Cities starting to ban scooters. DC to follow?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Nah, I don’t plan to change. Sucks for you

You're a POS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope they ban the scooters. They should have never been allowed to begin with.

Lol, yeah, it's the scooters that are the problem, not out of control drivers who face zero consequences for dangerous driving behavior. Ban cars instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate them. The expectation that people on scooters have that other people on sidewalks will get out of their way drives me nuts. Just because they are on a motorized vehicle that enables them to move much faster than other pedestrians doesn't mean it's my job to leap out of the way when they want to zip by.

It's a motorized vehicle that could harm a pedestrian in a collision. It's worse than a non-electric bike on a sidewalk, IMO.

I hate them. The expectation that people in cars have that other people will get out of their way drives me nuts. Just because they are on a motorized vehicle that enables them to move much faster than other pedestrians doesn't mean it's my job to leap out of the way when they want to zip by.

It's a motorized vehicle that could harm a pedestrian in a collision. It's worse than a non-electric bike on a sidewalk, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, PP, we get it -- cars are worse than scooters. Environmentally and in terms of harming people. Yes, I agree. But we live in a society that has designated a space for cars and the cars largely stay in that space.

Motorized scooters are a new addition and there's no safe place for them in the current infrastructure. They go too fast on sidewalks to be safe for pedestrians (and yes, people on scooters act entitled to have pedestrians move out of their way even though pedestrians are using the sidewalks as designed and shouldn't be expected to yield in that space). They are not fast enough for bike lanes, and of course it would not be safe for scooters to be in car lanes.

We went through this with bikes, too -- for a long time cyclists wanted to be able to use sidewalks because they didn't like being in the street with the cars (understandably). But pedestrians need a space that is just for them.

I'd support moves to ban cars from certain streets, increase taxes on cars and driving, and change the infrastructure focus away from cars and towards public transportation and alternative modes of transit. But none of that changes my opinion on scooters, which is that they are unsafe on sidewalks and endanger pedestrians.

Maybe if we created more carless streets, scooters could use the streets. Let's lobby for that instead. Keep them away from pedestrians who need to have safe walkways preserved.

I'm 100% in favor of micromobility lanes. The solution is not to ban scooters, it's to create safe micromobility infrastructure.

The vast, vast, vast majority of pedestrians who are injured or killed in traffic are injured by drivers of cars. To say "drivers largely stay in the space designated for cars" ignores the people injured or killed when drivers go out of that car space, as well as the people injured or killed when people have to go into that car space.

+100000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paris is voting Sunday on whether to ban scooters. People are sick of them — they ride too fast, they go on the sidewalks, they leave their scooters everywhere. Copenhagen, Helsinki have imposed new restrictions. London wants to require people to get licenses. I would love it if DC banned them outright. They are a menace.

While we’re at it, let’s ban cars too. They are a menace that kill tens of thousands of the living population and are making the planet unlivable for everyone that comes after.

I was just in Manhattan for a week and walked everywhere. Not once did I fear for my life from a car, but the scooters and bikes in the bike lanes were a menace. No one obeyed the lights so stepping off the curb into the bike lane to cross the street was terrifying, and not only right after the light changed. My son narrowly missed getting hit very hard by a scooter, and I had two close calls with bikes that would have ended badly because they were going so fast. I would much rather walk amongst cars where the behavior of the drivers is more predictable and most follow the lights. It was the opposite for the bikes and scooters.

Cars are predictable because nearly everyone follows the law. Bikes and scooters are far more unpredictable because most seem to see traffic laws as something that’s for other people.

How many cares use their blinkers and yield to pedestrians? Most don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is wrong with scooters? They don't have an impact on the air quality and they make it so people can get from one place to another faster than walking.

My issue with scooters is that they are left lying everywhere on the sidewalk. It didn't occur to me what a major issue it was for people with mobility issues until I watched an elderly lady have to get help maneuvering her walker around a scooter. I imagine it's an even bigger issue for people in wheelchairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Paris is voting Sunday on whether to ban scooters. People are sick of them — they ride too fast, they go on the sidewalks, they leave their scooters everywhere. Copenhagen, Helsinki have imposed new restrictions. London wants to require people to get licenses. I would love it if DC banned them outright. They are a menace.

These cities aren't banning scooters. they are limiting rental scooters. People can still own them and use them or rent them and use them, just not the ones that are left on the streets without oversight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paris is voting Sunday on whether to ban scooters. People are sick of them — they ride too fast, they go on the sidewalks, they leave their scooters everywhere. Copenhagen, Helsinki have imposed new restrictions. London wants to require people to get licenses. I would love it if DC banned them outright. They are a menace.

While we’re at it, let’s ban cars too. They are a menace that kill tens of thousands of the living population and are making the planet unlivable for everyone that comes after.

I was just in Manhattan for a week and walked everywhere. Not once did I fear for my life from a car, but the scooters and bikes in the bike lanes were a menace. No one obeyed the lights so stepping off the curb into the bike lane to cross the street was terrifying, and not only right after the light changed. My son narrowly missed getting hit very hard by a scooter, and I had two close calls with bikes that would have ended badly because they were going so fast. I would much rather walk amongst cars where the behavior of the drivers is more predictable and most follow the lights. It was the opposite for the bikes and scooters.

This. Manhattan has so much congestion and streets that are not car or speeding friendly (narrow, lots of one ways, very few places where you can pick up speed before you have to stop) so the dangers of cars are heavily mitigated. People on scooters and bikes who don't feel they have to obey any rules at all, and are not inhibited by the size of their vehicle, pose a bigger threat.

In my DC neighborhood, there are two places where I worry about cars and am super vigilant. But I worry about scooters and rogue cyclists everywhere when it comes to my kid. Scooters are especially bad because they are mostly on the sidewalk and because I don't get the sense that users are in great control of them either (at least most regular cyclists have very good control of their bikes, most people don't use scooters enough to have that kind of mastery -- I've seen so many people just fall over on them in the middle of the sidewalk because they don't know how to control the speed or how to stop).

You may not be aware that in DC bikes do not have to stop at stop signs.

Yes they do. This is not true and is the problem with the Idaho Stop law in that it facilitates this belief. Bicycles are required to stop at stop signs unless there are no other vehicles or pedestrians present. That is the law. Stop breaking the law and please cycle safe so that everyone can be safe. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paris is voting Sunday on whether to ban scooters. People are sick of them — they ride too fast, they go on the sidewalks, they leave their scooters everywhere. Copenhagen, Helsinki have imposed new restrictions. London wants to require people to get licenses. I would love it if DC banned them outright. They are a menace.

These cities aren't banning scooters. they are limiting rental scooters. People can still own them and use them or rent them and use them, just not the ones that are left on the streets without oversight.

Paris is not limiting rental scooters. Paris is banning them entirely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paris is voting Sunday on whether to ban scooters. People are sick of them — they ride too fast, they go on the sidewalks, they leave their scooters everywhere. Copenhagen, Helsinki have imposed new restrictions. London wants to require people to get licenses. I would love it if DC banned them outright. They are a menace.

These cities aren't banning scooters. they are limiting rental scooters. People can still own them and use them or rent them and use them, just not the ones that are left on the streets without oversight.

Paris is not limiting rental scooters. Paris is banning them entirely.

Nope. It is rental scooters only. Private owners of e-scooters will not be affected at all.

Source: CNN and a two second google search

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paris is voting Sunday on whether to ban scooters. People are sick of them — they ride too fast, they go on the sidewalks, they leave their scooters everywhere. Copenhagen, Helsinki have imposed new restrictions. London wants to require people to get licenses. I would love it if DC banned them outright. They are a menace.

While we’re at it, let’s ban cars too. They are a menace that kill tens of thousands of the living population and are making the planet unlivable for everyone that comes after.

I was just in Manhattan for a week and walked everywhere. Not once did I fear for my life from a car, but the scooters and bikes in the bike lanes were a menace. No one obeyed the lights so stepping off the curb into the bike lane to cross the street was terrifying, and not only right after the light changed. My son narrowly missed getting hit very hard by a scooter, and I had two close calls with bikes that would have ended badly because they were going so fast. I would much rather walk amongst cars where the behavior of the drivers is more predictable and most follow the lights. It was the opposite for the bikes and scooters.

This. Manhattan has so much congestion and streets that are not car or speeding friendly (narrow, lots of one ways, very few places where you can pick up speed before you have to stop) so the dangers of cars are heavily mitigated. People on scooters and bikes who don't feel they have to obey any rules at all, and are not inhibited by the size of their vehicle, pose a bigger threat.

In my DC neighborhood, there are two places where I worry about cars and am super vigilant. But I worry about scooters and rogue cyclists everywhere when it comes to my kid. Scooters are especially bad because they are mostly on the sidewalk and because I don't get the sense that users are in great control of them either (at least most regular cyclists have very good control of their bikes, most people don't use scooters enough to have that kind of mastery -- I've seen so many people just fall over on them in the middle of the sidewalk because they don't know how to control the speed or how to stop).

You may not be aware that in DC bikes do not have to stop at stop signs.

Yes they do. This is not true and is the problem with the Idaho Stop law in that it facilitates this belief. Bicycles are required to stop at stop signs unless there are no other vehicles or pedestrians present. That is the law. Stop breaking the law and please cycle safe so that everyone can be safe. Thank you.

+1. I love how bikers AND scooters think it’s legal, and apparently safe, to blow through stop signs. I don’t feel bad for these people when they have accidents. Dangerous driving is, of course, also a problem. There’s no reason we can’t address multiple traffic problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paris is voting Sunday on whether to ban scooters. People are sick of them — they ride too fast, they go on the sidewalks, they leave their scooters everywhere. Copenhagen, Helsinki have imposed new restrictions. London wants to require people to get licenses. I would love it if DC banned them outright. They are a menace.

While we’re at it, let’s ban cars too. They are a menace that kill tens of thousands of the living population and are making the planet unlivable for everyone that comes after.

I was just in Manhattan for a week and walked everywhere. Not once did I fear for my life from a car, but the scooters and bikes in the bike lanes were a menace. No one obeyed the lights so stepping off the curb into the bike lane to cross the street was terrifying, and not only right after the light changed. My son narrowly missed getting hit very hard by a scooter, and I had two close calls with bikes that would have ended badly because they were going so fast. I would much rather walk amongst cars where the behavior of the drivers is more predictable and most follow the lights. It was the opposite for the bikes and scooters.

This. Manhattan has so much congestion and streets that are not car or speeding friendly (narrow, lots of one ways, very few places where you can pick up speed before you have to stop) so the dangers of cars are heavily mitigated. People on scooters and bikes who don't feel they have to obey any rules at all, and are not inhibited by the size of their vehicle, pose a bigger threat.

In my DC neighborhood, there are two places where I worry about cars and am super vigilant. But I worry about scooters and rogue cyclists everywhere when it comes to my kid. Scooters are especially bad because they are mostly on the sidewalk and because I don't get the sense that users are in great control of them either (at least most regular cyclists have very good control of their bikes, most people don't use scooters enough to have that kind of mastery -- I've seen so many people just fall over on them in the middle of the sidewalk because they don't know how to control the speed or how to stop).

You may not be aware that in DC bikes do not have to stop at stop signs.

Yes they do. This is not true and is the problem with the Idaho Stop law in that it facilitates this belief. Bicycles are required to stop at stop signs unless there are no other vehicles or pedestrians present. That is the law. Stop breaking the law and please cycle safe so that everyone can be safe. Thank you.

The data is clear that Idaho stop reduces traffic fatalities.

[Anonymous]

I mostly want both scooters and cyclists off the sidewalks!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mostly want both scooters and cyclists off the sidewalks!!

And yet, you oppose bike lanes, so...

[Anonymous]

I don’t understand why DC and Baltimore allow dirt bikes, quads, and no helmets.

Shouldn’t they ban those first?