S/O Fireworks - other dangerous things that make your skin crawl, like electric/motorized scooters

[wintermom]

We have so many motorized scooters for rent in our cities in Canada, and these drive me crazy. The privately owned ones are even worse, as they tend to be used by younger children. There are many people flying along roads at 20 - 30 mph, sometimes even passing traffic, often wearing no helmets, I'm afraid of taking one out by accident if they hit a little bump or rock or swerve into traffic suddenly. Just nuts!

Are these a thing in other cities in the world, or has Canada found our own version of crazy?

Edited July 6, 2023 by wintermom

[Terabith]

They’re very popular here.  All of our bikes for rent were replaced with electric scooters.  

[bookbard]

E-scooters? I feel exactly the same. Someone died here the other day from hitting the kerb and falling and hitting his head. Legally you have to wear a helmet but of course some people don't. They have had deaths from riders hitting pedestrians (ie the pedestrian dies), they have had deaths from riders being hit by cars. They are so dangerous.

Re fireworks, they are illegal in Australia except one place, who still have fireworks night, and like clockwork someone (male) blows his hand off, as did a few days ago. 

[mommyoffive]

Yep, we have them in our small town.  

[wintermom]

14 minutes ago, Terabith said:

They’re very popular here.  All of our bikes for rent were replaced with electric scooters.  

I was happy to still see rental bikes in Old Quebec City. I can't imagine e-scooters working at all on the old cobble stone streets. Besides the fact that there's no room for scooters on the streets at all with the number of tourists, cars and parked cars.

[kbutton]

1 hour ago, wintermom said:

Are these a thing in other cities in the world, or has Canada found our own version of crazy?

Yep! A college town that friends and family live in has these, and they are not terribly impressed, especially on nights when drunk college students are using them!

Let's add trampolines (except for acrobats and kids who would turn every environment into parcour), doing things in flip flops other than showering or hanging out on the beach, and teenagers on anything motorized with wheels, lol. We used to live near neighbors that would send their young teen up and down the street on some kind of motorized dirt bike going too fast, just for fun. Apparently they think neighborhood streets are great places to be illegal. Sometimes a sibling on a skateboard would hold onto the back of the dirt bike for fun. It was great when I had little kids I had to worry about (otherwise, we were on a long cul-de-sac). Same teens later drove like bats out of you-know-where with regular vehicles. 

[mom2scouts]

Yes, we have them here in our college town. Last fall a student was riding one on a busy street at night, was hit by a car, and died. At a recent street festival, teens were riding them through the crowds. They get left all over the city blocking the sidewalks. I'm not a fan.

[Arcadia]

For my country of origin, personal mobility devices (PMDs) have been the cause of quite a few house fires. Since majority of the people there live in high rise apartment buildings, it is a worry there.

[katilac]

This is a super-specific one, but my mom's neighbor has a trampoline for the kids. Jutting against the chain link fence. And the net enclosure has long since broken and gone. 

For those not familiar, chain link fences are made of steel wire woven into a diamond pattern, and then there's a bit of wire that pokes above the top pole. 

Potential impalement definitely makes my skin crawl.  

[Terabith]

I have to say I think electric scooters look very fun.....  But like you really should be wearing a helmet.  

[wintermom]

56 minutes ago, Terabith said:

I have to say I think electric scooters look very fun.....  But like you really should be wearing a helmet.  

The push ones are perfect. The speeds are appropriate and riders get a good feel for the actual speed they are going. Not so with electric scooters. And the speeds they are built to achieve are just stupid.

[kbutton]

I forgot, but one of DH’s relative stopped too fast on one of these and broke a wrist. Could’ve ended his career (works extensively with his hands in a niche field).

[itsheresomewhere]

Those scooters and people who have no idea how to use them scare me.  Along with the lack of helmet use with them. It amazes me how some really don’t see how they can get hurt on them.  They race in and out of traffic, have almost run over a few walkers, etc. 

[athena1277]

I haven’t seen any on the street, but I don’t like hoverboards.  A friend was using one and fell.  She hit her head on a tiled kitchen floor.  Serious concussion and had a seizure while in the hospital.  I gave my kids a big lecture and banned them from ever getting on one.

[Shoeless]

Unpopular opinion, but I dislike golf carts. A lot of people here have them and I just don't get it. 

You're supposed to get a license plate for them, but hardly anyone does. You're also not supposed to drive them if you don't have a license, but I see young teens and tweens toodling around in them all the time. 

[footballmom]

I second the dislike of golf carts. Especially adults who have enjoyed a few adult beverages who think it’s a good idea to pile their young children into the golf cart and drive around our neighborhood streets at dusk. With no headlights.

[Kidlit]

Ditto on golf carts.  I almost hit one in my own neighborhood. 

[Carrie12345]

These stupid things. You can rent them for joyrides near me. Like our roads aren’t scary enough. 

[Annie Elle]

Our small college town has those scooters. I don’t think there have been any deaths but there have been serious injuries. I never see anyone using a helmet and they drive them really fast along the roads and side walks.

There are a lot of golf carts in our neighborhood. People will have their golf carts in their garage while their cars are in the driveway or along the road. Sometimes I feel like we are the only ones without a golf cart. The prices for golf carts have sky rocketed and I can’t imagine paying more for a used golf cart than we have paid for most of the cars we have owned in our marriage. We have had issues in our neighborhood with kids driving golf carts erratically. I have almost been hit by a kid driving a golf cart. I will say that issues with the golf carts have decreased because kids driving golf carts erratically (or anyone) will typically generate someone putting a post on our Facebook neighborhood page with warnings that it is illegal and dangerous.

[Wheres Toto]

We just had someone move into our neighborhood and they have a golf cart.  They are the first ones as far as I know.   We aren't a very large neighborhood, but we do have a neighborhood pool that seems to be the purpose of the golf cart.   But the pool is literally 1/4 mile from the house and this person is fairly young and fit.     Golf carts are always huge things in campgrounds, usually among older retirees, but since the speed limits are usually around 15 mph and some people only have huge RVs as their other vehicle, they seem to make more sense.  

Around here all the kids riding ATVs make me cringe.    We have a kid who is about 10 riding one up and down our very hilly, curvy street all the time.   Sometimes with other kids riding on the back.    

[Soror]

 

10 hours ago, Shoeless said:

Unpopular opinion, but I dislike golf carts. A lot of people here have them and I just don't get it. 

You're supposed to get a license plate for them, but hardly anyone does. You're also not supposed to drive them if you don't have a license, but I see young teens and tweens toodling around in them all the time. 

 

10 hours ago, footballmom said:

I second the dislike of golf carts. Especially adults who have enjoyed a few adult beverages who think it’s a good idea to pile their young children into the golf cart and drive around our neighborhood streets at dusk. With no headlights.

 

7 hours ago, Kidlit said:

Ditto on golf carts.  I almost hit one in my own neighborhood. 

Around here golf carts aren't really a thing anymore. They have been replaced by side by sides. These are fine if you are driving at a normal speed on your own property and wearing the seat belts. However, people let little kids drive them. People drive them without seat belts. People drive them like maniacs. And lastly, people drive them on the regular highways. It's one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. We've worked so hard to make cars safer and now people are going back 100 yrs and driving things without any protection with vehicles many times their size.

We have an abundance of idiots here. By golly this is America and they can endanger their lives if they want. That's all well and good but at the minimum, it should be child endangerment to let kids drive side by sides on public roads. It is just way too dangerous.

[ScoutTN]

I hate those scooters! They zip and zoom through traffic and pedestrians in downtown Nashville all the time. So dangerous, for the scooter riders and everyone else! The city banned them once, but they’re back. 

[ScoutTN]

Here, to drive a golf cart on a public street, even in a quiet neighborhood, it has to have a real windshield, lights, seatbelts, bigger tires etc. But they are still dangerous and we know people who have been badly hurt in them.

[fairfarmhand]

I haven’t seen them in awhile but skate shoes. My oldest wanted them so bad when she was in middle school but I thought they were a broken wrist waiting to happen.

[ktgrok]

18 hours ago, wintermom said:

We have so many motorized scooters for rent in our cities in Canada, and these drive me crazy. The privately owned ones are even worse, as they tend to be used by younger children. There are many people flying along roads at 20 - 30 mph, sometimes even passing traffic, often wearing no helmets, I'm afraid of taking one out by accident if they hit a little bump or rock or swerve into traffic suddenly. Just nuts!

Are these a thing in other cities in the world, or has Canada found our own version of crazy?

Timely! I almost hit a kid on one of these just yesterday! She came zooming out in front of me from a side street. I’m sure she didn’t see me coming due to cars parked on the side of the road, but scared the pants off me! And I was going extra slow due to police cars on the street! Had I been going faster I’d likely have hit her. 

[ktgrok]

15 hours ago, Terabith said:

I have to say I think electric scooters look very fun.....  But like you really should be wearing a helmet.  

If one is on the street in one they need to follow street laws though, and they do not. 

[wintermom]

1 minute ago, ktgrok said:

Timely! I almost hit a kid on one of these just yesterday! She came zooming out in front of me from a side street. I’m sure she didn’t see me coming due to cars parked on the side of the road, but scared the pants off me! And I was going extra slow due to police cars on the street! Had I been going faster I’d likely have hit her. 

I had the exact same this happen to me! It's frightening, because I don't want to kill anyone - truely. I'm not driving to the grocery store with murder on my mind. I have no idea what is on the mind of the people putting themselves in these crazy situations. Carefree and thoughtless, I'm guessing.

[annandatje]

Living beings in the bed of moving pickup trucks make me shudder.

[Shoeless]

3 hours ago, Soror said:

 

 

 

Around here golf carts aren't really a thing anymore. They have been replaced by side by sides. These are fine if you are driving at a normal speed on your own property and wearing the seat belts. However, people let little kids drive them. People drive them without seat belts. People drive them like maniacs. And lastly, people drive them on the regular highways. It's one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. We've worked so hard to make cars safer and now people are going back 100 yrs and driving things without any protection with vehicles many times their size.

We have an abundance of idiots here. By golly this is America and they can endanger their lives if they want. That's all well and good but at the minimum, it should be child endangerment to let kids drive side by sides on public roads. It is just way too dangerous.

I've only seen a few of those side by side things. They haven't taken off here, I think because you can't pile as many people into them as a golf cart. 

I didn't even realize these things had seatbelts, (because I've never seen anyone wear one while driving them).

[Soror]

50 minutes ago, Shoeless said:

I've only seen a few of those side by side things. They haven't taken off here, I think because you can't pile as many people into them as a golf cart. 

I didn't even realize these things had seatbelts, (because I've never seen anyone wear one while driving them).

They have side by side with back seats and mini beds. 

[Terabith]

Apparently one of our neighbors just bought a golf cart, and their 13 year old is driving it up and down the street, with no headlights.  Grrrr.  And Aslan won't come home.

[Kela]

ATVs, ATVs, ATVs-I absolutely hate them. Kids riding on the back of golf carts without seat belts. Fireworks.

The kids tire of me harping on these things, but with the profession I am in I know the dangers too well and it just turns my stomach inside out know what can happen.

 

 

[wintermom]

1 hour ago, Kela said:

ATVs, ATVs, ATVs-I absolutely hate them. Kids riding on the back of golf carts without seat belts. Fireworks.

The kids tire of me harping on these things, but with the profession I am in I know the dangers too well and it just turns my stomach inside out know what can happen.

 

 

I know what you mean, when you're in a profession related to safety and injury. I was a life guard for years and then worked in injury prevention research. I can't unlearn and unsee the things I've learned and seen. They still haunt me. I'd have made a crap ER nurse, dr, or paramedic. 

[wathe]

My experience with e-bikes* and e-scooters is not so much that they are inherently dangerous, but rather that they attract disproportionate number of users who can't get a driver's license (often for good reasons, related to past dangerous driving behaviours or other incapacity).  At least they don't usually go on highways -- unlike motorcycles, which are also very high on my  dangerous things that make my skin crawl list.   Right up there with fireworks, and well above backyard trampolines.   Motorcycle trauma cases are horrific.

ETA: should have said my experience with e-bike/e-scooter injury cases.  I've never personally used either.

Edited July 8, 2023 by wathe

[SHP]

1 hour ago, wathe said:

My experience with e-bikes* and e-scooters is not so much that they are inherently dangerous, but rather that they attract disproportionate number of users who can't get a driver's license (often for good reasons, related to past dangerous driving behaviours or other incapacity).  At least they don't usually go on highways -- unlike motorcycles, which are also very high on my  dangerous things that make my skin crawl list.   Right up there with fireworks, and well above backyard trampolines.   Motorcycle trauma cases are horrific.

ETA: should have said my experience with e-bike/e-scooter injury cases.  I've never personally used either.

This has been my experience when talking to people who own them trying to get an honest review of them from someone who has gone car free. 

[Carrie12345]

22 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

Here, to drive a golf cart on a public street, even in a quiet neighborhood, it has to have a real windshield, lights, seatbelts, bigger tires etc. But they are still dangerous and we know people who have been badly hurt in them.

Golf carts aren’t allowed on public streets at all here. Nor are 4-wheelers, side by sides, dirt bikes, etc.  BUT, we have lots of private roads in the area… and people who don’t care about laws.  
Admittedly, my kids sometimes drive a friend’s 4-wheeler, but in a private field.

 

[kbutton]

12 hours ago, wintermom said:

I know what you mean, when you're in a profession related to safety and injury. I was a life guard for years and then worked in injury prevention research. I can't unlearn and unsee the things I've learned and seen. They still haunt me. I'd have made a crap ER nurse, dr, or paramedic. 

My whole list upthread comes from DH's stories from work or a friend's from hers, including the flip flops. 

[heartlikealion]

Golf carts with kids because there are no doors and helmets or car seats and I don't know if they have/use seatbelts. I don't think they do. In my dad's town you can drive a golf cart on a public road. I actually don't seem them usually unless I go to the super congested touristy part of town where parking is limited and the roads feel cramped. 

ATVs really bother me. They are so dangerous and you see teens/young adults using them with no helmet.

Kids riding on riding mowers. Get the kid off the mower! Just mow the d@mn yard without the kid. 

[ktgrok]

I have these same issues/concerns, and I don't work in a medical field but my mom was a nurse, and passed the concerns down to me. Fireworks are awful. DH likes them so we just do the fountain type and are SUPER careful about doing them on top of something very flat and even and not flammable, and use a long thing to light them, keep kids WAY back, have fire extinguisher right there plus a bucket or hose with water. And nothing crazy. 

NO to trampolines. Just no. Orthopedic or neuro incident waiting to happen. 

[kbutton]

17 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

NO to trampolines. Just no. Orthopedic or neuro incident waiting to happen. 

DH recently saw a patient that waited days to come in after hurting herself on a trampoline (adult). She had an unstable neck fracture and is so lucky that nothing had shifted while she delayed.