The e-scooters around Bloomington have been a point of contention since they were first brought here. I have seen many pictures, videos and news stories about people being injured while riding scooters around Bloomington. Other schools have banned them from their campuses because of the problems they cause.
There are people who ride them unsafely, but there are also people who use them as a cheap, eco-friendly mode of transportation instead of taking a bus or car. Riding a bike for transportation is very common on campus, and the scooters should be regulated in similar ways.
You wouldn’t lay your bicycle in the middle of the street when you’re done riding it, so you shouldn’t do that with an e-scooter either. Increasing safety precautions for scooters and having more regulations on parking and where they can be ridden will be extremely beneficial to the community because it would keep riders and walking pedestrians safe.
I have had several occasions where I was almost struck by someone on an e-scooter as I was walking to class because they are being ridden in areas that have a lot of pedestrian traffic. I would like to know how the fines with these new regulations will be monitored because if someone lays a scooter in the middle of the sidewalk, how will an officer know who laid it there.
Banning the scooters altogether would eliminate the issues related to them, but if people become more educated on safety and rules, there will be fewer problems to be addressed.
