Scooters are dangerous. In a typical “biking is dangerous” article we get the usual scary stuff. It’s easy to hop onto a scooter and kill yourself. Well, yes, it is. It always was. That the vehicle is increasing in popularity due to rising transport costs does not mean that we will see an epidemic of road casualties as a consequence.
There is a conflation in the article between compete novice with no road sense whatsoever and the experienced driver who is looking to use the scooter as a means of reducing commuting costs. The latter rider will already have the road sense – I know, I’ve taught such people. They are also aware of the potential dangers and tend to have a more mature approach – probably because they are more mature, eh?
All in all, this article tells us nothing we did not already know and ramps up the fact that riders are more vulnerable on the road. We constitute a small quantity of the overall road population but our casualty rates are much higher. Largely because we are more vulnerable in the event of an incident. A minor bump between two cars is usually little more than an exchange of insurance details and on their way. A motorcyclist could well be a hospital admission or worse.
So, yes, we know this.
The best defence is defensive riding instilled early on during the initial training. CBT is but a start. A pretty crude start, frankly, being a day’s instruction on basic machine control with little time for anything else. Ideally the rider will come back for more and following a test pass will continue to improve their learning. However, like their four-wheeled counterparts, many do not. The big risk factor is during that experience gaining period where they can control the machine but have not yet fully developed their roadcraft. Training during this period helps. However, I go back to my original point – the target of this article is the experienced driver who is now hopping onto a scooter. These people already have that roadcraft, consquently, they are a lower risk.
So, no news here. Nothing to see.
It’s also easy to hop on a pushbike and kill yourself, but an expansion of pedal cycling is regarded by the politically correct as entirely a good thing.
I did similar on bikes. It just needs your wits about you and a bit of vision. Plus a bit of confidence.
Push-bike riders would be a lot safer if they bothered using the cycle lanes that the local tax-payer has contributed a lot towards.
Not always. Some cycle lanes appear to have been designed during moments of drunken insanity.
Not the ones I am referring to. These are very good; clear of the road, both sides of the road (a dual carriageway), with no traffic lights on one side, two sets on the other (four for the motor vehicles), and still the numpties – usually the lycra-clad ones – block up the nearside, no matter what the traffic density is.
Yeah, I see that, too.
Curmudgeon’s point is a good one – you need licensing and registration for a scooter, and nothing at all for a pedal bike. So we’d expect to see them with a far, far lower accident rate, wouldn’t we?
Causing mischief again are we, Julia? 😉
Wait’ll you see the post I’ve got scheduled for 15:45 today … 😉
As if…
Yeah; bus-stops in cycle-lanes, pedestrian barriers in the middle of cycle lanes, the dreaded Bow floyover, etc.
One point, scooters, IMNSHO are inherently less safe tha either a pedal cycle or a “proper” motor-bike (even an old Honda 90)
Why?
Wheels are small.
Gyroscopic dynamic stabilty is automatically less than a larger-wheeled vehicle.
Noticeable on pedal bikes too ….
Which is why I don’t particularly like scooters. Give me a nice big heavy bike any day 😉
XX Ideally the rider will come back for more and following a test pass will continue to improve their learning. However, like their four-wheeled counterparts, many do not.XX
I have also noted a difference in those that do, between cage drivers and real people.
A biker with advanced training is good at what he can do in regards to road safety, thinking ahead, taking the correct line, etc.
Cage drivers taking the equivalent course seem all of a sudden to think they are bloody Graham Hill, or Jacky Stewart, an no one can touch them, and that THEY are the best driver on the road, and therefore nothing can happen to them.
“Volvo mentality”, which does not happen very often with bikers. (Allowing for the fact that in every walk of life you WILL get idiots that prove the exception to the rule).
I’ve seen the Volvo mentality on two wheels – they just think that their crotch rocket makes them invincible and just have to pass everything that appears in front of them irrespective of the conditions. As you say, every walk of life has its idiot factor.
Whenever I see the term “cage driver” or “cager” in an article or comment I immediately think “closed mind”.
Perhaps motorcycling is becoming the new smoking. Or the new speeeeeeding.
Following the money, they are cheaper to tax and fuel compared to a car. Even lager bikes that burn more fuel than some cars make up for this by their ability to filter in heavy traffic.
Meanwhile, a trip over to the Motorcycle Action Group site reveals interesting times in the European Parliament……….
XX Maaarrghk! says:
February 6, 2012 at 10:14
Perhaps motorcycling is becoming the new smoking. Or the new speeeeeeding.XX
You really havr not been “into” motorcycles for very long, have you?
This shit was going on against bikers before smoking had been bloody INVENTED!