Good News for Orthopedists, Bad News For The Riders

Atlanta is plagued with scooters. It's like someone dumped out a bag of rats. Scooter people and bike people are much the same in that they ride like idiots, going against traffic and through red lights as if they didn't exist. A couple of weeks ago, I faced one coming straight toward me in the middle of a major road. It seems he needed to get across the street and going down to the intersection took too long.

I think these things are not going to be long for this world. Wherever they are introduced, ER admissions for orthopedic and head injuries skyrocket. If you get hit in the head by the pavement at 20 mph or by a baseball bat at 20 mph, the injury is much the same and you're spending a lot of time in rehab, or even a nursing home.

At a minimum, helmets should be required but how is that supposed to happen? 10 different sizes of helmets attached to every scooter? People aren't inclined to bring their own. They've been in Atlanta for about a year and yesterday was the first time I saw a rider with a helmet. And this is leaving aside the menace to pedestrians on the sidewalks.

Marietta has already banned them. I think eventually a lot of other places will as well simply as a public health measure, perhaps not outright bans, but restrictive and enforced helmet laws that destroy the market.

It's probably not an accident that scooter companies will not reveal accident statistics. They all say the same thing, safety is our top priority, but the online safety tutorial is not required viewing before renting one, and the requirement to do a basic safety check is buried deep in the legalese of the license agreement that no one ever reads. It also isn't clear that people will know how to check the things they are told to check -- do you know off the top of your head how to check the trueness of the wheels or the condition of the brakes? The fact that they put this in the license agreement instead of making you do it before you ride tells you what the purpose is -- covering their ass.

It is therefore no accident that Bird, one of the largest scooter companies, was instrumental in getting the California legislature to repeal the helmet law for scooters last year. Lime's multipage user agreement specifies that you assume responsibility for everything that happens during a ride, even when it may "result in injury or death to you or others."

You hit a pedestrian? That's your fault and should be. So is falling on your unprotected head. But if the brakes fail? The throttle sticks? Those are also your fault.

Bird's agreement says essentially the same thing. "Rider agrees that Vehicles are machines that may malfunction. Rider assumes full and complete responsibility for all related risks, dangers, and hazards."

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