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Comment by sneak | Hacker News Reader

> If not for that defect, it would have been the best tool for commuting in the city.

Except for that part where you're going faster than the fastest sprinter, with a high center of gravity. Even with a helmet, and no explicit defect, these things are inherently extremely dangerous by their very design.

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They can also be extremely fun!

It’s unfortunate that so many people fail to recognize the inherent danger and choose to blame the device instead of their abilities.

Anyone who can’t control their balance on the fulcrum of a kart tire — under their own muscle power — trying to go fast on one of these boards is outright reckless.

New things, that don’t have historic/cultural armor, can’t survive. For example, there were 450 bicycle deaths in 2020, unrelated to traffic.

>unrelated to traffic

[doubt]

Go watch some MTB videos, you'll have less doubt.

I should have provided the reference:

https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/home-and-community/safety-topics...

For example, the same year there were 100 times that many deaths due to cars. 40k. Would be unnacceptable if this mode of transport were introduced today.

I ride my bike, a lot. And I got passed once or twice a week for about a year by a guy on one of these that I assume was modified because it would go at least 25-30mph. No helmet on and he’d pretty belligerently pass me and pedestrians with little margin. Then I didn’t see him anymore.

Similarly, I used to see these a lot last year, but I've only seen one person near me riding a one-wheel recently. Sadly, he was riding it with what looked like his 3 year old daughter holding on to his knees for dear life. I wanted to say something, but I assumed they're just going "to the store" nearby. But still... hurting yourself is one thing, but riding an e-scooter or one-wheel with young children seems like quite another...

I didn’t mean for what I said to be a sweeping statement for everyone, but I see why you might have interpreter it that way.

I only meant that it would have been the best commuting tool for me.

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