[IL-Talk] Fwd: Fw: Article from Atlanta Journal-Constitution News Section 2019 09 01

[Jemal Powell]

Here is an interesting article I recently read in the Atlanta Journal
Constitution about Atlanta's issues with motorized scooters.

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From: Jemal Powell <derek2872 at yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 2:11 PM
Subject: Fw: Article from Atlanta Journal-Constitution News Section 2019 09
01
To: Jemal Powell <derek2872 at gmail.com>




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*Sent:* Sunday, September 1, 2019, 01:25:30 PM CDT
*Subject:* Article from Atlanta Journal-Constitution News Section 2019 09 01

AJC CONTINUING COVERAGE ELECTRIC SCOOTERS Scooter debate pits freedom vs.
safety Atlanta and other major metro areas are struggling to regulate the
scooter revolution, even as fatal accidents mount. BY: Stephen Deere Staff
Thousands of electric scooters appeared on sidewalks and street corners
almost overnight. In clogged neighborhoods -- including Atlanta's downtown,
Midtown and Buckhead--they offer a cheap alternative form of transport that
can be faster and less frustrating than walking or driving. Urban planners
hail the devices as a potential solution to smog and gridlock, while some
pedestrians deride them as a public nuisance. How cities have responded to
the sudden emergence of scooters has become a test of government creativity
and competence. The results have been mixed, at best. "I don't think
anybody in the nation has seen what a truly successful scooter program
looks like," said Jason Redfern, parking enterprise manager for Austin,
Texas. In Atlanta, a city known for streetscapes that cater to automobiles
over all other forms of transportation, establishing appropriate guidelines
for scooters is a task that continues vexing public officials. "We have a
lot to do," said City Planning Commissioner Tim Keane. "Atlanta, arguably
more than any city in America, because we have so phenomenally designed our
streets for one thing -- I mean every inch of our streets. Big streets.
Little streets. It's incredible. Three people have died in scooter
accidents on Atlanta streets since May, and a fourth person was killed just
outside the city limits in East Point. Metro Atlanta now leads the nation
in scooter-related fatalities, according to available data. Atlanta Mayor
Keisha Lance Bottoms has promised a new plan to help better integrate
scooters into the city's transportation system while the City Council holds
town hall meetings and debates new regulations. But the ongoing experiment
caused by scooters popping up in cities across the nation already provides
plenty of ideas for what works. And what doesn't. There have been pilot
programs and studies; technology to track scooter use; and mandates to
deploy scooters in a way that supports public transit. Whether cities
embrace the technology or ban it seems to depend largely on population size
and density. Urban areas have become increasingly popular places to live,
and their resurgence has come with a price -- more cars, bottlenecked roads
and air pollution. Most expect those problems to get worse, which could
force city planners to consider the potential of scooters to help end a
reliance on cars. Atlanta responds slowly Electric scooters are two-wheeled
devices, rented for short periods of time from a smart phone application.
They are generally used for short trips that are too long for a walk and
too short for a drive. Maximum speed varies, but is typically about 15
miles per hour. In the spring of 2018, fleets of electric scooters appeared
in major urban centers throughout the country. Atlanta officials can't say
with any degree of certainty exactly how many first appeared on Atlanta
streets when Bird deployed the initial batch. Within a couple of months,
the fleet expanded when Lime parked their own models on Atlanta's
sidewalks. It was the same story pretty much everywhere. "They were dropped
off in the dead of night," said Redfern, of Austin. Cities from Boston to
San Francisco initially banned scooters, only to allow them back after
establishing guidelines that severely restricted their numbers. Austin also
instituted a temporary ban, but then established a permitting program that
was more permissive in the number of scooters allowed to operate in the
city. Atlanta responded more slowly. The City Council began discussing
regulations in July 2018, just two months after the scooters first emerged.
But those discussions dragged on for months. By the time the City Council
passed regulations in January, there were thousands of rentable scooters
zipping through streets and littering sidewalks. Atlanta eventually
permitted nine companies to provide more than 12,000 scooters combined. The
companies say only 5,500 are actually out on city streets. But City Council
President Felicia Moore says she's not sure that count is accurate because
the information is self-reported monthly by the companies. "Nobody has any
way to actually count them," Moore said. Scooters on sidewalks Austin took
a different approach -- requiring companies to obtain permits for
individual scooters deployed, which allows the city to more closely track
their numbers at any given time. Denver also had companies supply a list of
vehicle identification numbers for each scooter in their fleets, and
mandated that they provide real time data and monthly reports on crashes,
average trip distances, complaints and maintenance. At least 15 large
cities permit scooters on the sidewalks, including Chicago, Tampa, Fort
Lauderdale, Detroit and St. Louis. Denver's guidelines define them as toys,
and initially required that they be ridden on sidewalks. But Denver City
Council last week voted to ban them from sidewalks unless they were
traveling at 6 mph or slower. In Oregon and California, the question had
already been decided by state laws that ban them from pedestrian paths.
Atlanta's ordinance also bans scooters from sidewalks, but that provision
is largely ignored. Police didn't begin enforcing Atlanta's sidewalk ban
until June, shortly after the city saw its first scooter death. Two more
people died the next month -- most recently 37-year-old Amber Ford, a
mother of two. Ford's husband, Justin, told the AJC that the couple was
shooed off of sidewalks by pedestrians as they rode scooters earlier in the
day. "We were getting fussed at for being on the sidewalk, so we moved into
the street," Ford said. The concern about having scooters on sidewalks
stems from how quickly and quietly they pass by pedestrians. With scooters
moving at up to 15 mph, a pedestrian making an unexpected turn into a shop
could result in a collision, said Sally Flocks, president and chief
executive officer of PEDS, an Atlanta-based pedestrian advocacy group. "You
can't mix pedestrians and scooters at the speed the scooters are moving,"
Flocks said. An Atlanta Police Department spokesman said the department
hadn't issued any official directive to stop enforcing the sidewalk ban in
response to the deaths. "The mode we're in right now is educational,
largely," police spokesman Carlos Campos said. Andre Dickens, chair of the
City Council's Transportation Committee, said he isn't sure how the
sidewalk provision made it into the scooter ordinance. But Dickens said it
may be time to consider reversing it. After Ford's death, Bottoms
prohibited rentable scooter use between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. 'A perfect
strike' The sight of half a dozen scooters laying on their sides and
littering sidewalks has become a everyday occurrence across the city. The
slightest bump can knock them over like dominoes, creating widespread
tripping hazards. John Plantaseed, who uses a wheelchair, told the City
Council that scooters have been violating the Americans With Disabilities
Act "since Day 1. "Every time I go somewhere, there's scooters blocking the
sidewalks," Plantaseed said. "Now I just run them over (in his wheelchair).
I made a perfect strike on Saturday. There was eight of them lined up on
the sidewalk in Little Five Points. I took all eight of them out. Like
Atlanta, San Francisco suddenly had scooters plopped down on its streets.
The city received countless complaints about blocked sidewalks. As part of
its scooter program, San Francisco made the companies equip their fleets
with locks so that the devices can be secured to racks and kept upright
when not in use. City officials said the number of complaints dropped
significantly afterward. The locks have "proven to be one of the most
successful aspects of our program," said Erica Kato, a spokeswoman for the
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. In Denver, companies must
paint designated parking zones and ensure scooters are parked at transit
hubs during the day. Crashes tied to serious injury Scooters haven't
existed long enough to be subjected to rigorous scientific scrutiny. But
two early studies found that crashes usually result in serious injury, and
that there isn't sufficient evidence that the devices reduce traffic
congestion. In Austin, the city asked the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease
Control to perform a first-of-its-kind study of scooter injuries just five
months after the devices appeared on streets there. Half of the injuries in
Austin were classified as "severe," defined as bone fractures, severe
bleeding, organ injuries, a hospital stay of more than 48 hours and nerve,
tendon or ligament damage. About half of those accidents involved head
injuries and almost none of the riders wore helmets. All of those
statistics likely minimize the number of people hurt while riding, the
study says. "This study was limited to investigating only those injured
riders and non-riders who sought care at a hospital emergency department or
had care provided by emergency medical services," the study says. "The
number and characteristics of injured riders seeking medical care at an
urgent care center or physician's office were not determined. Often a
single statistic is used to justify enthusiasm for scooters: one-third of
all rides replace a car trip. But the statistic is based on a survey of
only 4,500 people in Portland, Oregon. That study also found other factors
might offset scooters' purported contribution to reducing congestion:
Forty-two percent said their most recent scooter trips replaced lower
emission transport such as walking or biking; and private contractors who
collected the devices in their cars or trucks to charge them overnight
added to traffic. "The extent and overall impact to the transportation
system and traffic congestion is unknown," the study concluded. Atlanta to
create dedicated lanes As Atlanta struggles to adopt a new form of mobility
because of its potential to reduce traffic, several suburban communities
are waiting to see how the issue plays out -- or have already ruled out
having the devices altogether. Scooters are banned in Marietta, Nor-cross,
Smyrna and Woodstock. Tucker, Snellville and Lilburn have instituted
temporary bans while they decide what to do. Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon said he
first saw scooters in action when he attended a conference in Denver this
June. He said downtown Denver is well-equipped for the devices, with wide
sidewalks and plenty of bike lanes. Still, Bacon said he saw them "weaving
in and out of people. "I came out of the hotel one morning and two guys
came by me, and I mean they were flying," Bacon said. "They're an eyesore
if they're not maintained, and you'll continue to see lives lost because of
them. I'd just as soon not deal with them. Atlanta has no intention of
instituting a ban. Bottoms has said she thinks scooters can be an important
factor in the city reducing traffic congestion. While the Bottoms'
administration hasn't yet unveiled its plan, officials have promised to
erect temporary barriers to dedicate lanes to scooters, bikes and e-bikes.
That would be good news to Kimia Nezafat. The 23-year-old Woodstock
resident took a recent ride on the Beltline from Ponce City Market to a
nearby restaurant. "I think it's kind of scary that we can share a lane
with a car," Nezafat said. "It's not OK. Reporter J.D.Capelouto contributed
to this story. (Box) WHY REGULATING SCOOTER USE MATTERS The electric
scooter phenomenon has baffled public officials throughout the nation.
Scooters offer a potential solution to gridlock and pollution in densely
populated cities. Yet cities aren't designed to accommodate them because of
crowded sidewalks and a lack of dedicated lanes. But urban planners believe
the devices can enhance the use of public transportation with the right
regulations and conditions. More inside: One day in Atlanta through the
eyes of scooter riders such as Christina Sanchez (right) and what the
revolution in urban transportation has meant to them. Page A11 'Every time
I go somewhere, there's scooters blocking the sidewalks. Now I just run
them over (in his wheelchair). I made a perfect strike on Saturday. There
was eight of them lined up on the sidewalk in Little Five Points. I took
all eight of them out. John Plantaseed Addressing Atlanta City Council ME:
WHY REGULATING SCOOTER USE MATTERS The electric scooter phenomenon has
baffled public officials throughout the nation. Scooters offer a potential
solution to gridlock and pollution in densely populated cities. Yet cities
aren't designed to accommodate them because of crowded sidewalks and a lack
of dedicated lanes. But urban planners believe the devices can enhance the
use of public transportation with the right regulations and conditions.
More inside: One day in Atlanta through the eyes of scooter riders such as
Christina Sanchez (right) and what the revolution in urban transportation
has meant to them. Page A11 'Every time I go somewhere, there's scooters
blocking the sidewalks. Now I just run them over (in his wheelchair). I
made a perfect strike on Saturday. There was eight of them lined up on the
sidewalk in Little Five Points. I took all eight of them out. John
Plantaseed Addressing Atlanta City Council TY: KW:

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