Re: Electric micromobility devices

As a means to reducing car trips, I consider micromobility [BCMJ 2025;67:187-188] to be a favorable trend, as I am certain its benefits outweigh the risks, both medically and environmentally. I fear there is another recent transportation trend that represents a far greater issue, and it could be called macromobility. Especially as a nonmotorist—a so-called vulnerable road user, or VRU (although I remain unhurt in a lifetime of 428 000 bicycle kilometres)—I am dumbfounded by society’s passivity regarding the burgeoning numbers of giant pickup trucks and SUVs prowling our streets.

Unlike practitioners of micromobility, who essentially remain a threat only to themselves, the growing number of drivers of oversize motor vehicles represents a huge menace to everybody, in four different ways:

• The vehicles are wider than most cars, especially when equipped with large side-view mirrors, and are more likely to make contact when overtaking VRUs and other vehicles.
• The elevated hoods are at neck height, so even if they strike a pedestrian or another VRU at low speed, the victim is likely to be thrown under the vehicle and fatally crushed.
• The vehicles are taller than most cars, obstructing the view of other road users and reducing the visibility of other cars and VRUs, making us more likely to be struck, especially at intersections, where we may seem to appear out of nowhere.
• The vehicles are heavier; therefore, in the event of a collision, their momentum results in inordinate damage to smaller vehicles and their occupants.

Furthermore, the manufacturing and operation of macromobility vehicles have far greater environmental impacts than any other modes of personal transportation.

I invite my colleagues to consider these factors when choosing their next vehicle and to display some leadership in challenging such a disturbing transportation trend.
—Thomas DeMarco, MD
Whistler

This letter was submitted in response to “Electric micromobility devices: Balancing safety with sustainability.”

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