A major new tranche of “dockless” scooters and bikes is set to be released in D.C, as complaints about byway clutter and concern for safety mount and community leaders wrestle with how best to regulate the vehicles.

“This is not a triviality,” ANC 3D Commissioner J.P. Szymkowicz told his fellow commissioners as they hashed over the city transportation department’s proposed 2020 operating permit for the scooter and bike companies. Szymkowicz, a lawyer, said he has a client that broke their neck in a scooter wreck.

Under DDOT’s proposed permit plan, the number of “dockless” scooters for 2020 would be allowed to grow by 61 percent, from 6,210 to up to 10,000. The number of “dockless” bikes could also rise to 10,000. The DDOT plan calls for the vehicles to be spread more widely across the city, including “equity emphasis areas” located primarily on the east side. Eight companies now have city permits. One company offers scooters and bikes, the rest only scooters.

Should:

• Riders be required to wear helmets and demonstrate knowledge of traffic rules before boarding?
• Fines be imposed for randomly ditching vehicles and blocking paths?
• Riders be barred from passing on the right side of traffic and speed restricted by built-in governors on electric power?
• Rebalancing of vehicle distribution be banned during rush hour?
• Company liability cover all crash injuries?

In an October 8 letter to DDOT Director Jeff Marootian, ANC 3D Commission Chair Chuck Elkins laid out problems and proposed solutions. “Few District programs have generated more positive and negative reactions than the Dockless Bike and Scooter program,” stated Elkins.

Elkins urged the agency to give “great weight” to observations from people “who directly experience this program and its faults”, but that the program be driven by expert advice. “It is apparent to us from the current draft Terms and Conditions,” Elkins stated, “that experts in safety, especially pedestrian safety, have not been engaged by DDOT in a review of this program.”

At stake is the “Future of Micromobility”, according to the title for a City Council Transportation and Environment Committee hearing on the matter, now set for November 4.

Safety and liability figured prominently in the ANC 3D Commission discussion.

The DDOT permit calls for companies to carry general liability insurance of $1 million, but the breadth of that coverage and its durability if the company folds was unclear.

“If I was hit by a car, I’d be covered by the other driver,” Szymkowicz said. “We don’t have that for scooters. We can’t have people forced into bankruptcy because they get hit by a scooter on the sidewalk,” he said. “A day in the hospital is $10,000.”

Commissioner Taylor Berlin said bike lanes aren’t available everywhere and pedestrians, bikes, and scooters are left to mix with other modes across the travel lanes spectrum. “It’s just a bad situation,” she said. “It’s a problem of infrastructure and education.”

At least some data has been compiled. For example, from January 1, 2018 to July 29, 2019, there were 442 responses to calls involving the words “injury” and “scooter”, according to data provided by the D.C. Fire Department. No deaths were reported.

Scooter injuries tend to be of a certain type, according to Dr. Robert Shesser, Chair of the Emergency Medicine Department at George Washington University Hospital. In an interview, Shesser said about 100 cases have come through the emergency room so far in 2019. Fractures and breaks of wrists, elbows and shoulders are typical.

“We haven’t seen terrible closed-head injuries,” he said, adding that “since most people are riding around without helmets, that’s certainly possible.”

“We have a sense that they are too fast for the sidewalk and not robust enough for the street,” Shesser said. “They are kind of betwixt and between.”

“I yelled out to him, ‘Get a bell’.”

Just one person, Mary Lou Soller of Palisades, appeared before the Commission on October 2 to comment. Soller said DDOT takes the position that the vehicle companies make sure all their customers know the rules. “Baloney!” Soller said. “You check, ‘Yes, I read it’, and you get on. This is not geared toward any kind of safety.”

Commissioner Virginia Gorsevski said she rode a scooter downtown. “I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to be on the sidewalk,” she said. “There is no way I was going to get out in the middle of the street.”

Soller said she works at a law firm, where a scooter policy for employees is in the works. “Am I going to have workers’ comp issues?” she said. Requiring helmets to ride would at least indicate danger exists.

Commissioner Troy Kravitz wondered whether requiring helmets might be “a wee bit paternalistic.”

Responded Soller, “Are seat belts paternalistic?”

Berlin said the city’s helmet law now only applies to riders under age 16. It covers scooters, skateboards, sleds, coasters, toy vehicles, or any similar device. First offenses are waived. A second offense sends a $25 fine to parents.

“Today, I almost got run over by a bike,” Commissioner Christine Warnke said. “I yelled out to him, ‘Get a bell’.”

Kravitz said his voice works just as well.

Elkins said he finds the shout, “on your left”, to be “quite startling, particularly when they shout it just as they come up on you.”

With the sound of a bell, Elkins said, “you just make sure you walk straight and don’t wander off.”

Szymkowiscz asked what good is “on your left” to someone who doesn’t speak English.

Soller isn’t a bell fan.

“You’re going to have these bells ringing a million times downtown,” she said. “It’s already loud. You’re going to have people jumping every which way.”

Soller urged commissioners to write a comprehensive letter to DDOT, acknowledging that time to respond was tight. DDOT set the public comment period for September 25 to October 7. “It’s ridiculous,” Soller said. “It’s offensive.” The window was subsequently extended to October 30.

Elkins suggested that American University students do a study of the issue and present it during the hearing before the City Council transportation committee, which is led by Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh. People interested in testifying can contact Staff Assistant Aukima Benjamin, 202-724-8062 or abenjamin@dccouncil.us.