Ahead of the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)—also known as COVID-19—pandemic leading to California’s statewide shutdown, electric scooters suddenly vanished from many San Diego County communities. Local governments didn’t want the things cluttering the streets. But, as life returns to some semblance of normalcy, scooters creep back onto the streets, something like cockroaches emerging from Nuclear Winter.
Still, sightings are rare enough in my neighborhood that today I was surprised to see this lone Lyft parked at Alabama and El Cajon, where sits BLVD North Park, which is located in University Heights. If you can’t build real estate in the location you want, pretense naming is your solution.
The electric scooter backlash was as much about rider safety as the two-wheelers being left anywhere and everywhere. Most people zip along without (gasp) helmets! But that’s a non-issue during the post-pandemic recovery, if you ask me—and, of course, no one has. Before COVID-19, my guess is that 70-percent or more of people riding bicycles wore helmets. Now that face masks are mandatory, many folks choose one or the other but rarely both. Among the bicycle riders that I see, perhaps two out of every 10 wear helmets. Masks are almost as rare. Earth to numbskulls figuring risk: Protect your head, not your mouth. SARS-CoV-2 contamination out of doors is a lot less likely than a catastrophic crash.
So now that most no one riding anything around the neighborhood dons noggin protection, electric scooters certifiably fit the new non-safety protocol. Isn’t cultural capitalism something strange to behold? Yesterday’s taboo is today’s trend.
As for the Featured Image, captured using Leica Q2, composition is as shot. However, in post-production, I drew out highlights, two-thirds desaturated, and punched up Magenta to closely keep Lyft’s signature color wheel hubs. Vitals, aperture preset and manually focused: f/2.8, ISO 100, 1/1600 sec, 28mm; 9:14 a.m. PDT.