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The Finnish habit of riding bikes and scooters on the pavement is outright dangerous. Alas, I couldn't find a single candidate willing to raise the issue in the
by ahje 7y ago
The Finnish habit of riding bikes and scooters on the pavement is outright dangerous. Alas, I couldn't find a single candidate willing to raise the issue in the recent elections. :/
- deanclatworthy 7y agoI believe it's technically against the law to cycle on the pavement here. It's also legal to ride a small scooter (e.g. a Vespa) on the cycle lane, yet nobody can tell me if it's actually illegal to ride an electric scooter on the sidewalk. For me it would be as simple as this: - Make it illegal to ride a scooter on the sidewalks with an immediate on the spot fine of 100e. - Make it illegal for scooter companies to operate the park anywhere model. They must work with the city to install stations. The city could even offer a standard model where operators can use the city-run recharging stations. - Get rid of the majority of city center parking and aggressively install more central bike lanes, allowing future mobility solutions (e-scooters, e-skateboards etc.) more transit ways.
- ahje 7y agoAgreed, although if it isn't backed up with resources to actually enforce it, it's just a meaningless gesture. As sad as it is, a large part of the traffic offences are simply ignored outside ring III (apart from speeding caught by speed traps, of course). Riding a bike on the pavement is legal for children under the age of 12 iirc. For adults it's a no go.
- deanclatworthy 7y agoI wonder why it's considered legal for children. They probably present even more risk to an elderly person, or child in a push chair.
- ahje 7y agoI assume it's because they are occasionally behaving unpredictably and thereby pose an even larger problem when on the road. There were probably not a lot of bicycle roads or bicycle lanes back when the law was written.
- distances 7y agoI'd assume it's for the safety of the children. At that age they're perhaps not the most rational street users.
- buckminster 7y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of_infancy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of_infancy The USA is one of the very few places on earth where you can both prosecute and marry five year olds. (Not in every state, of course.)
- fulafel 7y agoThe rentable scooters already have surveillance built in, so they could just fine the rider in real time. I'd like to see that regulation!