- but you're still dead."

hugh4 11y ago

They shouldn't be on roads either. What bikes have that electric skateboards don't is stability -- it's extremely rare for a cyclist doing 20mph to suddenly fall off entirely, but falling off a skateboard is pretty easy.

tajen 11y ago
Cars should be forbidden, at least in cities. As an asthmatic person, as an endangered pedestrian, as a citizen who cares about sustainable development, as an urbanist who cares about public space and population density, cars may solve problems like how to carry 3 children to school or how to show off about professional success, but I hope we'll limit its usage. My friends in Sydney who have a family, have no car.
- Wingman4l7 11y ago
  Cities self-limit car ownership. There isn't enough parking and if alternative means of transport (Uber, Car2Go, buses) are dense enough, people can get away without owning them.
  - SilasX 11y ago
    Partly true, but a lot of cities inconvenience the general public to mask the general self-limiting phenomenon, for example by sacrificing space for parking lanes.
- dogma1138 11y ago
  > "endangered pedestrian" Sigh that's level 10000 there. I've been by far hit/forcibly stopped/run out of my path by bikes (and other non-motored or low powered vehicles) than by cars. Bike riders seem that they think that they own anything that the drive on they never give way on a crosswalk when it crosses a bike lane, when they drive on the sidewalk they are a menace (and often are quite rude if you make them stop or slow down), and they quite often do what ever they want in intersections especially during red signals because no one ever stops them. Oh it's a red signal no cars are coming lets take a left here not caring that it's a green light for pedestrians we'll just hand signal and spam the bell then be annoyed when they actually don't let us pass and yell that they are engendering us because cars are now coming. I for one would not mind that people who want to commute on bikes will actually be forced to get a proper license and that police will start actively enforcing and ticketing them (as well as having a license plate that will allow people to call in and complain).

PhasmaFelis 11y ago

> Ability to ride uphill is also a function of output power. This cap is fairly generous but I don't understand why its necessary at all if there's a speed restriction? It'll only limit acceleration and hill performance if there's a speed restriction. Hm. It does say "averaging less than 1,000 watts". I wonder if that means it's allowed to turbo up to maintain 20mph on the uphill, as long the average stays within bounds during tests.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]