My latest bug-a-boo. These are dangerous machines in the hands of most riders. Firstly, riders tend to be people who lack much experience of real world vehicle handling. So they often do not know the rules of riding them, neither common sense rules nor local ordnances and state law. Beyond that, many just have no common sense as to risks they take in riding, and the potential consequences of the specific and general risks involved.
Wash. state law does not require registration of electric scooters, nor does it require insurance. Riders are not required to wear a helmet.
Wash. state law imposes a basic ban on riding electric scooters on sidewalks. The same law, does however, permit local jurisdictions to make their own rules on this point.
There are a bunch of other variable limitations, such as maximum speed, ban on riding at night, prohibited from highways, allowed in bike lanes, etc., etc.
I am writing this for the benefit of MOTOR VEHICLE OPERATIORS. These electric scooters are now another thing you've got to be aware of. They can shoot out from nowhere, even after you've looked both ways twice. In spite of being generally unlawful, many riders use the sidewalks. Of course, the scooters go way faster than a walking pedestrian. For example, when taking the usual precautions of, say, leaving a parking lot and you are crossing a sidewalk and going into the street. You've come to a complete stop, you've looked left and right, twice, to make sure there are no pedestrians within walking distance of where you are turning, you start to turn, and an electric scooter that was completely out of your vision previously comes flying down the sidewalk going about 15 mph.
Even when the scooter rider is in the wrong, you, the motorist, with all that insurance, are going to be the bad guy. Your insurance company will at the very least pay the rider's medical bills, just for PR if nothing else. And you may feel bad because you squashed some kid.
Another dangerous situation with scooters. Here's the scenario. You are approaching a four way stop intersection. At which you are going to make a right turn. You wait your turn with other cars, if any. You look both ways a couple of times, then you start to make your right turn. In the meantime, an electric scooter rider comes flying up along the right side of your car, with no intention of stopping at the sign. Because it's too inconvenient and he is not a seasoned motorist. If anything, he's more experienced as a bicycle rider, another lot who often ignore stop signs. But usually don't go as fast as a scooter. Anyway, the scooter keeps going up along your right side, unseen by you, runs the stop sign just as you are executing your right turn. Over the scooter. So these days, whenever I'm making a right turn, I always physically turn my head and look over to my right rear to make sure somebody is lapping me on the right.
As a motorist, my worst two fears have long been: (1) Running over a pedestrian, and (2) Running over a bicyclist. Now I have to worry about electric scooters.
Another ripe topic along this line concerns disability mobility scooters. We've long been used to those things with smaller wheels that creep along about 4 to 5 mph. Lately, however, there is a new twist to these things. Size and speed. Some of these things with larger diameter wheels can get up to 20 (or more) mph. I can see how some of this demand came about. Some old geezers (maybe even a bit older than myself) have lost their driver's license. So one of these speedy disability scooters, not requiring a license, etc., is appealing. Mobility scooters have a somewhat different set of rules than the electric scooters I've discussed above, including legal right to be on sidewalks, under certain conditions.
A couple of months ago, Mrs. Merkt and I were driving along an arterial road. Up ahead, I could see an old guy on a mobility scooter flying along the sidewalk. Suddenly, the scooter flew up in the air, and launched the rider onto the pavement of the road. I was nearest so we pulled over to render assistance. There was a child about 50 feet away who had a cell phone, I yelled, "Call 911." In the meantime some other cars had stopped and people were helping. The old guy had landed on his back, and a pool of blood had formed behind his head, and soon was running down into the gutter. The police came and took over. What I saw happen was, the rider was whizzing down the sidewalk and along the walk there were "bushes." Well, these bushes were low-hanging branches of Leyland cypress trees. Inside the "bushes" were tree trunks. Apparently, he'd struck a tree trunk with his right front wheel, which pivoted the scooter around and unassed him into the street. There is risk in riding these things.
Wash. state law does not require registration of electric scooters, nor does it require insurance. Riders are not required to wear a helmet.
Wash. state law imposes a basic ban on riding electric scooters on sidewalks. The same law, does however, permit local jurisdictions to make their own rules on this point.
There are a bunch of other variable limitations, such as maximum speed, ban on riding at night, prohibited from highways, allowed in bike lanes, etc., etc.
I am writing this for the benefit of MOTOR VEHICLE OPERATIORS. These electric scooters are now another thing you've got to be aware of. They can shoot out from nowhere, even after you've looked both ways twice. In spite of being generally unlawful, many riders use the sidewalks. Of course, the scooters go way faster than a walking pedestrian. For example, when taking the usual precautions of, say, leaving a parking lot and you are crossing a sidewalk and going into the street. You've come to a complete stop, you've looked left and right, twice, to make sure there are no pedestrians within walking distance of where you are turning, you start to turn, and an electric scooter that was completely out of your vision previously comes flying down the sidewalk going about 15 mph.
Even when the scooter rider is in the wrong, you, the motorist, with all that insurance, are going to be the bad guy. Your insurance company will at the very least pay the rider's medical bills, just for PR if nothing else. And you may feel bad because you squashed some kid.
Another dangerous situation with scooters. Here's the scenario. You are approaching a four way stop intersection. At which you are going to make a right turn. You wait your turn with other cars, if any. You look both ways a couple of times, then you start to make your right turn. In the meantime, an electric scooter rider comes flying up along the right side of your car, with no intention of stopping at the sign. Because it's too inconvenient and he is not a seasoned motorist. If anything, he's more experienced as a bicycle rider, another lot who often ignore stop signs. But usually don't go as fast as a scooter. Anyway, the scooter keeps going up along your right side, unseen by you, runs the stop sign just as you are executing your right turn. Over the scooter. So these days, whenever I'm making a right turn, I always physically turn my head and look over to my right rear to make sure somebody is lapping me on the right.
As a motorist, my worst two fears have long been: (1) Running over a pedestrian, and (2) Running over a bicyclist. Now I have to worry about electric scooters.
Another ripe topic along this line concerns disability mobility scooters. We've long been used to those things with smaller wheels that creep along about 4 to 5 mph. Lately, however, there is a new twist to these things. Size and speed. Some of these things with larger diameter wheels can get up to 20 (or more) mph. I can see how some of this demand came about. Some old geezers (maybe even a bit older than myself) have lost their driver's license. So one of these speedy disability scooters, not requiring a license, etc., is appealing. Mobility scooters have a somewhat different set of rules than the electric scooters I've discussed above, including legal right to be on sidewalks, under certain conditions.
A couple of months ago, Mrs. Merkt and I were driving along an arterial road. Up ahead, I could see an old guy on a mobility scooter flying along the sidewalk. Suddenly, the scooter flew up in the air, and launched the rider onto the pavement of the road. I was nearest so we pulled over to render assistance. There was a child about 50 feet away who had a cell phone, I yelled, "Call 911." In the meantime some other cars had stopped and people were helping. The old guy had landed on his back, and a pool of blood had formed behind his head, and soon was running down into the gutter. The police came and took over. What I saw happen was, the rider was whizzing down the sidewalk and along the walk there were "bushes." Well, these bushes were low-hanging branches of Leyland cypress trees. Inside the "bushes" were tree trunks. Apparently, he'd struck a tree trunk with his right front wheel, which pivoted the scooter around and unassed him into the street. There is risk in riding these things.
