01-17-2011, 08:34 AM
I've ridden scooters in places with low traffic, and it's great where scooters are the norm. People here don't seem very aware of who else is on the road.
My husband came within an inch of losing his leg riding a bike (a full bike) in street traffic, when some lady stopped without warning. So that is the other side of riding them. When I say within an inch of losing his leg, I mean that they had already told him, we have to amputate, and he'd signed the papers, when a relative showed up with the best surgeon in the state, who saved it. Point being, you don't have to be going fast to have a major injury accident. (As a rider, I'm sure you know that.)
I would have to disagree with "people should be encouraged." Saving gas mileage isn't worth life and limb. We have no trauma center on this island, so people who get badly hurt have to hang in there until they can get to Oahu ... not always fast enough to help.
I really have very little faith in the competence of many drivers here, plus the tourists aren't looking where they're going half the time.
My husband came within an inch of losing his leg riding a bike (a full bike) in street traffic, when some lady stopped without warning. So that is the other side of riding them. When I say within an inch of losing his leg, I mean that they had already told him, we have to amputate, and he'd signed the papers, when a relative showed up with the best surgeon in the state, who saved it. Point being, you don't have to be going fast to have a major injury accident. (As a rider, I'm sure you know that.)
I would have to disagree with "people should be encouraged." Saving gas mileage isn't worth life and limb. We have no trauma center on this island, so people who get badly hurt have to hang in there until they can get to Oahu ... not always fast enough to help.
I really have very little faith in the competence of many drivers here, plus the tourists aren't looking where they're going half the time.