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Comment by cenal | Hacker News Reader

I'd like to point out that there are responsible players in this industry.

My buddy has one of these: http://onewheel.com/

It's very well constructed and it's his daily transportation to and from work (weather permitting).

The problem units all seem to be inexpensive products built to fail. The same is true with second hand batteries for laptops and has been covered by the media.

http://www.howtogeek.com/172680/danger-why-you-shouldnt-buy-...

The trouble is with Hover Boards you get shoddy quality electronics gear with dangerous power sources. It's a terrible mix.

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woah! I'm generally skeptical on motorized boards because small pebbles at speed will murder me and roads here are quite bad, but this is the one that might actually work for me.

Add to this that use of those gizmos on public greound is outright illegal in a lot of countries.

While the consequences, if caught may not be dire, causing an accident may hurl you into a world of pain, since your insurer won't pay squat. Or they may pay and hound you for the rest of your life in order to get reimbursed.

Being responsible for personal injury can get very, very expensive.

It wouldn't be any more expensive than walking into someone, with them falling down and breaking their back. Hitting someone with a bicycle can cause serious harm and cost you a lot of money, yet I know one person who owns insurance for riding a bike - 99.9% of people riding bikes don't care. I don't see why it would be different for this, it's slightly faster than walking and slower than riding a bike.

If you cause an accident on foot, or riding a bicycle your third party liability insurance pays for the damage.

If you cause the damage by using an illegal device your insurer will not pay for the damage.

It's not a matter of being slightly faster, it's a matter of the device not being certified for use on public grounds.

"your third party liability insurance pays for the damage"

What "third party liability insurance"? Do I have some insurance that I don't know about? Or are you suggesting that somehow my car insurance(which does have third party liability cover) somehow covers me when walking around/cycling?

how many are actually insured for that specific liability? just asking, I'm unfamiliar with the other countries insurance policies, but I've rarely heard people being insured that way in the European countries I lived.

I can only speak for Switzerland: Most people here have have "household insurance", which covers theft, damage to property and mostly third party liability.

Third party liability won't cover usage of a motor vehicle (needs to be insured seperately, and is mandatory). It does cover damages caused by riding a bicycle, though.

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