I continue to roll my eyes at hand wringing over the danger of scooters when people driving cars kill folks daily. Not quite 5 an hour actually. Also the streets are littered with the damn things.
I do think that these companies need some regulatory control though on basic maintenance and safety checks. Its irresponsible AF for cities to issue them use permits without that.
Helmet regulations I'm eh on. I wear one. But I'm not sure they should be mandated.
Why not mandated, what's your reasoning?
It'll save lives and burden on the medical system.
I continue to roll my eyes at hand wringing over the danger of scooters when people driving cars kill folks daily. Not quite 5 an hour actually. Also the streets are littered with the damn things.
I do think that these companies need some regulatory control though on basic maintenance and safety checks. Its irresponsible AF for cities to issue them use permits without that.
Helmet regulations I'm eh on. I wear one. But I'm not sure they should be mandated.
Why not mandated, what's your reasoning?
It'll save lives and burden on the medical system.
The argument is that getting people out of cars is also a public good, and helmets are a further barrier to that. Especially when talking about things like bike share and these scooters.
I used to be for mandated helmets because it seemed like an obvious thing...I wear one, seems foolish not to, etc. A few years ago a bike advocate I was chatting with at a conference convinced me to at least be eh on it. There are segments of the bike lobby that lose their everloving minds when mandatory helmet or reflective clothing laws come up. I'm not one of those people. I'm just...eh.
There are other battles I'd rather fight that don't have unintended consequences of lowering ridership and ticketing people who can't afford to pay the ticket. Like in this case, actual mandated safety inspections of some sort for companies that charge money for the use of their equipment would go a lot further it seems. And I'm sure that would translate to slightly higher rates, but nothing is free.
I’m not sure how valid this argument is, but at least for skiing there is a thought that people in helmets take more risks and ski above their ability level. I’m very pro-helmet, and a have a coworker who walked away from a ski accident that likely would have been fatal without his helmet. But I can see how helmets might cause a sense of confidence that could contribute to people operating scooters in a way that could be “annoying” to others (weaving in and out, going too fast, etc).
It'll save lives and burden on the medical system.
The argument is that getting people out of cars is also a public good, and helmets are a further barrier to that. Especially when talking about things like bike share and these scooters.
I used to be for mandated helmets because it seemed like an obvious thing...I wear one, seems foolish not to, etc. A few years ago a bike advocate I was chatting with at a conference convinced me to at least be eh on it. There are segments of the bike lobby that lose their everloving minds when mandatory helmet or reflective clothing laws come up. I'm not one of those people. I'm just...eh.
There are other battles I'd rather fight that don't have unintended consequences of lowering ridership and ticketing people who can't afford to pay the ticket. Like in this case, actual mandated safety inspections of some sort for companies that charge money for the use of their equipment would go a lot further it seems. And I'm sure that would translate to slightly higher rates, but nothing is free.
In my state motorcycle helmets aren't mandated, so it seems correlary to not mandate helmets on these. I am also eh.
Post by aliciabella on Sept 10, 2018 17:25:06 GMT -5
I am pretty sure it was the insurance companies pushing for the no helmet rules for motorcycles and it wasn't because they actually gave a shit; comparatively, it was the opposite. Less in medical payouts if their client dies.
I never understood the refusal to wear helmets. I have to wear one on a horse and wear a seatbelt but this isn't a fight I really give a shit about, lol.
The idea is that more biking means less crashes overall, so less injuries in the aggregate even if some people who would have otherwise been fine end up with a TBI. There's 4 other people who never got into a crash at all because of increased bike ridership. Or whatever.
Like I said...eh. I wear mine. I tell people they should wear theirs. But I'm not gonna push for legislation about it until people stop thinking biking for transportation is weird because weve got bigger fish to fry.
Maybe scooters should need them because they're that much riskier? And maybe we don't want to encourage those things at all because they're inherently unsafe.