E-Scooter incidents

[Rebelcloud]

Is anybody in the UK concerned about these two recent serious E-scooter incidents and the potential repercussions for EUC riders?

[Coffee guy]

.. Reference please ?

[Retrovertigo]

Yeah I saw that sad news about TV presenter Emily Hartridge https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/9499566/emily-hartridge-dead-electric-scooter-crash-london/

I don't mean to sound cold or callous, but because she is somewhat famous, I fear it will bring far more negative press toward scooters than it might otherwise have done with a member of the public. You can imagine a knee jerk reaction toward this. Despite the fact that walking, cycling, driving etc are all equally as dangerous. 

[Rebelcloud]

1 hour ago, Coffee guy said:

.. Reference please ?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jul/13/tv-presenter-emily-hartridge-dies-in-scooter-crash

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/electric-scooter-crash-london-beckenham-emily-hartridge-death-battersea-a9005416.html

One day apart, TV presenter died, 14 year old boy in critical condition

[Rebelcloud]

1 hour ago, Retrovertigo said:

Yeah I saw that sad news about TV presenter Emily Hartridge https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/9499566/emily-hartridge-dead-electric-scooter-crash-london/

I don't mean to sound cold or callous, but because she is somewhat famous, I fear it will bring far more negative press toward scooters than it might otherwise have done with a member of the public. You can imagine a knee jerk reaction toward this. Despite the fact that walking, cycling, driving etc are all equally as dangerous. 

It's gutting......Also not wanting to sound cold, not because of the death; but gutting because of the way the Government and Police generalise everything into the PLEV (personal light electric vehicle) bracket. Harking back to when those cheap ass hoverboards were exploding all over the place.

Its just a very unwanted negative focus on what we do. 

I heard that the Met police said they would confiscate the equipment from anyone found to be riding on roads or pavements

 

[Werner]

Waiting for the day they begin to confiscate cars because of accidents where people came to death............

This holy cow will never be touched! 

[meepmeepmayer]

And let's not forget these so called "escooter incidents" and other "new-electric-thingie incidents" are actually car incidents. They didn't get hurt by other scooters or bicycles or magic leprechauns!

Edited July 16, 2019 by meepmeepmayer

[Rebelcloud]

1 hour ago, meepmeepmayer said:

And let's not forget these so called "escooter incidents" and other "new-electric-thingie incidents" are actually car incidents. They didn't get hurt by other scooters or bicycles or magic leprechauns!

Agreed

[nute]

It is tragic that anyone is injured in an accident but any form of transport carries a risk. The U.K. government is currently reviewing the laws on scooters because there is a lot of enthusiasm for making them legal and the congestion and pollution reducing benefits this may bring.

Many many bike users are involved in accidents every day but the benefits thier use brings outweigh the negatives. 

Sadly someone wellknown being involved will bring negative publicity and no one will mention the deaths or damage to health caused by pollution in London.

[LanghamP]

4 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

And let's not forget these so called "escooter incidents" and other "new-electric-thingie incidents" are actually car incidents. They didn't get hurt by other scooters or bicycles or magic leprechauns!

That 14 year old kid hit a bus stop. And many (most?) crashes, albeit usually harmless, on eScooters are solo crashes.

The stupid tiny front wheel of the eScooter is to blame for the 100 times rate over bicyclists.

Injuries, injuries, injuries...but so far over the millions of rides we only have 8 deaths in the US with 1 or 2 in the UK. In comparison, bicyclists have already several hundred fatalities (but far fewer injuries). Is the eScooter more likely to get injured while conversely less likely to die?

There's swarms of rideshare eScooters in my neighborhood. And when I drive around I notice something very interesting.

The eScooter rider stands out like nothing I've seen as a driver.

You can spot the moving eScooter rider from a mile away. I think it's because we humans have evolved to spot other humans (when standing). In contrast, I notice the bicyclist is somewhat hard to recognize. And the pedestrian can also be somewhat hard to spot, as they don't move as much (most just seem to stand very still waiting for cars to pass).

In addition, every eScooter wobbles like mad. This also helps them to be seen.

I'm actually pleasantly surprised at how visible eScooters are. In my area they are used by the old and young, as both pleasure and to get to work/school, and their usage rate is extremely high. They seem to be well-loved, and haters who try it even once are instant converts.

It's insane they get legislated against when I see more of them being used than bicycles. My bicycle is 20th century whereas the eScooter is with the times. Certainly the average speed of the puny eScooter is higher than a purely mechanical bicycle.

Amusingly, I notice a lot of riders of eScooters don't brake at stops; they simply run/hop off while picking up the scooter by the handlebars.

[Lillian]

8 hours ago, Retrovertigo said:

Yeah I saw that sad news about TV presenter Emily Hartridge https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/9499566/emily-hartridge-dead-electric-scooter-crash-london/

I don't mean to sound cold or callous, but because she is somewhat famous, I fear it will bring far more negative press toward scooters than it might otherwise have done with a member of the public. You can imagine a knee jerk reaction toward this. Despite the fact that walking, cycling, driving etc are all equally as dangerous. 

Kind of like when former President Bush fell off of a Segway. Not to mention the "the creator of the Segway died on a Segway" mis-truth used as an argument against Segways (originals, not the small ones). 

Edited July 16, 2019 by Lillian

[Retrovertigo]

I'm sure if they could find a way to monetise the use of scooters on the road, they would make the legal tomorrow.

[LanghamP]

8 hours ago, Retrovertigo said:

don't mean to sound cold or callous, but because she is somewhat famous

Is it just me or was anyone else more disturbed that a 35 year old woman had a 27 year old boyfriend than her actual death?

A 35 year old "Instagram Influencer", never married with no kids, dying on an electric scooter that her younger boyfriend gave her, skirts the line between tragedy and comedy. Gosh, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[LanghamP]

1 hour ago, Lillian said:

Not to mention the "the creator of the Segway died on a Segway" mis-truth used as an argument against Segways (originals, not the small ones). 

He wasn't the creator of Segway or of its machines. His death is more akin to someone buying a car then crashing it, thereby killing himself.

Here is a list of inventors killed by their own invention.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_inventors_killed_by_their_own_inventions

[Lillian]

4 hours ago, LanghamP said:

He wasn't the creator of Segway or of its machines. His death is more akin to someone buying a car then crashing it, thereby killing himself.

Here is a list of inventors killed by their own invention.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_inventors_killed_by_their_own_inventions

Oh, I know. I used to own a Segway i2 ('Mall Cop' version) and endured a lot of that falsehood that I quoted. 

[Rebelcloud]

7 hours ago, LanghamP said:

Is it just me or was anyone else more disturbed that a 35 year old woman had a 27 year old boyfriend than her actual death?

A 35 year old "Instagram Influencer", never married with no kids, dying on an electric scooter that her younger boyfriend gave her, skirts the line between tragedy and comedy. Gosh, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Laughing is inevitable

[LanghamP]

15 hours ago, Lillian said:

Oh, I know. I used to own a Segway i2 ('Mall Cop' version) and endured a lot of that falsehood that I quoted. 

Apologies. I saw the quotes but didn't understand them in the context of the sentence.

[Lillian]

8 hours ago, LanghamP said:

Apologies. I saw the quotes but didn't understand them in the context of the sentence.

All good 

[Jonathan Tolhurst]

Police in London are currently having a crackdown:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-49127427

 

[Esso]

There's no indication that the Youtube girl was speeding on her scooter or doing anything illegal.

At the same roundabout she died, this happened:

London cyclist was killed at city's first "segregated" roundabout - which critics had said was "hugely complicated"

So their plan of action is to crack down on scooters?

[Esper]

2 minutes ago, Esso said:

So their plan of action is to crack down on scooters?

I think it's all a public image thing. The public is upset and want the police to do something so they are.

[Nic]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9548695/emily-hartridge-boyfriend-electric-scooter-gift/

Quote

"...Police told Jake a fellow road user had caught the incident on his GoPro camera. It showed Emily riding in the cycle lane before appearing to hit a bump in the road and being jolted into the path of the passing lorry..."

 

I found this news today and it was very sad because I regularly watch her you-tube videos and was wondering why there were no new videos for the last 2 weeks. Now i know...

[Nic]

This article about scooter in Copenhagen is interesting...

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jul/15/invasion-electric-scooter-backlash

Quote

 

In one night last weekend, 24 e-scooter riders were stopped on suspicion of riding while over the legal alcohol limit, and four more for some form of narcotic intoxication, superintendent Allan Teddy Wadsworth-Hansen said. They face fines of up to 2,000 krone (£240).

One of the motorcycle officers standing in Frederiksborggade, a main route into the heart of Copenhagen’s night life, stopped one rider and breathalysed him. Then a second arrived who had also been drinking. “While he’s still trying to process the first one, a third e-scooter turns up with two people on it,” Wadsworth-Hansen said. “When they see the police, they try to slow down. The woman on the back falls off – she wasn’t hurt seriously – and the driver turns out to be driving under the influence of alcohol. And then a fourth one approaches, and he has also been drinking.”

Although there is sometimes a spike in the number of car drink-drivers over the summer, “you would never get four drivers in a row over the limit,” Wadsworth-Hansen said. “It doesn’t really bode well for e-scooters late in the evening, because drinking and driving is dangerous.".

 

 

[ir_fuel]

Of all e-scooter riders visiting the emergency services in Brussels, 50% is drunk.

[LanghamP]

24 minutes ago, ir_fuel said:

Of all e-scooter riders visiting the emergency services in Brussels, 50% is drunk.

This is a good outcome because you want people to make aggressive life choices without fatal consequences.

Go out with friends, get drunk, get on an eScooter, bust a lip or suffer a concussion, visit the socialized emergency room, be sore for a few weeks, and laugh it off as high adventure.

In contrast to the 35 year old YouTube star: she hits a bump, falls, then gets killed by a driver.

Ridiculous that minor errors result in fatalities in our modern industrial world. We make the modern world safe except for the instant death automobile. Does anyone realize how ludicrous this is?

I mean, suppose you wanted to die from a shark attack. You have to go to the beach, find a damned shark big enough, cut yourself, and maybe then you might be completely unharmed. Or die from AIDS. You'd have to get on a plane to San Francisco, and find a bunch of men to have receptive anal sex with, and then wait ten years not taking your vitamins.

In contrast to being killed by a driver, you merely have to step out onto the street.