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I've owned both a scooter and skateboard for 7 months. I disagree, you can ride a scooter on a sidewalk safely and I need to do it from time to time. Of course
by randyrand 8y ago
I've owned both a scooter and skateboard for 7 months.
I disagree, you can ride a scooter on a sidewalk safely and I need to do it from time to time. Of course, I don't prefer it. But it's pretty easy to do safely and it shouldn't bother anyone if done correctly.
The rules I follow:
1. Go much much slower.
2. Stay far away from other people and blind corners.
3. Always assume a person is about to make an erratic movement
4. Never pass closely to a person. When passing, go their walking speed + 1mph. It should be a similar speed differential to passing someone when you're walking.
5. If you have no space to pass, you need to go walking speed
until space opens up.
6. if the sidewalk is too packed, just get off and walk it.
7. If you have far visibility (no blind corners, doorways, storefronts, etc) and there is no one in sight, let'er rip.
It all depends on the conditions. You should never blow by people at 15 mph. I commuted partly on 5th street in downtown Los Angeles and never had an issue, a close call, or had someone bat an eye. The goal is to blend in with other people walking.
- danielrhodes 8y agoI love these scooters -- but one thing I have found is they feel too fast for the sidewalk and too slow for the street.
- olyjohn 8y agoUm. Can't you just ride slower on the sidewalk? Or are they the kinda that have an on/off switch for a throttle?
- ghaff 8y agoThe problem is that pretty much the whole point is to go faster than walking speed. If you can't, what's the point?
- ThrowawayR2 8y agoThe "not having to walk" part is still kind of handy even at walking speed. My joints aren't what they used to be.
- randyrand 8y agomost roads are safe enough to go on or have bike lanes. i only go on sidewalks when I need to. So scooters are still worth it even if you are safe on sidewalks.
- ghaff 8y agoI'm not sure that's the widespread behavior though. (And I agree that partial cautious sidewalk use is fine.) A lot of users seem not to want to use roads or even non-separated bike lanes period.
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoThis. It's all about relative speed difference. If the cars are going slow then riding with them is no problem. If there's no (slow) people on the sidewalk then you can ride there.
- robotkdick 8y agoAgreed. The one thing that is scary for everyone in these situations is the element of surprise. If you eliminate the "blowing through stoplights" or the hurry and brake fast behind a pedestrian, or worse, you eliminate 95% of the issues.
- komali2 8y agoNobody follows these rules. Whenever a skater is coming at me I very much get a "get the fuck out of my way, peasant" vibe. That's why I believe they should be enforceable rules aka laws.
- randyrand 8y agoI follow them. You really have no choice if you care about your own and others safety.
- komali2 8y agoWell, thank you, that's very good, but that doesn't exactly solve the problem. I'm a hard-line rule following bicyclist, but I have no control over the other cyclists that blast past me at red lights. What are we supposed to do, render our nonexistent authority over them? I suppose I can say "please don't do that," but I try that and it has no effect.
- robotkdick 8y agoI applaud your attempt at civil discourse. You deserve a medal for patience. Thank you for posting as I think discussions like this could use more of your style.
- danans 8y ago> if you care about your own Given how few of the riders are wearing helmets, they seem to at the very least be unaware of the risks they are taking. > ... and others safety. Power is intoxicating. Being in a more powerful vehicle on a surface shared with other less powerful vehicles makes some people ignore others' safety, or discount the way in which their actions imperil others. Anyone who has ridden a bike/motorcycle in regular traffic can attest to that experience around cars: you assume you are invisible to them. I've seen many high-powered cars/trucks/motorcycles swerving and accelerating dangerously around less powerful vehicles in traffic. Similarly, I've seen motorcycles driving fast down bike lanes to get around car traffic. It's a similar situation between the scooters and pedestrians on busy sidewalks.
- ncr100 8y ago> I disagree, you can ride a scooter on a sidewalk safely and I need to do it from time to time. Of course, I don't prefer it. But it's pretty easy to do safely and it shouldn't bother anyone if done correctly. Keep it simple. "Can" but people won't. There is reason in this post ... but the law should remain that riding on sidewalks is illegal. "Trusting" strangers on scooters to slow down is unwelcome heart-burn, as a pedestrian. "Will they slow down for me? Will they move off to the side? Will my dog stray into their fast-moving path? Will my dog, who freaks out for any person-riding-on-vehicle, freak out as this scooter crawls past? Do I need to pull the neck-collar on my dog hard so he stays sufficiently close to my feet as the person riding on the vehicle passes?" None of this thinking should be necessary for a pedestrian. Keep the law set. Stay off the sidewalks. Go further, require license-plates for scooters, to track infringement of riding on the sidewalk. Report scooters dragged into the lane. There is something fundamentally "not right for a metropolitan" about these smallish, easily misplaced vehicles. Skip Scooter https://i.imgur.com/K6RuVzE.jpg https://i.imgur.com/K6RuVzE.jpg More Skip https://i.imgur.com/ZkdndG1.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ZkdndG1.jpg
- briandear 8y agoLet’s require license plates for bikes then as well. And skateboards.
- wpietri 8y agoIt's not impossible, but it's unrealistic to expect that everybody who can poke their finger on an app button will do this. If scooters require knowledge, thought, and skill to ride well on a sidewalk, then the two obvious answers are a) require training and a road test, or b) ban them on sidewalks. I don't much care which we go with, but having recently almost gotten flattened by some rental e-scooter idiot on the sidewalk, I think we need to pick one.
- randyrand 8y agoSociety does not learn etiquette over night. lots of things only have etiquette and no laws. Laws are nice too, but getting people to follow them is equally tricky.
- wpietri 8y agoThere is no particular reason for me to think casual app-based renters will ever learn this etiquette, especially given the high tourist density in SF. And regardless, if etiquette is needed for safe and effective sharing of the sidewalks, it's up to these scooter companies to make sure that etiquette training happens before they accept money and turn somebody loose. Otherwise it's classic "privatize the gains and socialize the losses" foolishness.
- wild_preference 8y agoWell, it's not much different than cars then where people drive foolishly all the time and there aren't enough cops to catch them all. For example, I almost never see people reserve the passing lane for going fast or passing which is dangerous. People almost never use blinkers. Except, unlike scooters, they are driving vehicles that weigh two tons and are going 65+ mph. And they even require licenses. So that's a pretty low bar, and not very damning if scooters have some etiquette issues.
- wpietri 8y agoThe difference is that people aren't driving cars at 65 mph down the sidewalk. Or even 15-20 mph. Or at all. Because it's illegal and somebody could easily lose their license for it. So if you're saying we should make it not much different than cars in the sense that it's illegal, that's fine by me.
- zjaffee 8y agoIt shouldn't be the opinion of the person on the scooter what is safe or not safe to do with said scooter on the sidewalk. Take space away from cars, not pedestrians.
- randyrand 8y agoCultural rules are more important for this kind of stuff. Laws are nice but usually the police don’t prosecute this low level stuff anyways.