I attended a meeting for this blog, where I learned and discussed about the use of electric scooters on campus and around places where there is a lot of young population. In this meeting, I met with a group of people, discussed the problem, and have provided with what might be some interesting solutions to the problem regarding the use of electric scooters.
What was the meeting about?
The meeting that I attended was a meeting of Indiana University Student Government Body, where they discuss problems occurring on campus and how they are affecting the lives of students. The topics in these meetings are vast in nature- they range from discussing about the lack of water fountain machines to the need for a good mental health for college students, or even to raise awareness about societal causes.
The meeting is attended by members of the Student Government Body and the liaisons to these meetings from other departments. For example, I attended this meeting in my capacity as an RA Liaison. The meeting is mostly attended by college students, mostly undergraduate college students from IU. In the meeting I attended that took place in Eigenmann Residence Hall, a total of 23-25 people was present for the meeting.
What was discussed?
In this particular meeting, an ongoing problem on college campuses around the US and other cities were discussed. This is a major problem even in Bloomington, Indiana as we have all, in our capacity as students have noticed this current problem. The problem has to do with the rise of number of electric scooters and how they have created a problem on several levels- be it from illegal parking, driving on the sidewalks, fallen scooters on sidewalks, or even the safety aspect of them.
About the meeting
The information and topics discussed in the meeting were discussed on a PowerPoint presentation, where people had the option to ask a question after every slide. This gave the presenter the option to make the topic into a discussion and have more people contribute to the discussion.
And as one would expect, there were conflicting views about these scooters in the meetings. Some people blamed irresponsible users for the misuse of these scooters, others called and found them inherently dangerous.
Breaking down the problems
Illegal Parking
The illegal parking of electric scooters has not been a new problem. It has always been there since the advent of these scooters on campus. I understand that it is not a technological based problem but rather a user-based problem, since it is the users of these scooters who park them illegally on sidewalks, but it is a major problem, nevertheless. I have hardly met a person in Bloomington who has not yet seen an electric scooter parked illegally on the sidewalks and have blocked the way for people walking on the sidewalks. In the meeting I attended, someone complained of how a friend of theirs, who uses a wheelchair to go down the sidewalks, once had their way blocked because someone had just blocked the sidewalk with these scooters fallen down on the ground, making it hard for the person on wheelchair to go through.
To tackle this problem, the scooter companies started a process where users of these scooters would need to upload a picture of the parked scooter, parked legally on a cycle stand, or else they “might” be fined a sum of money. The problem with this solution I explained in the meeting was of how students who use these scooters might not always find a cycle stand to park the scooters at, or even a vacant spot for that matter. Additionally, these added measures by the scooter companies have not really changed anything. The sight of electric scooters fallen on the sidewalks or being parked illegally is still not an infrequent sight, and is still a problem in various cities across the world, including Bloomington, Indiana.
Driving on the Sidewalks
Aside from being parked on the sidewalks, there have been multiple cases where people have driven these electric scooters on the sidewalks, instead of driving them on roads or assigned bicycle lanes. It should not be hard to fathom for anyone to realize how severely dangerous and reckless it might be to drive these scooters on sidewalks. Not only do they block and disturb the people walking on the sidewalks, but the electric scooters can go up to the speed of 17 mph, which can prove to be dangerous when collided with a walking person on a sidewalk. Even in Bloomington, I have witnessed students multiple times driving electric scooters on the sidewalks, and some people shared the same views about this in the meeting I attended.
The risk of accidents
As mentioned, electric scooters are motorized vehicles and can go to a top speed of 17-18 mph, limited not by its motor but by the weight and the circumference of its wheels. Driving these scooters on an unpaved road, on a sidewalk, or even on a proper road could be really fatal, for both the driver and for someone else. I know this because I have had my own experience with the same. In September 2019, I was driving one of these scooters and I had an accident, of which I have lost all memory, where the accident turned out to be severe. A human face has 14 bones on the face and I ended up breaking all 14 facial bones and four front teeth due to this accident driving an electric scooter.
And this is not something new. We had another student in class who had a severe accident driving these electric scooters and was in a coma for weeks after the accident. Aside from that, it was discussed in the meeting that this whole academic year has had a total of at least 5 serious accidents in Bloomington, on campus. And what is even more surprising is the fact that these 5 cases are just the ones that were of people who live on campus and have reported the accident on some extent. Another major problem that exacerbates this problem is that people can still ride these scooters during the night. This has led to multiple people driving these scooters after coming back from the bars and have resulted in countless other accidents, and needless to say, created a fear in people when someone on these scooters is coming behind them.
How did the meeting resolve?
The meeting was a mere discussion of problems around campus that affected other students and their well-being, so there was no resolve to the problems discussed, but the Student Body found it important to bring the matter to higher-ups and see if they see anything different. But the meeting ended on a note about raising awareness amongst students to not be irresponsible and reckless with these scooters.
Potential Solutions to the Problems
The stricter use of technology
To ascertain that people do not misuse these electric scooters by parking them on the sidewalks, there should be assigned spots to park these scooters. By assigned spots, I do not mean spots like the cycle stands, but assigned spots for electric scooters. And since these scooters are already equipped with GPS technology and require a photo while ending a ride, it would be easier for a company to track the parking spots for these scooters, and charge people in cases of illegal parking. By making the technology around the use of electric scooters stricter, I believe that we would be reducing the element of risk by a magnitude.
Using street cameras to monitor the users
Although it is somewhat of an expensive solution, but by using cameras and other monitoring devices that are already placed on the streets, we can make sure that people are only driving the scooters on assigned lanes and not on the sidewalks. And if a person is found to be riding these scooters on the sidewalks, the action taken against the user should be the same as getting a ticket for a driving violation, and should be treated as such since these electric scooters are motorized vehicles.
Banning or limiting the use of electric scooters at some places
The idea of banning electric scooters completely seems like a strict action but banning the use of these scooters on places like college campuses or school zones is worth considering. For example, the use of drones and rover-boards is already illegal on the IU campus due to safety and security reasons. By banning the use of these scooters, at least on campus, we would reduce risk of people getting injured due to someone’s carelessness.
There are already some cities that have banned the use of ridesharing electric scooters due to the risk that is associated with their use.
Reflection on the meeting
It was interesting to have the experience to attend a meeting and get to know what the process is behind the functioning of the student government body. The topics were general and yet important enough and relevant to IU Community, and it was a safe space to talk about your opinions and views and argue for your position about the same. I really had fun during the meeting as it was not only resourceful, but it helped me in thinking about the meeting from the assignment’s point of view.
Minutes from the meeting
12pm- General meet and greet. Introduction and Welcome
12:05pm- Topics to be discussed today- Electric Scooters
12:15pm- Questions and opinions about the scooters
12:25pm- Discussing misuse of these scooters by illegal parking and driving on the sidewalks
12:35pm- Questions asked about the topic
12:45pm- How dangerous can these scooters be?
12:55pm- Questions about the topic
1pm- Summary of the meeting
Smart Cities 