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Pedestrians, E-Scooters Are Clashing In the Struggle For Sidewalk Space (latimes.com)
Slashdot reader mileshigh writes: Activists in California have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that parked scooters littering sidewalks interfere with sidewalk accessibility for people with multiple types of disabilities and violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Many people have been wondering when this would happen since California courts are notoriously friendly to ADA complaints and lawsuits. Realistically, this type of lawsuit may well be the Achilles' heel of scooter-sharing services, especially if they're granted class-action status as this lawsuit is requesting. Will likely be the first of many. "Without full use of the sidewalk and curb ramps at street intersections, persons with mobility and/or visual impairments have significant barriers in crossing from a pedestrian walkway to a street," the suit alleges. "This is exacerbated when the sidewalk itself is full of obstructions and no longer able to be fully and freely used by people with disabilities."
The suit accuses the city of not maintaining streets and sidewalks in a way that doesn't discriminate against the disabled and allowing "dockless scooters used primarily for recreational purposes to proliferate unchecked throughout San Diego and to block safe and equal access for people with disabilities." The lawsuit also alleges the scooter companies have been allowed to "appropriate the public commons for their own profit."
The suit accuses the city of not maintaining streets and sidewalks in a way that doesn't discriminate against the disabled and allowing "dockless scooters used primarily for recreational purposes to proliferate unchecked throughout San Diego and to block safe and equal access for people with disabilities." The lawsuit also alleges the scooter companies have been allowed to "appropriate the public commons for their own profit."
Why would anyone think it was ok to ride a motorized vehicle on the sidewalk?
Carrying on the time honored Slashdot tradition of not even reading the summary I see...
They're not. They're parking on the sidewalks. And the city government is too lazy and incompetent to do their fucking jobs and enforce their own laws, as with most California cities. Until now, when somebody finally found a bigger victim. In California's victim politics, the biggest victim wins.
I don't see that the page you linked to says you can ride bicycles on sidewalks. It outlines several different types of bike paths, none of which are sidewalks (one is separated from a main road by, for example, a sidewalk). It does say that bicycles of all types must obey the rules of the road (no driving on the sidewalk?).
you mean they're an e-biker and haven't read the laws that forbid motorized vehicles on the sidewalk
get them the fuck off the sidewalk
Don't auction them off. Just charge $10 per scooter to the scooter company for relocating them to a more appropriate parking location.
Why would anyone think it was ok to ride a motorized vehicle on the sidewalk?
Carrying on the time honored Slashdot tradition of not even reading the summary I see...
They're not. They're parking on the sidewalks. And the city government is too lazy and incompetent to do their fucking jobs and enforce their own laws, as with most California cities. Until now, when somebody finally found a bigger victim. In California's victim politics, the biggest victim wins.
Ahem - at least one person in the FA was riding his scooter on the sidewalk.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
I didn't make it up to San Francisco on my last trip to the Bay Area, but everywhere between San Jose and Mountain View that I visited had people riding them on sidewalks and on the road ignoring traffic signals. Parking them seemed to be the smallest problem: people are riding them dangerously without any kind of insurance, who suffers when they hit a car or a pedestrian?
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Name one.
Los Angeles
San Diego (my home town)
Most of California outside of the super-high-density downtown cores
Hell, I *live* in Downtown San Diego (which is as dense as SD gets) and a) cars are important (though parking is now restricted on 5th Ave during Friday and Saturday nights to make room for Uber pickups), and b) scooters are everywhere and are universally despised despite being pretty fun to ride.
Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
The FA may not talk about it, but most people are riding them on the sidewalk in San Diego. I would say about 3/4, but it probably varies by neighborhood. Some scooter riders use bike lanes and follow normal bike safety protocols around traffic, but less than 1 in 10 wears a helmet.
For example in Oregon you can ride a bike on the sidewalk, but you're supposed to ride at walking speed and you absolutely have to yield to pedestrians; on a residential street, that is no problem. But downtown, even in a small city, there is basically no way to ride legally on the sidewalk, because you'd have to dismount and walk the bike to successfully yield to all the pedestrians.
And in California, riding bicycles on sidewalks is left to the cities. It's illegal in San Francisco, and many of the LA suburbs - you have to use the street. Additionally it is illegal to turn without signalling. And per the link provided above, electric scooters are bundled with motorized bicycles/mopeds - and are thus prohibited from use on the sidewalk. This isn't about utility, this is about legal operation of a vehicle. Riding an electric scooter without an M2 endorsement, without a helmet, or on a sidewalk is illegal.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!