Remove the scooter from the hiking trail: it became scary to go outside

According to eyewitnesses, I was hit by a heavy scooter. He flew at full speed from behind, right in the back. The young fool behind the wheel was momentarily distracted by the phone screen and literally carried me off the curb onto a busy road. He himself flew off to the side, fell, but quickly jumped up and disappeared around the bend.

Luckily for me, at that moment an ambulance was passing by. The doctors saw what happened and decided to stop, although they were in a hurry to call (fortunately, there are still such attentive and responsible doctors).

– Do you need help? the young doctor bent over me.

I continued to lie on the pavement, but, carefully moving my arms and legs and making sure that there was no fracture, I politely refused hospitalization. Although the pain in the leg became unbearable. With difficulty he got up and shook himself a little, went to the emergency room. And here it became clear that he had seriously injured not only the kneecap, but also the hip joint, ankle, both elbows, on which bruises and bruises were blurring.

But the main injury, I will not hide, was inflicted on my psyche. If earlier I walked the streets freely, without fear or fear, then since that day I have been constantly looking around, trying to keep the entire perimeter in the zone of attention. Suddenly, an irresponsible element will fly out from somewhere, attack from the flank or from the rear. In a word, every exit from the house is now like a test.

Scooters appeared on our streets suddenly and en masse. Young people and teenagers rush, especially in the evenings, famously maneuvering among pedestrians. Swiftness and risk amuse their pride, they like how timidly everyone makes way for them. But experience is not enough, so reckless drivers often crash into people, inflicting severe injuries on them, and sometimes taking someone’s life.

It may seem that I deliberately exaggerate. After all, tens of thousands die every year under the wheels of cars – we don’t ban motor vehicles, do we? But there is a significant difference: cars, like all other motor vehicles, move along their own roads and according to their own rules, while electric scooters have occupied the space of pedestrians. Although everyone knows that there should be no scooters, no hoverboards, no unicycles, no other technical means. A pedestrian should not even think about the fact that something or someone threatens him on the sidewalk. Everyone can comfortably talk on the phone, look at a smartphone or read on the go.

However, for some time now, old people, women, young parents, and all other categories of pedestrians have lost their peace of mind. The territory where they always felt safe was brazenly captured by young extreme sportsmen. Not everyone will now dare to go out not only for a walk, but simply on the street. Because at any moment it can be demolished by some bumpkin on a scooter. As my sad experience shows, not everyone has time to jump back, dodge this.

Here is a chronicle of incidents for just a few days of July. In Yekaterinburg, a teenager knocked down a five-year-old child. The boy hit the back of his head on the asphalt, was seriously injured and is in the hospital. In St. Petersburg, a first-grader was hospitalized after being hit. He has a complex craniocerebral injury, a lacerated cheek wound and a concussion. The 19-year-old culprit fled the scene of the accident. In Moscow, a 6-year-old girl was shot down and taken to the hospital. A little earlier, on Profsoyuznaya Street, a young man ran over a 2-year-old child.

And this is not a complete list. The number of victims is growing rapidly. Three years ago, in 2019, a little more than a hundred emergencies with scooters were recorded throughout the country, and last year their number exceeded one thousand. The clashes killed 19 people, 976 were seriously injured.

At one time, all city roadsides, sidewalks, lanes, courtyards, park areas and squares began to be ennobled with curbs and tiles, declaring the interests of pedestrians, their health and safety as the main priority. Like, everyone should be able to walk back and forth for their own pleasure and the public good. And people naively believed in it.

And then numerous firms for the rental of two-wheeled vehicles began to grow like mushrooms after the rain. Monopolists appeared, spreading influence in large cities and regions of Russia. What’s more, it’s easy to do. To rent a scooter, you do not need a driver’s license, no separate equipment, no helmet with ammunition, no experience. No need to learn driving theory, take practical driving lessons, take exams for knowledge of traffic rules. I paid and immediately saddled a two-wheeled horse. This is what the calculation is based on – there are enough gambling fans to drive with the breeze, especially among young people. Accidentally crashed – you can immediately flee the scene of the accident. It is impossible to identify the culprit – they do not have numbers.

Therefore, the question arises – why did they let high-speed electrical engineering among pedestrians? Didn’t foresee, didn’t calculate the danger? Although, I think this is the last thing that the manufacturers of these fast and silent electric cars worried about, the businessmen who profit from selling them, as well as the city officials who allow rentals to risk other people’s lives.

Of course, in some ways scooters even help out when you are late, in a hurry, in a hurry. But it turns out that all these amenities are at the expense of those who are used to walking, who need to go to the store, to the pharmacy, or just go out on the evening promenade. How are they to be? Where can they walk without the risk of being crushed by some reckless driver, who had the mind only to accelerate, but he has not yet thought about how to stop.

You can still dodge an oncoming Schumacher, but what about the one who rushes behind you, whom you cannot see? You can’t constantly look back, afraid that someone is about to overtake and hit you from behind with all the foolishness. In a word, a banal walk turns into an insoluble problem, a dangerous adventure.

According to the current rules, the pedestrian has the exclusive advantage on the sidewalk. If there is the slightest threat to him, the scooter driver is obliged to dismount or move no faster than those walking nearby. But the next point evens out the conditions of the previous one – the speed of the scooter should not exceed 25 km per hour. It turns out that it is quite possible to accelerate to such values?!

As you know, an adult walks down the street no faster than 5 km per hour, the elderly even less, not to mention children, who move the slowest of all. In addition, chaotically, in different directions. And the scooter is allowed to race five times faster, maneuvering among the entire audience of different sizes, exposing everyone to mortal danger.

At the permitted speed, the two-wheeled vehicle runs seven meters per second. What if there is an elderly couple on the way, a young mother with a small child by the hand or in a stroller? Is it possible to dodge? Especially the elderly, who are often frightened, and the reaction is inhibited. How can they escape, avoid a collision?!

For small pedestrians, the risk is even higher – they, on the contrary, have no fear! According to traumatologists, when a child is hit by a scooter or bicycle, the child is injured much more severely. That is, where an adult gets off with a bruise or bruise, the baby risks getting a serious concussion or injury.

In many countries it is illegal to ride a scooter faster than the average walking pace. Above is life-threatening. A blow or push at speeds of even 15 km per hour can be fatal. Although, for me, any transport rushing among the crowd is nonsense. There should be no one in the pedestrian zone except for the pedestrians themselves. Those with whom you can safely pass each other when you meet, and an accidental collision will not be fatal.

But look at what people are talking about in the comments on the Web: is it possible to ride a “goat” in the evening, drunk, together with a girl or with a child? Do I need a helmet, is it allowed to ring the bell? That is, they write about everything, but not about the safety of pedestrians, whose peace they have completely destroyed.

Approximately the same level of discussion in various public councils under the authorities – how to equate scooters with vehicles, make owners obligated to obtain license plates, driver’s licenses, how to strengthen control by the traffic police … Some propose to allow scooters on specially designated streets, in remote areas , at certain times and so on. It just won’t solve the problem. The only and correct way out is to remove the scooter from the hiking trail. At all! You still have to do this, but for someone it may be too late.