It’s not common to wear helmets - Though the apps advise you to follow helmet laws in your particular city, one of the first deaths involving a shared electric kick scooter was in Texas last year, when a man fell off and suffered fatal head injuries from not wearing a helmet. Can the scooter be blamed?

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Some surveys show people don’t like them - In one survey of 1,500 Americans, about 72% did not want electric scooters in their neighborhoods, with more than half under the belief that the scooters are unsafe.

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But most of those people hadn’t tried them - Only 5% of those polled had ever ridden an electric scooter.

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Contrasting studies - According to another 2018 study made about the new micro-mobility services, including e-scooters, 70% of people across the US viewed electric scooters positively, Entrepreneur reports.

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Vandalism - First it was the people of San Francisco who made headlines by vandalizing scooters, using everything from stickers to feces. LA residents took things to the next level and set scooters on fire, and threw them into the ocean, off balconies, into trash cans, and even into toilets.

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Lack of policing - Along with riding sidewalks and ignoring traffic signs, there is not much regulation for the age of riders. Apps require riders to be 18 and up, but there have been many cases of younger people riding them, with no one to stop them. Many apps do, however, require riders to have a valid driver’s license to sign up.

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In need of some municipal mediation - In response to complaints from city supervisors and citizens, both at public hearings and through vandalism, San Francisco instituted a Powered Scooter Share Permit Program limiting the number of companies that could operate scooters, and the number of scooters each could operate.

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Scooters still beat ride-sharing - Apps like Uber, Bolt, and Lyft can’t compete with the low prices of scooters, which is why they started making their own scooters.

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A tourist tool - According to another study, more than half of scooter users reported that they used the quick transport in tourism as they’re faster than walking. Plus, they don't involve figuring out the metro systems in foreign places.

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Beginning of a transition - As urbanization amplifies, there will be less land around cities to build enough traffic lanes, and the planet won’t be able to absorb all those carbon emissions either. Micro-transit solutions like electric scooters and bikes might be the answer.

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What does the future look like? -

People may very well go out and buy their own electric scooters, which reportedly cost about the same price as a bicycle. Urban transportation and air quality could improve greatly, but will there be casualties along the way?

To help you ponder your decision, check out Commutes from hell: cities with the most traffic.

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Electric scooters: Marvel or menace?

If they haven't taken over your city yet, they probably will

05/09/19 | StarsInsider

LIFESTYLE Technology

Maybe you’ve seen them on the sidewalks, or on the roads. Maybe you’ve seen them piled up, or in gory headlines. Perhaps you’ve envied them, hated them, or were just generally confused about them. Electric scooters are invading, but should you be excited or scared?

Paris, Berlin, Dallas, Vienna, Seoul, Mexico City, Lisbon, Madrid, San Diego, Singapore, and Beijing are just a few of the cities that have become home to shared electric scooters in the last year, taking their transport systems for a spin.

These scooters are generally "dockless," meaning they don’t have a fixed home location, and are dropped off and picked up from random locations in the area. They’re convenient, eco-friendly, and have a long list of benefits, but they’re also seen as a terror in many urban areas.

Unsure of where you stand on this new form of micro-transport? Check out this gallery to see the pros and cons, and decide whether you should start riding one yourself.