British backpacker pleads guilty to killing man while drunk on e-scooter
bbc.com
bbc.com
A friend's wife went for a walk on a pedestrian path last year and woke up in the hospital. This path often has bikers on it. Nobody saw the accident but police said that debris found at the scene indicated it was a bike that hit her, and folks at a nearby bar reported seeing someone(s) on ebikes going faster than traffic on the street on the path before people who found her came running to get help.
These things travel at crazy speeds relative to the driver's ability to control them.
She still is suffering from headaches and memory issues.
They shouldn't be allowed on "bike speed" paths, and they should require mandated licensing and insurance.
BUT it should be noted that the speeds involved in THIS crash were easily obtainable on a "normal" bike - I've hit 15 MPH on the flat quite easily, and downhill you can get much faster.
Nobody wants to have the discussion that perhaps bars shouldn't exist at all.
Most people don't wear a helmet when driving these but then lecture their kids to wear one on a bicycle.
It is still a bit messy as e-scooters appear to easily lend themselves to reckless driving (multiple people on one scooter, lack of control compared to bicycle, lack of natural limit on the ability to always go full throttle). E-Bikes are a bit better but they ime tend to be driven by less experienced/capable riders (a lot of seniors/tourists seem to use them).
Besides, the roads being dangerous is old news while people are mostly unaware of the new dangers on sidewalks which are commonly perceived as safe.
Surprising events that inform about new threats to life do deserve greater publicity.
It would have been ugly.
Granted, there really isn’t a method for transitioning; preparing and educating communities in ways that would be effective these days (notices, meetings, outreach).
Then there’s the matter of service style bikes and scooter being too accessible, as evident here.