We use [injury rate / kms traveled] to obfuscate car injuries
Automotive lobbyists. That’s why killing someone drunk driving a car is manslaughter not murder. Scooter lobbying is probably pennies to the dollar of automotive lobbying.
Scooters don’t have odometers making data collection difficult. Similar vein, scooter accidents and injuries are less likely to be reported or linked back to scooters than to cars.
Given cars go significantly farther than scooters that likely makes the output number not very useful and possibly harmful from a marketing standpoint. 1/10,0000kms for cars vs 1/100kms for scooters is not appealing.
Scooters are still new. There probably isn’t enough data yet. Right now a lot of scooter roll outs are in their pilot phase or recently completed it.
Scooter injuries have significantly more/different factors. I friend of mine needed elbow surgery because he lost balance due to a combination of wind, being tall, catching on a tree branch, losing control, side walk disrepair, and bad luck hitting his elbow on a concrete barrier. And he was sober.
I don’t disagree; my point is that these statistics are coming out woth an agenda behind them, whem the total number of annual scooter injuries is half that of car fatalities (2k) alone. And two orders of magnitude smaller than car injuries (119k).
We brush off the massive carnage as daily business (I guess 5x daily) but stress some electric scooters.
We’ve got jurisdiction’s, like Ontario, actively trying to remove safety features for vulnerable road users, and this messaging is part of that endeavour.
If you’re saying the automotive industry is stymieing such statistics, than I fully agree. I think that incentive is a stronger argument than my other speculations.
However I do believe scooters need to be regulated more.
Speed limiters. I’ve seen people going 60kph, passing cars in the bike lane. With no helmet.
Mandatory insurance & licencing. But make it like fishing licenses where its relatively easy/cheap, you’re informed of the rules, sign a contract you’ll adhere to them, and then if you get caught without it or contravening it you’re fined heavily.
Separate mixed use infrastructure. Nothing against bike lanes… but we need to separate cars and non-cars.
Scooters definitely need more regulations. My experience as someone walking in a city with them hasn’t been very positive.
They’ve been frequently tossed on the ground after their use. It’s a rental, and people don’t care what happens to it because it’s not their problem.
They frequently block curb ramps for wheelchairs. Sometimes it’s even the company putting them there (all lined up nicely, just to block the way). Sometimes it’s just people tossing a scooter there after use.
My partner uses a wheelchair so scooters have been a pain in the ass for them.
Safety wise there are problems. The scooter app will tell you to wear a helmet and never ride on the sidewalk (to cover their asses) but no one wears a helmet on them.
A scooter rider hit my partner, then a stationary car once. At another time a scooter hit me and knocked me over (they were speeding down the sidewalk late at night).
But “stupid drivers” also applies to bikes, and cars. And the potential for harm with an F-150 is a lot greater than a scooter
My scooter has an odometer. I’ve travelled 1593 km over a year and a bit. I’ve had about 4 near-misses which resulted in little or no injury and 1 serious accident that resulted in a bad but not severe injury (hematoma and long-lasting muscle strain, I didn’t go to the doctor but I suspect it might’ve been a low grade tear). The bad accident was me crashing into a fence, because I got distracted by dogs.
I think I’m a bit more clumsy than the average rider, but y’all can have my data to start the research.
Automotive lobbyists. That’s why killing someone drunk driving a car is manslaughter not murder. Scooter lobbying is probably pennies to the dollar of automotive lobbying.
Scooters don’t have odometers making data collection difficult. Similar vein, scooter accidents and injuries are less likely to be reported or linked back to scooters than to cars.
Given cars go significantly farther than scooters that likely makes the output number not very useful and possibly harmful from a marketing standpoint. 1/10,0000kms for cars vs 1/100kms for scooters is not appealing.
Scooters are still new. There probably isn’t enough data yet. Right now a lot of scooter roll outs are in their pilot phase or recently completed it.
Scooter injuries have significantly more/different factors. I friend of mine needed elbow surgery because he lost balance due to a combination of wind, being tall, catching on a tree branch, losing control, side walk disrepair, and bad luck hitting his elbow on a concrete barrier. And he was sober.
I think the statistics are still cooking.
I don’t disagree; my point is that these statistics are coming out woth an agenda behind them, whem the total number of annual scooter injuries is half that of car fatalities (2k) alone. And two orders of magnitude smaller than car injuries (119k).
We brush off the massive carnage as daily business (I guess 5x daily) but stress some electric scooters.
We’ve got jurisdiction’s, like Ontario, actively trying to remove safety features for vulnerable road users, and this messaging is part of that endeavour.
If you’re saying the automotive industry is stymieing such statistics, than I fully agree. I think that incentive is a stronger argument than my other speculations.
However I do believe scooters need to be regulated more.
Speed limiters. I’ve seen people going 60kph, passing cars in the bike lane. With no helmet.
Mandatory insurance & licencing. But make it like fishing licenses where its relatively easy/cheap, you’re informed of the rules, sign a contract you’ll adhere to them, and then if you get caught without it or contravening it you’re fined heavily.
Separate mixed use infrastructure. Nothing against bike lanes… but we need to separate cars and non-cars.
Scooters definitely need more regulations. My experience as someone walking in a city with them hasn’t been very positive.
They’ve been frequently tossed on the ground after their use. It’s a rental, and people don’t care what happens to it because it’s not their problem.
They frequently block curb ramps for wheelchairs. Sometimes it’s even the company putting them there (all lined up nicely, just to block the way). Sometimes it’s just people tossing a scooter there after use.
My partner uses a wheelchair so scooters have been a pain in the ass for them.
Safety wise there are problems. The scooter app will tell you to wear a helmet and never ride on the sidewalk (to cover their asses) but no one wears a helmet on them.
A scooter rider hit my partner, then a stationary car once. At another time a scooter hit me and knocked me over (they were speeding down the sidewalk late at night).
But “stupid drivers” also applies to bikes, and cars. And the potential for harm with an F-150 is a lot greater than a scooter
My scooter has an odometer. I’ve travelled 1593 km over a year and a bit. I’ve had about 4 near-misses which resulted in little or no injury and 1 serious accident that resulted in a bad but not severe injury (hematoma and long-lasting muscle strain, I didn’t go to the doctor but I suspect it might’ve been a low grade tear). The bad accident was me crashing into a fence, because I got distracted by dogs.
I think I’m a bit more clumsy than the average rider, but y’all can have my data to start the research.