This is a little technocratic, but I wish the safety laws were around kinetic energy (1/2mv²), since that more accurately captures risk factors than talking about just speeds.
I suppose stopping-distance might also be relevant, but there are more factors in there that are harder to measure.
serf•40m ago
it's more nuanced than that.
a slow moving cargo bike has a lot of potential kinetic energy but it's moving slowly enough that a normal human reaction time can deal with it well and maneuver it safely. a bystander can notice the large bike that is moving slowly and make efforts to avoid it.
a much lighter bike going a much faster speed to equal the kinetic energy is a bigger threat to pedestrians up until a certain point.
in other words : a person on a bike doing 60mph is probably more likely to be acting recklessly than someone going a sane speed; thus it's an okay-ish proxy as a metric for a 'responsible driving' score.
Terr_•1m ago
[delayed]
duxup•1h ago
I had a friend who went for a walk and woke up in the hospital. She was on a walking path and some other walkers found her unconscious not long after some ebikes passed them going very fast on the walking path. Debris at the scene seemed to indicate there was a big collision. She still has short term memory issues and headaches.
Some of these ebikes are like tiny motorcycles ... that unfortunately riders are happy to ride all over the place.
Terr_•1h ago
I suppose stopping-distance might also be relevant, but there are more factors in there that are harder to measure.
serf•40m ago
a slow moving cargo bike has a lot of potential kinetic energy but it's moving slowly enough that a normal human reaction time can deal with it well and maneuver it safely. a bystander can notice the large bike that is moving slowly and make efforts to avoid it.
a much lighter bike going a much faster speed to equal the kinetic energy is a bigger threat to pedestrians up until a certain point.
in other words : a person on a bike doing 60mph is probably more likely to be acting recklessly than someone going a sane speed; thus it's an okay-ish proxy as a metric for a 'responsible driving' score.
Terr_•1m ago