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."

Comments

It's a problem with a pretty clear solution

[rsilvergun]

send meter maids around to collect the scooters that are illegally parked and auction them off. This is what most municipalities are doing and it pretty much would wreck their business model, which they seem to be aware of .

I don't necessarily think this is a bad idea. It could potentially make commuting by bus viable in major cities that were laid out with cars in mind and do so long before self driving cars are a thing. But more thought needs to be given to it.

I toss them off sidewalks

[DogDude]

They're all over my campus. When I encounter one either blocking a sidewalk, or anywhere near a ramp, I toss the fuckers into the bushes/landscaping. They're not mine. They're not the universities. They're not supposed to be there. If anybody else, individual or company, puts anything in the middle of the sidewalk, it's abandoned trash, and as far as I know, anybody can take it. I once saw a blind person walking on a sidewalk and running into one of those things, and I lost my mind.

See anything abandoned in a sidewalk? It's your moral obligation to get it the fuck out of there for people who can't navigate around them. I've actually gotten good at getting some distance with the fuckers with a single foot under the center of them.

Re:Motorized

[Anonymous Coward]

As a matter of fact, they were always for pedestrians. Carriages were welcome to push through the throng, but the idea of roads being the domain of wheeled vehicles only is very new.

Try https://99percentinvisible.org... for an approachable dive into why this is the case.