the goal for supporters of such approaches is not safety, but rather control. new things signal a changing of the guard (no matter how remote the possibility), and they oppose it by reflex. grousing about blocked sidewalks and people getting hit by scooters is largely the brain rationalizing the underlying instinct so as to provide ego coherence (i.e., "i am a good and safe person" rather than "i'm trying to preserve my status in the world").

many people want scooters (along with bikes and e-bikes). it fills an important missing middle between walking and driving. the better approach is to replace parking lanes on city roads with a grade-separated (from both regular roads and sidewalks) lane for these missing middle modes of transportation.

as for road safety, strict imposition of the kind of regulation noted in the article actually creates danger. the reason we have such powerful engines in our cars is to provide headroom to accelerate out of accidents (where braking out of them would be difficult or impossible).

i'd be all for much harder driving tests, where licensees show a mastery of control over the vehicle in difficult conditions, much like commercial pilots. i'd also support stricter enforcement of distracted driving laws (rather than speed enforcements). those would actually help reduce auto deaths.