Touchy front brakes

Some people are crashing bikeshare e-bikes because the front brakes are
too touchy.
https://www.autoblog.com/2019/04/15/...recall-brakes/

Some discussions on the topic claim the brakes in question are probably
Shimano Rollerbrakes; that is, drum brakes filled with lots of grease.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/rollerbrakes.html One person theorized
that the grease is washing out while the bikes are parked outside,
turning them into "binary" units - on or off. But I don't know if that's
been proven yet.

If any front brake is to be capable of stopping a bike in the shortest
feasible distance, it's capable of dumping a novice who doesn't know to
brace oneself against the handlebars. (Jobst claimed most "over the bar"
crashes were really caused by insufficient bracing; that the cyclist
inadvertently knocked the handlebars sideways as he slid forward on the
bike.) So, given that bike share bikes will be used by lots of novices,
should they purposely be given weak front brakes?

I've long thought that it's a bad idea to have bike brakes with large
mechanical advantage - IOW, that can be locked up with very little
finger pressure. I've seen a novice go OTB the first time she tried to
stop quickly using Shimano Dual Pivot calipers, vs. single pivot caliper
brakes. I suspect OTB happens a lot more these days.

--
- Frank Krygowski