New lady rider here with a Honda Shadow 750. I live in SoCal and wear full gear, while I see plenty of people riding around town on scooters in sandals and sun dresses and otherwise partaking in extra-dangerous behavior. No one ever talks about scooters being unsafe, and I’m wondering why that is, and why it’s socially acceptable to maintain unsafe behavior while on a scooter. While scooters can’t go very fast, they also aren’t very nimble, and scooter culture seems to cultivate bad habits. Why is a scooter still seen as a safer alternative to a motorcycle? I assume it has to do with the biker gang stereotype and the accompanying tropes about alcoholism and drug abuse (’cause we’re all 1%s here, right?). I don’t particularly care about social acceptance, I’m just curious what your thoughts are.

For the record, I also see some safe scooter riders out there – nicely done!