*** Scooters running afoul of public opinion ***

Seattle, Washington -- 05/30/2004
~Cities across the state are drafting laws to regulate and restrict
them~
Unlicensed, uninsured, unprotected and underage, riders regularly rip
down city sidewalks on gas- powered scooters, zigging past dogs
and startled elders, engines whining.

Detractors compare the sound to chain saws, weed eaters,
Jet Skis and hyperventilating leaf blowers. In mounting calls
to city halls, they complain about boys, toys, noise, speed,
safety and the lack of rules.

In response, city staffs across the state have been hammering
out pedestrian-friendly proposals to regulate the motorized
"powerboards."

In the thick of the fray is Seattle, where officials this week finalized

language on a proposed ordinance that would take motorized foot
scooters off sidewalks, public paths and bike lanes, slap age limits
on riders, and require lights at night.

The proposal goes before the City Council's transportation
committee June 8, with a public hearing scheduled for June 17.

It may be a bummer for summer, but "the scooter problem,"
as some city attorneys have dubbed it, is not going away.

"Every Sunday, in the ads, there are more and more varieties of
the scooters for sale, and they're more and more powerful. But
there's no training offered to operate them -- and the majority of
those who purchase them are under the age of legal drivers," said
Kurt Reuter, parks operation supervisor for the city of Federal Way.
He's helping draft regulations there to ban motorized scooters from
paved trails in the city and parks.

"Frequent path users are very concerned about the speed and
reckless manner in which scooters are operated by some of the
younger users," said Reuter. "We've had close calls with joggers
and walkers and others along the trail."

Behind the uproar, some quieter voices are expressing concerns
over revving regulations. Dealers in electric-powered scooters do
not like being lumped with fossil-fuel burners. Noisy gas scooters,
which burn oil and emit pollution, can go more than 30 mph. The
quiet e-scooters, powered by rechargeable batteries, top out around
17 mph. They don't scream, they hum.

Electric scooters go no faster than bicycles -- in fact, anyone in
decent shape can outrun even the fastest electric scooter on a bicycle
and the slower ones on foot," said Mike Kristofferson, who owns the
MotorManMike Electric Scooter Repair shop in Fremont. "My feeling
is there's no reason to regulate a vehicle that goes no faster than a
bicycle."

The e-scooters, he said, "take a car off the road and reduce pollution
and our dependency on foreign oil." His customers are 80 percent kids.
But he also sells to adults who have lost driver's licenses -- for DUIs
or other problems -- and, increasingly, to people who see an alternative

to spiking gas prices in the little "green" machines.

Elderly and disabled riders, too,
are worried about pending scooter legislation.

Len Spalding, 73, voluntarily gave up driving 1 1/2 years ago.
His eyesight was fading. He was afraid he would hurt someone.
To get to his Crown Hill shopping center, he bought a motorized
foot scooter, a quiet little electric Tiger model with seat and grocery
basket, brakes and hand throttle, which tops out at about 8 mph.

"I have macular degeneration. Things get fuzzy.
I can handle it at 8 mph, but not at 35," he said.

Mostly, Spalding sticks to the sidewalks. "I don't go fast enough to
get out in traffic. ... I know I'm small and vulnerable." He's not sure
what he'll do if he's booted off onto the road.

Spalding said he has been expecting "trouble." It started with the
Christmas flood of ads for cheap scooters at big-box stores
-- scooters largely imported from China and Taiwan and bought
as gifts for children. Sales are vrooming. Import statistics show
that about a half-million gas and electric models were imported in
2002. Last year, that tripled to about 1.5 million.

"This year is even heavier," said Richard Mayer, president of
California-based Currie Technology, which sells electric Schwinn,
GT and Mongoose models to Wal-Mart, Target and Toys "R" Us.
"This is not a fad. It's steadily growing."

Falling prices are a draw. Some models that might have run
$1,000 a few years ago are hundreds of dollars less now,
with some retailing for as little as $99.

Kids clamor for them. Even the slower e-scooters lend them an
exhilarating sense of freedom. "I like how you don't have to do
anything but just stand there and, like, just let go," said Evan
Miglorie,
a 13-year-old in West Seattle who rides an electric Bravo that averages
about 12 mph. "It's kind of like driving a real car."

Miglorie's parents want him to stay on sidewalks. He prefers the
wide-open streets, but admits it's more dangerous, when cars whiz
past. "I don't think it should be illegal to ride on sidewalks," says
the
Madison Middle School student.

The roads pose problems for both riders and drivers. Last week,
a 15- year-old boy in Issaquah veered around a parked van on his
gas-powered foot scooter into oncoming southbound traffic. He was
struck by a Nissan Altima, taken to Overlake Hospital and treated
for a broken leg. It was, judging by injury statistics, an accident
waiting
to happen.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates 5,900
emergency-room visits nationwide were associated with motorized
scooters in 2002 -- 1,900 of them for ages 15 and under.

Neither Harborview Medical Center nor Children's Hospital and
Regional Medical Center has tracked scooter injuries, but Dr.
Fred Rivara, a pediatrician with the Harborview Injury Prevention
and Research Center, worries parents are not fully aware of dangers.

"The issue with these things is that they're treated like toys, when in
fact they are motorized vehicles that can go quite fast," said Rivara.
"If you put a younger child on them, and they're light, they go even
faster. And their bodies are unprotected -- they don't have to wear
helmets."

The helmet question has been a hot one.

The state doesn't require them -- or any other protective gear.
There are also no requirements for a vehicle or driver's license,
or insurance, and no age limits. Under a law passed last year,
motorized foot scooters are granted the same highway access
as bicycles. Its most stringent requirement is that the scooters
have reflectors that meet State Patrol standards if riders are
out after dark.

More restrictive bills aimed at helmets, speed limits, age limits and
roadway use failed to gain traction in the last legislative session.
The harshest would have banned motorized foot scooters from
public streets.

Sen. Jim Horn, R-Mercer Island, wrote the existing regulations.
"We tried to set it up so anywhere you can ride a bike,
you can ride one of these," he said.

Horn said the intent was to leave more restrictive regulations to
local control. The result has been a patchwork of city and county
legislation throughout the state.

Some of the most stringent regulations are found in Wenatchee,
where, according to Horn, a reckless power-scooter rider put the
debate in motion after he was arrested by police for riding drunk.
The officer then asked: "What do I give him a ticket for?" Rules
passed in Wenatchee last year require that riders have a driver's
license, not use city sidewalks, have headlights, reflectors and a
muffler. Scofflaws face a $50 fine and scooter impoundment.

Seattle's proposed motorized-scooter regulations are incorporated
in an ordinance addressing regulations on the Segway, the stand-up,
two-wheel, self-balancing human transporter generically known as
an "electric personal assistive mobility device." If adopted, the
expensive Segways, too, would be banned from bike lanes and
public paths -- but not from sidewalks.

Penalties for scooter violations would be
similar to bicycle infractions, which run $81.

The ordinance was developed by City Councilman Richard Conlin,
chairman of the council's transportation committee, and the city
Transportation Department. Conlin said state legislation restricts
the city's ability to regulate such things as noise or licensing on the
scooters.

"We're trying to figure out what we can do," he said.

So far, it does not include helmet requirements. But drafters have
notified the state Board of Health they will be asking to add helmets
to both motorized-scooter and Segway regulations in the near future.

Seattle Parks and Recreation already has in place tight restrictions
on the power scooters. "We pretty much don't allow them anywhere
in the parks," said spokeswoman Dewey Potter. "The trails at Green
Lake and Alki are too crowded to add another element. We have
in-line skaters, walkers, bikers, people in wheelchairs -- you add a
hazardous motor, electric or gas, and it's just not a smart thing on a
park's paved path."

Scooter scofflaws face exclusion for city parks for up to a year.
Repeat offenders may be fined or face criminal prosecution.

Horn owns his own gas-powered Tanaka BladeZ scooter.
He takes it on boat trips, powering it up in port for easy
transportation
-- as do growing numbers of recreational-vehicle users in campgrounds
and pilots at airfields. He also uses it to zip to his Mercer Island
shopping
center for a latte -- without helmet. "It's not state law," said the man
who
helped write it.

Horn is concerned the fun little scooters may be regulated to the
point it's not practical to use them -- even before all their uses are
fully explored. "If we get so annoyed at something new that we
don't allow it to be used, we may miss an opportunity," he said.

"It's like anything else. When something is new, if you try to
find the worst situation and outlaw it, you blanket everything."

BEFORE YOU RIDE - SCOOTER SAFETY

The Consumer Product Safety Commission
recommends operators of motorized foot scooters:

Wear a bicycle helmet, knee and elbow pads.
Wear sturdy shoes.
Check with local authorities for riding guidelines/restrictions.
Do not ride at night.
Be over the age of 12.

PROPOSED RULES
Seattle's proposed motorized foot scooter regulations would:
Allow riding on roadways, shoulders and alleys, but not on sidewalks.
Limit operation to people 16 and older.
Require lamps on the front of the scooter and a reflector that
meets State Patrol standards on the back, if operated in the dark.
Restrict access to bike lanes and public pathways.

The City Of Wenatchee, Washington Pertaining To Motorized
Foot Scooters 11/13/2003 Ordinance No. 2003-31 "7.32.040
and State Of Washington Bicycle Laws can be found at:
http://www.genesbmx.com/WaBikeLaw.html

Geneb...Wenatchee,Washington-USA
All Things Northwest in BMX!
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