I’d like to see more of a breakdown.
- How many of these injuries are the driver/rider/captain and how many are other people?
- How many are the fault of the driver, and how many are a 3rd party?
The stats on helmets etc. are interesting, but they only tell a part of the story.
The issue with these things being illegal, is the decent people who follow common sense rules and safety stay away. Because they’re illegal. This means the only people who are riding them, are assholes or asshole related. By definition. They’re already breaking the illegal rule, just by using the device. They are not likely to be people who will wear helmets, or be people who will honour (or teach their sprogs to honour) highway code or any other code of common sense. So of course, the accident to user ratio is quite high. Decent users, are not users at all.
I agree with other commenters, these can/could/should be positive devices. Allowing all electric “green” transportation in a tiny footprint. This would work, if we had the cycle/safe-space infrastructure to allow it and if we had a population that would enforce a level of common sense safety.
danielquinn@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
There are some serious gaps in the article around what the riders were colliding with. The only detailed account was with a car, in which (surprise surprise) the scooter rider was the one penalised.
These scooters are new, but that doesn’t make them a bad idea. I see parents using them to drop off their lids at school every day for example. Every person you see on a scooter is someone who would otherwise be in front of you in a car.
If we’re really concerned about the health and safety of kids riding these things, we should: