Hacker News Reader

Comment by mikeash | Hacker News Reader

If your vehicle can't be safe without annoying everyone within a quarter mile radius, it's too unsafe to be on the road.

View on HN

Motorcycles should be illegal.

I think there's certainly room for Vespa-like scooters in the transportation ecosystem.

Well, that's just wrong, motorbikes are an important part of any transportation mix.

When the answer is 'ban it' there is something wrong.

Wait, why are motorcycles important? They're inherently less efficient, netting out roughly the same environmental impact --- assuming modern motorcycles! --- but without the ability to carry passengers or significant amounts of cargo.

There are tens of thousands of donor organ recipients who wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for motorcycles.

Maybe in the west where motorcycles are more of a leisure transport than a mode of commute, but in developing countries bikes with small engines in the ball park of 100 cc (the honda cub for example) are definitely some of the most efficient modes of transportation. In India i could get a bike that could comfortably get around 60kmpl in normal driving conditions ( 3 bikes with 6 passengers total would be about the same as a prius at about 1/10th the cost). And in a congested city, no other mode of transport beats it (unless the city has a very well connected metro rail transportation)

Like your spirit (I don't like the loud pipes either) but this is a little unfair. Motorcycling should be part of a more sustainable future. Especially when you consider how many OECD commuters commute in cars alone.

I don't think motorcycles are actually so unsafe that they need to be that loud. But rather than argue about that, I'd rather point out that massive noise pollution isn't a fundamental right, so "we must be that loud to ride" is just saying "we shouldn't ride."

70% is getting hit by cars...motos are not unsafe

its the cagers that are the problemo, thus the comment

(FWIW, I hate loud exhausts)

Motorcycling is 45 times more likely to result in death than driving in a car.

Electric vehicles are sustainable, motorcycles are death traps that can't be made safer (said as an ex-owner of a Katana, and both a Yamaha R1 sport bike and Roadliner cruiser).

I agree with the parent. I despise motorcycles for their noise. On a nice spring/summer/fall day, it can be quiet and peaceful where I live (small community of 120k). More often than not, though, that quiet is ruined by a loud annoying motorcycle.

I'll be happy when motorcycles are electric, and therefore silent. If your vehicle can't carry you safely without being unnecessarily noisy, then it just shouldn't be on the road.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com