From a man on foot:
1. Stay off the sidewalks. They’re not meant for you.
2. When you ride in bike lanes, ride with the flow of traffic. Riding against traffic and having a cyclist approach in the other (proper) direction is a recipe for disaster. Which one of you will have to swerve into traffic or brake and jump up to the curb?
3. Of course you have insurance, yes?
[No mishaps here. But seeing so many scooterists speeding down sidewalks and riding against traffic this morning prompts me to write this post.]
Friday, October 3, 2025
To all electric-scooter operators
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comments: 9
i would never ride one of those things unless it was an emergency. what have i seen: parents riding one with their child sitting on the standing piece (no helmet) and smoking a cigarette at the same time, a child clinging to their parent, weaving back and forth across the street, underage ridiing (below 18), and yes, the ubiquitous riding on the sidewalk. i asked our police about that when the city has a rule on no sidewalks. i was told, we'll enforce when the city tells us to. ???? anymore i look at them as darwinism in action or nothing has happened yet so it doesn't matter.
kirsten
Yikes. All I've seen are students, sometimes with phone in hand. I called the campus police, asked about sidewalks (not allowed) and suggested some educational effort about riding with the flow of traffic. The officer I spoke with said he'd work on it.
There are much much much (etc.) bigger problems right now, but this is something I chose to think about today.
The local small electric vehicle group (scooters, single wheels, etc) is trying to figure out whether they should ride on sidewalks or the road or bike lanes. I figure that if you can travel faster than someone can run then you have no place on a sidewalk. Do you hear that bicycle riders…
One nearly mowed me down this week, but I take some comfort that if I get hurt, I'm also big enough they're going to get hurt. He missed by inches and went on weaving through pedestrians.
“Bigger problems “ may manifest in small changes in behavior —scooters issues are about how we share social spaces and ensure mutual safety.
I’m seeing a breakdown.
They should be classified as motor vehicles with all the same restrictions and laws. If they don't want to ride in the street, then don't ride at all...
Thanks, everyone, for the comments. Last night we saw a group of five or six young men on scooters, riding in the middle of a street, weaving around. I thought they must have been high-schoolers and then realized, no, they’re in college.
Incidentally, in my day bicycles were motor vehicles, as in having to legally follow the rules of the road, as was stated in the Boy Scout manual. No scaring people on sidewalks, and to cross a street "as a pedestrian" one would dismount. No "rolling pedestrians."
In Brooklyn, a kid riding in traffic was unheard of -- narrow streets, cars parked on both sides. I don't know what the Cub Scouts of my acquaintance would/could have done. As a grownup, I always stay in bike lanes, except when making left turns (and signaling).
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