When I read the following article of an elderly man being hit by a bike rider it makes me think why are bicycles allowed and electric scooters aren't allowed. Both represent a degree of risk but electric scooter with their lighter weight and slower speeds are far more pedestrian friendly on shared paths.
Reportedly the cyclist was going along at 22kph. Even as an elderly slow cyclist I can maintain a speed of around 18kph. In addition my bike weight around 18kg and if it was electric, probably around 20-24kg. When on an electric scooter when passing people it's usual to pass others at close to walking distance. People walking are the most unpredictable group when you're travelling. They can stop immediately and go left or right without warning. How many times do people bump into you whilst walking through shops. Imagine if every day you drove someone bumped into you!
It really doesn't make sense why we have cyclists with much heavier weights and higher speeds moving amongst pedestrians when in Victoria electric scooters aren't encouraged.
Out of interest I decided to do some very rough maths. The only thing I could think of which would allow me to compare was comparing an object's kinetic energy. Let's say you're standing still and someone else runs into you. How much kinetic energy do they have?
Assumptions
Person 70kg
Bicycle 18kg
Scooter 12kg
Walking 4km/h
Running 9.9km/h
(Used the average of 9.7 minutes per 1.6km based on data from this site.)
Scooting 15km/h
Cycling 22km/h
All the above figures are estimates and not based on any scientific evidence. In essence, used for obtaining an approximate comparison.
The formula for kinetic energy is ½mv2 where m is mass and v is velocity. The result is expressed in joules (j). Now we can calculate the kinetic energy for each situation.
Person walking 560j
Person running 3,430j
Person scooting 9,225j
Person cycling 21,296j
We can see from the above the considerably larger kinetic energy of a person cycling compare to a person using a scooter.
There will always be people that aren't considerate of others whether they're cyclists, scooters, or pedestrians. We just all need to slow down and be more considerate of each other.
Kelvin Eldridge
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