Coral Gables debates scooter safety

Officials called for stricter scooter safety enforcement during Coral Gables’ latest commission meeting.

Scooter providers Spin and Bird and private riders have been carelessly leaving scooters unattended on sidewalks and parking lots, and not at designated areas or stations, according to Commissioner Rhonda Anderson.

“Whether we need signage at eye level for scooter traffic or use that glow-in-the-dark paint so they can see it to avoid situations where you have these scooters zipping along and prevent injury to pedestrians. How are we going to be able to deal with this?” she asked.

The scooter issues that are seen regularly are people whipping in and out, thinking they have the right of way on the street, said Coral Gables Police Chief Edward Hudak. “The education falls a little short, so it’s going be a lot of citations. I can tell you that right now.”

But electric scooters and bicycles by city ordinance are prohibited from certain parts of Ponce de Leon and all of Miracle Mile sidewalks, he added.
Vice Mayor Michael Mena said he thought the scooter companies that are allowed to operate in the city have been working pretty well.

“I think, frankly, both companies have done a good job of doing for, at least from my personal observance. You can’t control an individual not responsibly doing it or not responsibly riding the scooters,” he said. “I use it almost weekly, not every day but if I’m going to meet somebody somewhere in the middle of the day and I don’t want to have to get my car to the garage. I use it you know, it’s a great option.”

Rules are included in the ordinance, which requires that riders can’t park and block more than three feet of the parking as per ADA, and they can’t stay on a sidewalk that is less than six feet wide.

“We need to find a result. You don’t have to have the answer today. But I would hope that we can have an answer by the next commissioning,” Commissioner Anderson said. “Let’s look at our finds within our parking and station locations, because this is not just Bird and Spin, this is also the private ones. We need to really start looking for a solution, so no one gets hurt.”