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Yesterday my fiancee and I went on a bike ride around the neighborhood. At one point, we heard music and the whine of an electric motor approaching from behind

Yesterday my fiancee and I went on a bike ride around the neighborhood. At one point, we heard music and the whine of an electric motor approaching from behind. A moment later, an adolescent on an electric scooter comes barreling along with headphones blasting music into his ears. Without slowing down or even a glance to either side, he enters the intersection to a relatively busy 30mph residential road (where cars frequently go 35 or 40+, easily, as it's a boring 1 mile straight shot). The kid casually swerves around as he crosses to narrowly avoid being t-boned by an SUV from the left. The blank expression on his face betrayed no concern or surprise, only casual indifference as he rode on as if nothing concerning had happened. The car didn't honk, maybe they never even saw him. Looked like they were on their phone. I hate watching this kind of stuff happen. Makes me cringe. What's that Seinfeld joke about people who's brains are too stupid to protect themselves? :P PSA: Cars vs cyclists or other unprotected travelers are 3,000 pound weapons. Watch out and gear up.

noobermin 8y ago
I could take your experience (which is shitty, I admit) and multiply it by 5x or so times and that would be my experience with cars everyday.
- whatshisface 8y ago
  At least the cars have a crumple zone. If I had to hit a tree at 40mph I'd rather be inside a recently built car than anywhere else. Cars are actually extremely good safety devices, it's really the whole "moving at 70mph" thing that causes the deaths. The dislike of cars really is the dislike of having to move at high speeds for two hours daily just to survive in society. Fast-moving scooters would make that problem worse because they won't to much to protect you in a crash.
  - avn2109 8y ago
    >> "If I had to hit a tree at 40mph I'd rather be inside a recently built car than anywhere else." Personally I would like to be in an M1 Abrams or a bulldozer or a freight train.
    - whatshisface 8y ago
      There's some truth in that. As we get further from the most recent spike in the price of oil our vehicles tend to evolve in that direction.
      - brokenmachine 8y ago
        I can only imagine how bad the 3pm traffic would be if the soccer moms were allowed to drive M1 Abrams. "I've got two kids, I neeeeed the space".
  - CydeWeys 8y ago
    Vehicles are safer for those inside them at a given speed, sure. The problem is they're much less safe for anyone outside them (i.e. pedestrians and cyclists), and they're also capable of getting up to much higher speeds too. As a pedestrian I would surely rather be hit by a bike going 15 mph than a car going 45 mph. Bicycles also don't have blind spots, so they're less likely to hit a well-behaving pedestrian to begin with.
    - whatshisface 8y ago
      >As a pedestrian I would surely rather be hit by a bike going 15 mph than a car going 45 mph. Remember, the topic at hand is motorized scooters: which are perfectly capable of moving at 45mph. We can't think of them like they're bikes.
      - astura 8y ago
        TFA says they can only go up to 15 mph.
        gonzo 8y ago
        TFA says they’ll do 25 mph downhill, actually.
        CydeWeys 8y ago
        Anything with wheels will go pretty damn fast on a steep downhill. Skateboards too. Not many people are riding them this fast because it feels terrifying.
      - CydeWeys 8y ago
        I think you're confusing mopeds with scooters. Scooters, as being discussed here, are definitely slower than bicycles. These ones in question are electronically limited to 15 mph and are also practically limited by having really tiny wheels. Going fast on them on a downhill feels fucking terrifying. A bicycle, on the other hand, feels much saner, and I routinely get mine up to 25 mph on downhills without thinking much of it.
bluntfang 8y ago
>enters the intersection to a busy 30mph road (where cars frequently go 35 or 40+, easily) well I think we've found the problem. We don't enforce the rules for the vehicles that have the potential for the most damage.

noobermin 8y ago

I could take your experience (which is shitty, I admit) and multiply it by 5x or so times and that would be my experience with cars everyday.

whatshisface 8y ago
At least the cars have a crumple zone. If I had to hit a tree at 40mph I'd rather be inside a recently built car than anywhere else. Cars are actually extremely good safety devices, it's really the whole "moving at 70mph" thing that causes the deaths. The dislike of cars really is the dislike of having to move at high speeds for two hours daily just to survive in society. Fast-moving scooters would make that problem worse because they won't to much to protect you in a crash.
- avn2109 8y ago
  >> "If I had to hit a tree at 40mph I'd rather be inside a recently built car than anywhere else." Personally I would like to be in an M1 Abrams or a bulldozer or a freight train.
  - whatshisface 8y ago
    There's some truth in that. As we get further from the most recent spike in the price of oil our vehicles tend to evolve in that direction.
    - brokenmachine 8y ago
      I can only imagine how bad the 3pm traffic would be if the soccer moms were allowed to drive M1 Abrams. "I've got two kids, I neeeeed the space".
- CydeWeys 8y ago
  Vehicles are safer for those inside them at a given speed, sure. The problem is they're much less safe for anyone outside them (i.e. pedestrians and cyclists), and they're also capable of getting up to much higher speeds too. As a pedestrian I would surely rather be hit by a bike going 15 mph than a car going 45 mph. Bicycles also don't have blind spots, so they're less likely to hit a well-behaving pedestrian to begin with.
  - whatshisface 8y ago
    >As a pedestrian I would surely rather be hit by a bike going 15 mph than a car going 45 mph. Remember, the topic at hand is motorized scooters: which are perfectly capable of moving at 45mph. We can't think of them like they're bikes.
    - astura 8y ago
      TFA says they can only go up to 15 mph.
      - gonzo 8y ago
        TFA says they’ll do 25 mph downhill, actually.
        CydeWeys 8y ago
        Anything with wheels will go pretty damn fast on a steep downhill. Skateboards too. Not many people are riding them this fast because it feels terrifying.
    - CydeWeys 8y ago
      I think you're confusing mopeds with scooters. Scooters, as being discussed here, are definitely slower than bicycles. These ones in question are electronically limited to 15 mph and are also practically limited by having really tiny wheels. Going fast on them on a downhill feels fucking terrifying. A bicycle, on the other hand, feels much saner, and I routinely get mine up to 25 mph on downhills without thinking much of it.

bluntfang 8y ago

>enters the intersection to a busy 30mph road (where cars frequently go 35 or 40+, easily) well I think we've found the problem. We don't enforce the rules for the vehicles that have the potential for the most damage.