3 ms·

Escooters are amazing, convenient and IMO roughly as safe as bikes (a little harder to control but usually slower). I own and ride one in an European capital wi

Escooters are amazing, convenient and IMO roughly as safe as bikes (a little harder to control but usually slower). I own and ride one in an European capital without issues. Rental scooters, on the other hand, are basically drunken-tourist-wagens, usually ridden without safety equipment, any semblance of skill or care, on sidewalks and often by two people (which is IMO absolutely fucking insane). There is nothing inherently more dangerous about rental e-scooters than about rental bikes, other than that rental bikes are much less used by tourists, and much more used for commuting by the locals. The idea behind this and other bans is that people were tired of the tourist shit, and the rental companies literally didn’t care at all. A helmet mandate would be easy to implement. Overweight protection (two people) would be easy to implement. Reducing the speed in the city center or during the rush hour or detecting all kinds of dangerous states (driving at full speed on cobblestone) would be easy to implement, but the rental companies didn’t care at all and now they’re getting kicked out. Good riddance I say.

agumonkey 3y ago
Not to be contrarian but an e-scooter balance seems inherently less safe than a bike. It's actually one of the main concern when I'm around one, you see the base about to tilt ever 5m or so and you never know if the person splash in front of you.
- rcxdude 3y ago
  The biggest issue is smaller wheels are less able to deal with bumps or holes in the road. Otherwise they're not significantly more unstable.
  - agumonkey 3y ago
    Maybe it's a matter of diameter. But quick changes in direction often make people have really scary swerves (center of gravity really off the scooter axis)
    - Toutouxc 3y ago
      Yeah, the center of gravity of a scooter is higher, which makes it MORE stable than a bike, try balancing a pencil on your finger and then a broom. Which one is easier to balance? The swerves look scary because the wheels can move a LOT laterally before the rider starts to feel unbalanced and has to take corrective action (an actual turn). It’s an optical illusion. Yes, the wheels on some scooters are quite small and ride poorly over potholes. That’s a real issue that the rider needs to account for.
      - agumonkey 3y ago
        I think the mechanics of a scooter are too different to compare to a stick. I'd really love a mechanics engineer view on this because having a center of gravity up high seems similar to the unsprung mass problem. It can be stabler for a little bit but become unmanageable. And somehow I wouldn't want to drive nearby "optical illusion". Above 20mph things need to be dead simple, not maybes.

agumonkey 3y ago

Not to be contrarian but an e-scooter balance seems inherently less safe than a bike. It's actually one of the main concern when I'm around one, you see the base about to tilt ever 5m or so and you never know if the person splash in front of you.

rcxdude 3y ago
The biggest issue is smaller wheels are less able to deal with bumps or holes in the road. Otherwise they're not significantly more unstable.
- agumonkey 3y ago
  Maybe it's a matter of diameter. But quick changes in direction often make people have really scary swerves (center of gravity really off the scooter axis)
  - Toutouxc 3y ago
    Yeah, the center of gravity of a scooter is higher, which makes it MORE stable than a bike, try balancing a pencil on your finger and then a broom. Which one is easier to balance? The swerves look scary because the wheels can move a LOT laterally before the rider starts to feel unbalanced and has to take corrective action (an actual turn). It’s an optical illusion. Yes, the wheels on some scooters are quite small and ride poorly over potholes. That’s a real issue that the rider needs to account for.
    - agumonkey 3y ago
      I think the mechanics of a scooter are too different to compare to a stick. I'd really love a mechanics engineer view on this because having a center of gravity up high seems similar to the unsprung mass problem. It can be stabler for a little bit but become unmanageable. And somehow I wouldn't want to drive nearby "optical illusion". Above 20mph things need to be dead simple, not maybes.