SUVs and trucks are UNIMAGINABLY worse. I’m not a fan of e-scooters, they need a little bit of training to use safely and are still dangerous compared to an ebike. I would rather have ebikes replacing e-scooters everywhere they are now.
However, they are comparatively a nuisance compared to the menace of SUVs and light trucks killing pedestrians every single day.
In Portugal, e-scooters had to be severely regulated as many gruesome and bloody accidents happened because their users entered high speed ways, heavily modified the scooters to achieve over 80km/h speeds, were left abandoned by users of rental services everywhere, invaded sidewalks and endangered pedestrians or public transports lanes.
The ever growing size of cars is a worthy cause of worry: I drive a Ford Ranger for professional reasons and the vehicle is ridiculously cumbersome, wide and clumsy for the roads I have to use. Lawmakers need to cull the auto makers arms race on bulky vehicles.
But lets not overlook that e-scooters are a very big source of traffic accidents by themselves and let this micromobility solution run amok.
Are escooters a “very big source of traffic accidents”? I’m sure there have been crashes and there should be regulations, but are these crashes just much more publicised than car crashes and that’s why you think there’s been a lot?
I have a national entity that collects and processes such data and elaborates the statistics.
Just out of sheer number, car accidents have to be more numerous: more cars, more accidents.
But car related accidents do not have to be fatal by default, or bring severe bodily damage to passengers and bystanders.
escooters have no protection neither for the user nor bystanders, with the added risk factor that a gross number of the users of these scooters invade, willingly, walkways and other reserved lanes, with often serious consequences.
escooters brought an entire new pletora of problems
No, I would argue that e-scooters simply exposed the existing problems in our infrastructure today. As I said in another comment I prefer ebikes to e-scooters by A LOT but people should not be forced to ride 80 fucking km/h SCOOTERS just to get where they are going. It doesn’t happen when there is accessible and affordable transit.
And in cities, pedestrians and bikes (sure scooters too) need to be separated as well. Cities have haphazardly thrown e scooter rentals out there, not thinking about the fact that there is absolutely no infrastructure to support it, and so people are claiming it’s the scooters fault for the city failing to build anything that actually supports these services, and more broadly, failing to build anything that supports alternative modes of transport.
These are considered for all purposes motor vehicles and can use as such any road, except for highways. These even have an incentive for adoption, being exempt of some taxes.
Riding these in a city and getting into an accident follows the same rules; a car hitting one is pretty much screwed, as these vehicles do not have the same defensive capabilities as a car. The average car drivers respects and gives room to these vehicles.
The only blatant flaw for better acommodating these vehicles is the lack of reserved parking spaces, which forces many drivers to occupy sidewalks just like what happens with conventional scooters, and most people understands and tolerates.
By comparison, these have quickly become the bane of safe travelling for allbecause whoever uses these tends to think is better or smarter than anyone else.
These were originally considered equivalent to a bicycle and as such could use those lanes as well as common roads, observing the same traffic regulations (keep to the right, no more than two bicycles side by side, wear helmet, etc). And bycicle accidents are not rampant.
Unlike those contraptions that are constantly seen invading sidewalks and other pedestrian reserved areas and endangering people and animals. There have been several sightings of these machines doing 110km/h in highways; those people are reckless and stupid. Rentals are often abandoned anywhere and everywhere. Users of these often swerve in front or between traffic, invade BUS lanes and endanger themselves and others.
Accomodate these any more? How about some basic civility?
If you’re sitting its a motorbike. If you’re pedaling and it’s under a certain wattage it’s an ebikes. If you’re standing and throttling it’s an e-scooter. I’m not talking about electric mopeds/moyorcycles. E scooters are only acceptable when they’re limited to ~25km/h IMO, but ebikes are still preferable. I’m not saying people should be going 100km/h on a scooter, you’re misconstruing it. I’m arguing that the fact that those people are resorting to using 100km/h death machines signals a problem in infrastructure and alternate modes of transport.
These machines being tinkered with and heavily modified happens almost exclusevely in urban areas where good public transportation already exists.
Every article I’ve read usually boils down to thrills, a hollow sense of being against the system or just disrespect for the place because tourist.
Even giving all the wiggle room for bad reporting, it feels something is very wrong with this particular mode of transportation, in that setting.
I live in a rural area, with essentially no public transportation, and these alternatives have been growing in popularity with no issues. Even the older folks get intrigued and often strike up conversations with the people using it.
Sometimes, Even when drivers leave the road, scooters/bikers/pedestrians somehow get blamed for being too close to a road. It just comes down to what it’s always come down to:
Buy a fucking car or get blamed for everything cause you didn’t buy a car.
It’s the first time I drive one. In my private life I drive either hatchbacks or station wagons (because dogs) which handle and are built very differently.
Shit I wasn’t even going to spoof a car logo, just make a tiny wheat paste sticker with a penis drawing and the words “small utility vehicle” - but your idea is beautiful as well.
I got slightly taken off track when I was too lazy to draw the tiny penis myself and typed “tiny penis” into my search bar.
If anyone would like an A4 sheet of tiny penises to print and glue on SUVs, let me know I’ll finish it. Shaming these motherfucking SUV-owners out of existence maybe works.
I’ve always thought it would be fun to print out a bunch of stickers with sayings like, “I suck a driving,” and slap them on shitty drivers cars. The main opportunity I see for this is when you are trying to cross the street and a car is pulled up in the sidewalk, forcing you to have to walk behind their car. As you are passing you could slap a sticker on their trunk. I think it would be a funny thought of them to find that later and realize they have been driving around all day or week with that thing.
I was just thinking about this today downstairs in the food court at the bottom of the office building I work in. Hundreds of people come through there for the lunch rush to dozens of fast food restaurants (sushi, buritoes, Thai etc), all in the space of less than 30x30m including seating. I was thinking: there’s no way you could do this with a drive through.
I don’t get it either. The chicken sandwich is OK at best. A solid 7/10 just for consistency. Everything else is meh. People seem to like their fry sauce, which is probably required to eat their flat tasting waffles fries.
Americans like sauces and dressings on things. Ranch on everything, unless it comes with their own sauce.
what gets me is the shear amount of paint there is, we drive about 30 miles and most of the way is like this with just little mounds of yellow dust and Im sure it all just washes away in the rain to places we dont want it to end up. Also apparently birds need to eat rocks and stuff to help break down food so they hopefully are just getting the little rocks and not the paint chunks
I was astounded when I saw stats on how many birds get killed by cars every year (I think it was posted here a while back). Its like an ongoing bird genocide. No wonder birds shit all over parked cars. We can’t even fault them for this, but it would also be illegal for us to join in. :D
I’d love to know the difference in average bird fatalities for a busy 4 lane highway vs a double-tracked rail line with overhead catenary.
This isn’t even to mention the other many ways we’re constantly actively contributing to the deaths of birds through suburbia, even indirectly. Aside from the obvious stuff like getting rid of the trees they inhabit in the rare urban areas, we even kill them in the places they can live, by having “outdoor cats” as if they arent an invasive species. Letting them predate on the local bird population can be hugely detrimental!
I think a lot of the comments here mischaracterize chik fil a as another shitty burger joint in a way that would be confusing to people that never seen one. They make really good chicken sandwiches because chicken sandwiches is almost the only thing they make. While most fast food joints might have 1-3 people running it during non-peak hours, chic fil a constantly has a small army in there. I don’t even know how so many people stay busy but that crazy looking line pictured will be cleared out in under 10 minutes.
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