In congested areas, bikes and scooters also use sidewalks to avoid traffic jams

I wish we were more like the Netherlands when it comes to road safety. When a car accident happens, a crew comes out to anaylze the incident and determine if there is any way to make the infrastructure itself safer and help prevent a similar accident. This is very effective because unlike policies, rules and signs there is a physical element to safety (raised crossings, seperated and protected bike lanes, narrow lanes lowering speeds). This physical element is much more effective at preventing accidents than a similar rule would because the physical element can help prevent human mistakes.

For example a wide 2 lane road in a school zone is a 40km/hr road with a painted divider line, a painted crosswalk in front of the school, and a yellow crosswalk sign. There is very little actually preventing a car from exceeding this speed limit. A safer design might look like 2 physically seperated and narrow lanes passing the school with a speed limit of 20 or 30 km/hr. The crosswalk is now raised to sidewalk level, even more narrow, and coloured. It is similar to a very large and wide speed bump. The crosswalk also has a pedestrian island in the center to make crossing easier. The crossing sign has been replaced with a crossing signal. Some efforts may also be taken to prevent this road from being a pass through route by proiritizing a different road to carry passing traffic.

You should read the article. It, and the accident victim, are calling for scooters to be legalised and regulated.

This is a good take. Pedestrians frequently get hit by automobiles and often times it can just be considered a "no fault accident". Where is the out cry then for safer streets, better visibility regulations, and lower speed limits?

It seems so dystopian to hold pedestrians, transit and cyclists to such stricter conditions and expectations than cars are held to. Roadways are able to bankrupt cities but politicians get furious if a bus route doesn't make their city money.

You wouldn't believe how many times I've personally almost been run over while on bike because of that, but even worse, when crossing the street the after the light turns green. Most drivers don't look the way they're going, and instead solely pay attention to the colour of the pretty lights overhead like three month olds.

Pedestrians/wheelchairs should ALWAYS be separated from vehicles (and that's including bikes) with physical barriers, and bikes separated from cars with physical barriers anywhere the speed limit's greater than 20km/h. And speed limits shouldn't be enforced with simply signs, but actually physical barriers that prevent speeding, like regular turns or speed bumps.

Drivers are so entitled in this country that they complain about being ticketed by the police when they're the ones knowingly breaking the laws. Laws that exist because people kill each other due to carelessness if it wasn't for these laws! And people DO kill each other constantly despite these laws! I mean, if most statistics didn't lump in cars together with all other accidents, cars alone would be the 11th leading cause of death in the States!

They go fast enough to outpace bikes. There is absolutely no reason these should be on a sidewalk.

I mean really, infrastructure should be in place to allow for proper mixed use transport where bikes and scooters wouldn't need to share the road with cars, but the solution is not to instead share the sidewalk with pedestrians.

I used to rollerblade on the sidewalk. That was until an old lady beckoned me over and said "if you hit me, you'll break my hip, and I'll die."

If e-scooters are on the sidewalk to be safe, where do the pedestrians go to be safe?

So long as they aren’t going full speed while on sidewalks and they’re adjusting their speed according to the number of pedestrians, I fully agree. Sometimes you have to go at a walking pace on a crowded sidewalk, and if it’s an empty suburban sidewalk with clear visibility, I see no problem at all.

The article covers that. Outright bans get ignored, regulation keeps major offenders in check. It's like the war on marijuana