When I was growing up, I was a sci-fi nerd. I loved the idea of cool little electric cars. But the ones I’m seeing around here are huge. We’re also learning that even electric cars are fucking up the environment.
What I didn’t imagine is electric bikes and scooters. So that’s been a cool thing (I have both), but it has downsides too.
I volunteer at a local hospital, and we’ve seen a huge uptick of injuries from people riding electric scooters and bikes. The reason is that more people are on them, but our infrastructure in my city doesn’t support them very well. So people are having to ride on busted sidewalks, roads with no bike lane, etc. So a lot of people crashing them (and not wearing a helmet).
So I think the only we can really reduce car usage is to make the city unfriendly to cars. But that ain’t gonna happen here anytime soon. A strip of road near me actually was finally updated with a pretty wide bike lane last month because it’s close to a school, but holy shit, people in my neighborhood are still bitching about how we didn’t need it and it was a waste of resources. smh
It always annoys me when people act like the e-mobility doodads are the unsafe thing, rather than the hostile infrastructure and giant speeding death boxes that surround them.
Exactly this! Scoot on a nice smooth safe street or sidewalk is pretty safe if you don’t go crazy fast. But add in cars all around you, fucked up sidewalks, etc… it can be a fucking dangerzone every day
I see news talking about some kid on an ebike getting obliterated by an F-950 Child Mutilator Extreme Ranch Lariat and then the newscasters going, “ebikes are so dangerous for children!”
So, the fewer humans argument is popular in countries with a low population density, or generally in the first world where populations have peaked and are projected to decline if they are not doing so already. I’m in Canada. It’s a big talking point here.
When you study demographics, though, you start getting a different picture. 1st worlders have a HUGE per capita resource footprint compared to 3rd worlders. Like 10x or more. Our 40 million punches like 400 million in the developing world, which is not something to be proud of.
The point I’m trying to make is that anything we do in wealthier countries that reduces per capita consumption has an outsized effect globally. A car is over 10x more massive than a bike, and the costs reflect that however you measure it, be it in energy, manufacturing, infrastructure, etc.
When I was growing up, I was a sci-fi nerd. I loved the idea of cool little electric cars. But the ones I’m seeing around here are huge. We’re also learning that even electric cars are fucking up the environment.
What I didn’t imagine is electric bikes and scooters. So that’s been a cool thing (I have both), but it has downsides too.
I volunteer at a local hospital, and we’ve seen a huge uptick of injuries from people riding electric scooters and bikes. The reason is that more people are on them, but our infrastructure in my city doesn’t support them very well. So people are having to ride on busted sidewalks, roads with no bike lane, etc. So a lot of people crashing them (and not wearing a helmet).
So I think the only we can really reduce car usage is to make the city unfriendly to cars. But that ain’t gonna happen here anytime soon. A strip of road near me actually was finally updated with a pretty wide bike lane last month because it’s close to a school, but holy shit, people in my neighborhood are still bitching about how we didn’t need it and it was a waste of resources. smh
The pigs around me like to steal ebikes.
Of course they call it “”““impounding””“” but really it’s just legalized theft. Fucking piss buckets.
It always annoys me when people act like the e-mobility doodads are the unsafe thing, rather than the hostile infrastructure and giant speeding death boxes that surround them.
1.3m people die from car accidents globally every year… silence. One kid knocks over grandma on his escooter… RAAAAGGGEE
Exactly this! Scoot on a nice smooth safe street or sidewalk is pretty safe if you don’t go crazy fast. But add in cars all around you, fucked up sidewalks, etc… it can be a fucking dangerzone every day
I see news talking about some kid on an ebike getting obliterated by an F-950 Child Mutilator Extreme Ranch Lariat and then the newscasters going, “ebikes are so dangerous for children!”
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So, the fewer humans argument is popular in countries with a low population density, or generally in the first world where populations have peaked and are projected to decline if they are not doing so already. I’m in Canada. It’s a big talking point here.
When you study demographics, though, you start getting a different picture. 1st worlders have a HUGE per capita resource footprint compared to 3rd worlders. Like 10x or more. Our 40 million punches like 400 million in the developing world, which is not something to be proud of.
The point I’m trying to make is that anything we do in wealthier countries that reduces per capita consumption has an outsized effect globally. A car is over 10x more massive than a bike, and the costs reflect that however you measure it, be it in energy, manufacturing, infrastructure, etc.