Quote:
Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!
When comparing escooters to automobile related injuries, you'd want to create an equal comparison. You might find out that maybe like 250k people go to the hospital every year in Canada because of car accidents. That sounds like way more than scooters. But maybe there are like 20 million people taking 100 million trips a year in a car. So it's not actually that much compared to the relatively few scooter users.
It's like the bike comparison. People thought that bikes were way more dangerous because more people went to the hospital with bike injuries. Turns out scooters are more dangerous when you compare the numbers properly.
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But there's a reason why people are using these comparisons to respond to you. Here's what you said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!
Escooters at this point are very risky and very costly to a publicly funded health system.
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Risky, sure. As costly to a publicly funded health system as driving, biking, or even walking? So far not even
close. It's a low-uptake activity, unlike walking, biking, or driving. All three of those cost the health system multiple times more by a wide wide margin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!
Also, hardly anyone gets hurt in a car. You're likely to get in a car accident every 18 years. So what?
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Pretty much the direct reason people are using the car comparison. Hardly anyone? 250,000 people in a year in Canada (your number) is "hardly anyone," but 145 people in a month in Calgary is "a public health concern"? That doesn't make sense. Balancing that out for population and assuming e-scooters hold steady at that number all year (they wont), that would mean that cars account for 6x the amount of injuries at least.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!
It's been determined abnormal in other locations to the point of it being a public health concern.
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I would say no, it has not been determined a public health concern, but the stats do show the rate is abnormal. How abnormal? About the same rate as a motorcycle according to a comparison between the numbers
here and
here.
And where did most of the injuries occur in the CDC report? On the street, where it is already illegal to drive them in Calgary, with many of those injuries due to motor vehicle interaction.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!
We can wait around and do what other places do...limit the number of them, limit the hours they can be ridden, etc. Or just stumble around until we figure it out the hard way. I'm good either way.
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And again, there are limits, this isn't lawless. You must be 18. You cannot ride on roads. They will not be available in the winter. Bird doesn't run after 11pm. You can only have one person on the scooter. The speed is limited to 20km/hr (lower than other jurisdictions). You can't ride them impaired.
You don't have to wear a helmet, but you also don't have to on a bicycle. It's also worth noting that the majority of the 145 injuries appear to be associated with using the scooters in a way that is against the rules.
So what's the go forward plan for you? What's the solution, or is it just complaining for the sake of complaining? If it's going to be the latter, at least stop touting things like "barely anyone gets hurt in cars" or calling 145 hospital visits "very costly" to the AHS when it amounts to just about nothing in comparison to the amount associated with every other form of transportation.