The proportion of cyclists killed or seriously injured while hiring an e-bike, such as those provided by Lime, Forest or Transport for London, increased from one per cent of all cyclist injuries in 2017 to 17 per cent by May last year.
Has the usage of ebikes as a proportion of cycling gone up by that same amount, more or less? Without knowing that it’s meaningless. I couldn’t find anything in the article to conform that
Exactly. I would suggest that the hire bike riders tend not to wear helmets, and are therefore at more risk of serious head injuries, regardless of how careful they are.
If you think about it, it’d be super crazy if you put thousands of ebikes without helmets onto the streets and found that injuries didn’t increase. People are far too casual about risking brain damage. Even if I was stupid and I knew it, I’d still take care of my brain!
I mean come on. Who thinks it is “right” or even legal to roll through a red light on any type of vehicle…? That’s a shame on the riders, no?
(Not to say they should be hit in the first place and there can always be more of a reduction in cars on the street, etc. etc.)
The article literally doesn’t mention red light jumping once; bit odd to immediately jump to this much overused straw man topic isn’t it?
The video that was provide in the article showed individuals running red lights. That was the basis of my comment.
Ah OK fair enough, apologies. I am a Luddite when it comes to video in news articles and rarely watch them
deleted by creator
I’ll start with I do not ride a bike, and I did not know this. Thinking locally with how US lights work, this makes sense as you are not heavy enough to trigger most lights’ weight sensors.
Sounds like road planning needs to address this failure.
deleted by creator
It’s magnetic induction sensors I believe, you need magnetic materials.
Most bikes are built mostly out of aluminium (or carbon) now, so don’t trigger them.
Not sure who started that myth, but the inductive loops detect any conductive material, like aluminum or carbon fiber, there is no magnetism involved.
They oscillate in a resonant mode oscillator at high frequencies causing eddy currents in ANY nearby conductive material. The eddy currents in the conductive material produce opposing magnetic fields that will reduce the inductnace of the inductive loop, which in turn changes the resonance of the oscillator. The detector senses this change in frequency.
The trick with bikes is to place the bike right above one side of the loop, not stop in the middle of the rectangle.
There were older designs that did use magnets, but like 40 years ago. Civil engineers were well aware of the bike issue.
Wikipedia link for those interested.
Thanks for that, it makes sense when I think about it. It’s been a while since physics class!
I can sometimes get them to trigger by going over the return line to the pavement. Still a big problem for carbon bikes though!
enough to trigger most lights’ weight sensors.
Lights don’t use weight sensors, they use inductive loops that detect any conductive metal. You just need to park the bike right on the lines visible on the road.
Who thinks it is “right” or even legal to roll through a red light on any type of vehicle…?
oh, you have never been a member of a cycling advocacy group. The answer is the ginger guy in dreadlocks.
Who thinks it is “right” or even legal to roll through a red light on any type of vehicle…?
I’d say about 1/3 of cyclists going by the traffic light in front of my house.
