this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2024
718 points (98.6% liked)

micromobility - Ebikes, scooters, longboards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility

2260 readers
1012 users here now

Ebikes, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, longboards, eboards, motorcycles, skates, unicycles: Whatever floats your goat, this is all things micromobility!

"Transportation using lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters, especially electric ones that may be borrowed as part of a self-service rental program in which people rent vehicles for short-term use within a town or city.

micromobility is seen as a potential solution to moving people more efficiently around cities"

Feel free to also check out

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

It's a little sad that we need to actually say this, but:

Don't be an asshole or you will be permanently banned.

Respectful debate is totally OK, criticizing a product is fine, but being verbally abusive will not be tolerated.

Focus on discussing the idea, not attacking the person.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 hours ago (7 children)

I would wear a full face one on my e-bike, but I'm worried about looking like a dork.

I guess an alive dork is better than a dead dork, huh?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago

If you're riding a european pedelec (pedal assist) up to 25km/h, bike helmet should be fine, if you're riding electric motorcycle (25km/h+, accelerator) then maybe motorcycle helmet is more appropriate.

[–] pickman_model 10 points 9 hours ago

Or a faceless dork.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 hours ago

You won't look like a dork when road rash makes your face look like Voldemort made out with a cheese grater.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 hours ago

Maybe you can get a mountain bike helmet instead of a motorbike one, I guess the protection is also more adapted to the speed of a bicycle.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago

Depends on your infrastructure, yank.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

This breaks the rider's collarbone. (Still better than not having a face though)

[–] [email protected] 26 points 15 hours ago (5 children)

We have laws which force people to wear helmets, and wear seat belts. These are common sense laws to prevent people from killing themselves. Nobody bats an eye.

This is the example I'd use during covid when people were complaining about masks being against their rights, even when it would protect them from being sick.

My guy, you're someone who wouldn't wear a helmet if the laws had only just changed to enforce them. You're a hazard to yourself.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 minute ago

You're a hazard to ~~yourself~~ others.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

There are people who try to bypass those also, or cheat em. Usually for some personal comfort. One of my sisters was like this. She wasn't that tall, and complained the seat belt shoulder part was uncomfortable, so she'd either not wear it or put that part behind her.

Then someone swung into her lane causing her to rear end em (she was in a moving normal speed lane and they were backed up in an exit lane). Without the seat belt there, what instead slowed her movement forward was the steering wheel shattering her jaw. She's fine now, but a painful lesson that included reconstructive surgery.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

And does she wear a seat belt now?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Yep, I just meant there are too many people who don't use something until they get hurt, or something similar. I have a seatbelts on or I stop driving rule, and I do sometimes have to tell people. Including different siblings from the one who got hurt.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 hours ago

My ex wife was in one of those 1 in 1 million accidents where wearing a seatbelt would have done more damage than not wearing it. Now she never wears her seatbelt because "a doctor" once said in her particular one off experience he was glad she wasn't wearing one. SMH. I tried to explain how wearing a seatbelt is safer in almost every other account, but she doesn't listen. It's just a matter of time till my son doesn't have a mother anymore.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 hours ago

I also have a seatbelts on or I stop driving rule. A lot of people don't want rides from me after I enforce that rule. Like, I'm responsible for their lives as the driver. If they die because they aren't wearing their seatbelts while I was driving, it's my fault for not making them buckle up. I even have seatbelts for my dogs because I want them to be as safe as I am. Passengers lives' are in your hands when you drive. It's really scary if you actually think about it in depth.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 13 hours ago

Always wear an approved brain bucket and gear or become a road pizza.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 16 hours ago (8 children)

Fuck anyone who advocates against wearing a full-faced helmet. Fuck modular too, the kind moto cops wear that pop open... Cuz guess when they'll unfortunately pop open?

There's a fortnine video advocating against wearing armor, that kevlar alone would take care of abrasion injuries etc. You know what I like when I crash? Not getting pebbles embedded into my elbow or knee flesh.

Have fun, get there, and get old.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 14 hours ago (5 children)

Former Motorcyclist here.

The guy I used to ride with died! Collided with a car. He flew off his bike and face first into a pole.

I was never friendly with him. He called me a pussy for wearing a full-faced helmet when we rode, while he was wearing a half-helmet that was like a WW2 replica on his harley. I was the youngest on the ride and he was lecturing me trying to teach me "his ways".

Well, he's a meat crayon now.

The people who are telling you to wear protection are still alive.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (5 children)

My friend had a minor head injury and his doctor advised him to wear a full face helmet whilst riding his bicycle. The cops pulled him over and he had to show them the note the doctor had written about it. I guess the concern is that if your face is obscured they can't track you down if you commit a crime? Still seems pretty dumb to me.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

Cops are just nosy. No justification. They don't like people who look weird. That's how they're trained to think.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

that has to be UK, it just has to be. the CCTV surveillance state is crazy there. (saying this as a Canadian whose face is recorded probably 200 times a day in my city)

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 hours ago

I like my modular helmet that pops up. It's pretty secure and I haven't seen one pop open during an event. They also say they're rated to be protective with the face up or closed.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 23 points 15 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 hours ago

One time I turned too sharp on my then-new ebike and pitched forward head-first into the asphalt.

I was wearing my helmet, so I didn't end up with any damage other than a bit of a scare, but I'm sure if I wasn't I'd've ended up with a chipped tooth or a concussion. Always wear your helmet.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 16 hours ago

It wouldn't have gotten so scratched up if you'd have left it home. Jeez.

(J/K)

[–] [email protected] 104 points 21 hours ago (25 children)

I've never heard of a single person who has regretted wearing a helmet, yet people are still incredibly resistant to the idea.

I just don't get it.

I spoke with a guy, strong cycling supporter with influence in our local government. He made it clear that he views helmets are unnecessary "with safe cycling infrastructure."

While I get the logic, the reality is that a large number of crashes (reported as half) are single bike accidents with no involvement of another vehicle (i.e. car).

This is why, even when you look at the underreported stats from the Netherlands, cyclists have very high rates of head injuries. They don't wear helmets, have the gold-standard cycling infrastructure, yet crack their head open.

The point is, don't be stupid and just wear a damn helmet.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

I've met one; but that case was really stupid: they tried to put on their helmet while cycling and fell. Technically, that accident could have been prevented if they didn't wear a helmet. It could also have been prevented if they put it on before they started cycling though.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

safe cycling infrastructure does nothing to prevent you from having a sudden equipment failure and finding yourself going over the bars face-first, or from just being an uncoordinated idiot who wipes out for no reason and gets a closed head injury. I had a crank fail on my bike once, snapped in half in full sprint and I wiped badly. helmet did its job and I was thankful to have it, because there's no predicting stuff like that

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 47 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (6 children)

One of the most absurd things I've gotten heavily downvoted for on reddit is for saying people should wear helmets no matter how good the cycling infrastructure is. Not that it should be mandated by law, but that it's simply the wise thing to do. Then people are like 'wELL I gUeSs YoU ShOUld THeN wEaR a HElmEt whiLE walKinG tOo'

Fine, then don't wear a helmet. It's not my head.

I didn't use to wear one when I was a kid either but nowdays it feels like driving without a seatbelt. Hell, I might even just take my bike for a test drive around the block after having done some adjustments on it and I still go grab my helmet first.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 hours ago

"Don't you know, our hierarchy of safety controls is so good, we don't even bother with PPE at our site" said no intelligent engineer ever.

Resistance to PPE (helmets) baffling. It's such low effort to wear. I feel naked without it because I'm just used to it (Australia, helmets by law, but also by common sense to me...)

load more comments (21 replies)
[–] [email protected] 44 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Please don't forgot to wear a helmet when riding on 4 wheelers or ATVs. I've seen far too many life changing injuries on those damn things. I forced my own brother to get a good helmet when he had one and it saved his life. He flipped the damn thing on top of him and only came out with a shattered wrist. His helmet cracked like an egg but his head was fine.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 13 hours ago

When my kid was a kid he was riding around on one of those little 50cc quads. They don't go very fast, and he was just on flat, level, ground, so we didn't bother putting a helmet on him. My friend and I were standing there watching him, and chit chatting. My son started getting more daring, and gassing it through figure 8's and almost tipped the quad a couple times leaning the wrong way, so we decided that he should put a helmet on "just in case". A couple minutes later he flipped the quad and broke the face guard of the helmet in half. That would have been his jaw, had he not been wearing the helmet. So yes, even when you're going slow, and just diddling around on a quad, you should always wear your helmet.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Please don't forgot to wear a helmet when riding on 4 wheelers or ATVs.

Also, just because it claims to be an all terrain vehicle doesn't make it true. I would avoid riding these in any wooded areas or on sloped or rough terrain while riding solo.

I work in a trauma ward that has an ATV season. I feel like the stigma of wearing helmets has reduced over the years, as I'm having to put less people in orthopedic helmets every year. However, there are just as many people getting crushed by their vehicles.

4 wheelers have a nasty habit of rolling and pinning their riders. If this happens and you're alone it can easily cripple or kill you. One of the more common severe injuries is having your leg pinned against the motor or exhaust and having your leg or arm slowly cooked to the point where they need to be amputated.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I met a guy in middle school that got pinned under his dad's 4-Wheeler. If he'd not been alone, he could have easily been pulled out, but he was suffocated by the 4-wheeler. No traumatic injuries at all. Just slowly ran out of air.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 15 hours ago

Unfortunately, that's not an uncommon experience. For some reason a lot of parents who normally wouldn't leave their kids unsupervised with a 700 pound piece of industrial machinery, are completely okay with letting them operate and drive a 700 pound piece of equipment with virtually no safety features.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 24 points 18 hours ago

Yeah, got one just like that.

Helmet means full face, fuck everything else.

load more comments
view more: next ›