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Comment by eyelidlessness | Hacker News Reader

> Scooter driving in an illegal manner? Charge the driver and the company.

As someone who frequently has to dart myself and my puppy out of the way of these jerks—almost always on a narrow sidewalk beside a busy arterial—this kind of sounds nice. But I can’t imagine how it would work. Even if I could scramble fast enough to snap a picture while keeping pup safe, would it be actionable?

As it is, on the rare occasion it’s just me out walking I’m content to play chicken with them and try to hold my ground. But I don’t take those chances with pup, and trying to get evidence (however useful) would involve the same risk.

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I’m guessing the reason the jerks are driving on the sidewalk is because the roads are unsafe for them. Maybe cars (the vehicles making the roads unsafe) are the real problem?

I hope the US would rebuild streets for people and bikes, not autonomous vehicles.

The majority of Americans are too overweight and unhealthy to travel any meaningful distance by bike.

Yes, and.

Mixing operation of motorized vehicles in the same space with vulnerable humans and their pets is the real problem. Operating them on the sidewalk is an instance of and amplification of the same problem.

I’m wildly sympathetic to the anti-car position, but I’m not at all sympathetic to excusing motor scooters on sidewalks in the interest of advancing that position.

In Japan, many cities don’t even have sidewalks—pedestrians share the same space with cars/bikes/motorcycles. Because everybody understands that it's a shared space, people drive cautiously, resulting in safer streets. Sometimes separation is not the answer!

Well, that’s great for people in those cities in Japan, but it doesn’t do me much good in my own city where car and scooter drivers are not remotely so cautious.

Works the same in NYC. Cars are more careful because otherwise they’d hit cyclists, pedestrians, scooters and skateboarders.

Can’t say the same about other US cities.

    dart myself and my puppy out of the way of these jerks

Imagine what problems cars would cause if traffic regulations were not enforced.

Look at all the infrastructure, rules, regulations and surveillance we maintain to make the use of these large, heavy, loud, air polluting vehicles possible.

Why not put some effort into making the use of small, lightweight, silent, clean vehicles possible?

    snap a picture while keeping pup safe, would it be actionable?

Since the scooters have license plates, it should be actionable. Additionally, the scooters have pretty precise GPS. Which would in the majority of cases support the accusation of driving on the sidewalk.

> Why not put some effort into making the use of small, lightweight, silent, clean vehicles possible?

What for? So that they can extract more money and let the rest of us deal with the externalities?

This is the people telling those companies that they create too much hassle for what they contribute. People are still welcome to have their own lightweight, silent, clean vehicles. The various start-ups who came here were just too much of a pain for everyone.

> Why not put some effort into making the use of small, lightweight, silent, clean vehicles possible?

It’s already possible. The effort you seem to be requesting is the effort I already described as dangerous to me and my pup. If I’m understanding correctly: that’s why. Because it’s dangerous to me and my pup.

If I’m not understanding correctly, please feel free to clarify what effort you think I should be making to better accommodate these vehicles by which I wish not to be hit.

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