In the last five years, #eBikes caused only 3.8% as many injuries as bathrooms. Wear your bathroom #helmets, and shame your friends and family until they stop taking baths
@enobacon I have no skin in any e-bike safety debate, but my skin crawls when I see nonsense statistics.
Only about 7% of Americans use an e-bike at least once a month (according to YouGov), and they likely use them a lot less often than they use the bathroom. Also, bathroom injuries happen disproportionately to people with disabilities or the elderly, because it can be wet and slippery, have sharp corners and edges, and is often visited during the night when balance isn't at its best).
@enobacon But more seriously, as a disabled person myself, I just don't want to see bikes — electric or pedal — at all on pedestrian-only sidewalks or going excessively fast on shared pathways, because the consequences of even a slight collision could be serious for me.
As long as they stay off the sidewalk and keep the speed down (e.g. below 20 km/h) on multiuse paths, then live and let live.
@david_megginson If you look at how the gas scooters are in the bike lanes in the Netherlands, I have bad news for you about the sidewalks here. Transportation agencies need to make wide and low-stress bikeways designed for e-bike commute speeds and passing slower riders, as most people aren't going to mix it up in car traffic even if that's technically the law or even safer by some measures. The old "no place for bikes" saw is what keeps people driving, and traffic Engineers need to fix that.
@david_megginson so as much as I am personally careful if I have to ride on a sidewalk, I'm angry that there was noplace else designed for bikes to be while there are 3-4 giant car lanes mostly empty except for cars whizzing by at fatal speed. It's going to take more than the one person on a bike complaining about it for it to change though, and complaining about bikes on sidewalks won't fix it, you have to complain to electeds about the lack of bike space.
@enobacon I understand. If the sidewalk is empty for dozens of metres in both directions (like some suburban sidewalks), then yes, go ahead and ride on it — I'm not a fan of rules just for the sake of rules.
But if there's anyone else nearby, please get off and walk your bike — even a little wobble could knock someone with thin bones and weak balance over and ruin their life.
It's wrong that drivers are putting cyclists at risk, but it's also wrong for cyclists to put pedestrians at risk.
@david_megginson it's equally impractical to walk a cargo bike with kids on it, as losing the balance to the side you're not on cannot be recovered. If I come to that situation I would stop and wait but have more often have taken the car lane already, especially with power and no kids on. Not everyone can be like me though, apparently, so the choices of others are best modified through infrastructure.
@benclark@david_megginson chair helmet technology is making real strides though, we should have a law that requires them for driving or any sitting in the park or other public spaces.
@enobacon
I'm so sick of the ebike battery fire stories, too. Please compare those stats to gasoline and diesel powered vehicle fires, injuries from BBQs, grills, and campfires.
@neverbeaten@enobacon As the granddaughter of an FDNY Battalion Chief, I assure you the problem and the danger of ebike battery fires in NYC is not overexaggerated.
The industry needs better regulation, absolutely. Yes, the average individual user is not the cause of the danger, it's the fly-by-night shops with mismatched batteries and chargers en masse and attempting to "repair" and reuse batteries, but this is a huge problem in a huge city.
@gcvsa@neverbeaten has the battery fires situation improved by legalizing e-bikes? It seems like when everything is outlawed they would just do whatever. The BMS and per-cell limiting tech seems to have advanced rather quickly though I can see where people without training and resources scrapping stuff together from discarded laptop cells etc could add up to a lot of oh crap moments. Seems like NYC has been more punitive/paternalistic than supportive with e.g. delivery workers on e-bikes.
hundreds of people a decade die in train accidents, whereas not a single person has died in the past decade getting around with rocket-powered-roller-skates like Wile-E Coyote
and yet somehow everybody is sleeping on this incredibly safe and fast mode of transportation
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