They are motor vehicles -- believe it or not
Scooter riders obviously think they're riding a grown up version of a kid's toy. They're not. A scooter is a motor vehicle. They're not a very practical one since they have to be ridden on the road (ride one on the sidewalk in Los Angeles and you'll get a rather expensive ticket -- ~$500) but they don't have the performance to mix safely with traffic. A helmet is advisable because -- as any motorcyclist will tell you -- the main cause of head injury in an accident isn't from the forward motion but the fall. Riding while drunk or stoned should earn you a DUI. (Its a good idea to never drink and ride -- with one exception every biker that I know that's been involved in a significant road crash was returning home from the pub.)
An electric bicycle is a more practical choice provided its ridden responsibly -- its still a motor vehicle. They're relatively safe up to about 15mph -- if you want to go faster get a proper motorcycle and learn how to ride it. Its really easy to get badly hurt on a motorcycle and you don't need a big bike and high speeds to cause significant injury to you or others (I've seen someone shatter two forearms coming off a 125cc bike at around 25mph -- its an extreme case of a dirt bike fall but that's all it took).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
