(This is Part 3 of a 3-part series on the increased popularity of personal electronic mobility devices, the challenges they present incorporating them into daily campus and city life, and safety concerns for users.)
by Malcolm Butler
The video lasts only a few seconds.
A vehicle travels south on Tech Drive with a green light. At the same time, a Louisiana Tech student approaches the crosswalk on a personal electronic mobility device (PEMD).
The student enters the crosswalk riding the PEMD.
Then comes the collision.
“She was lucky because she hit the car as opposed to the car hitting her,” Louisiana Tech Assistant Police Chief Bill Davis said. “That poor lady that was driving — it scared her to death. She told us, ‘I was just driving along and a body fell on my windshield.’”
No one was killed, thankfully. And the student was seen by healthcare professionals and released.
But the video has become part of the message Davis and other Tech Police officers are delivering to students as the growing popularity of electric scooters and other personal electronic mobility devices, commonly known as PEMDs, creates a new set of safety challenges on campus.
It also wasn’t an isolated incident.
Davis said Tech has had multiple scooter accidents involving a crosswalk in each of the past three years with many of the riders ending up in the emergency room.
For Tech officials, those incidents illustrate the other side of a transportation option that has become increasingly popular with students.
PEMDs are convenient, relatively inexpensive and allow students to move across campus quickly without a car.
But they also put riders traveling at speeds approaching 20 mph into the same environment as automobiles, bicycles and thousands of pedestrians. And sometimes the rules governing all of them collide.
“You go sit there and you watch that every day,” Davis said. “It doesn’t matter who’s got the green light. Students think, ‘It’s a crosswalk. I’ve got the right of way.’”
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Louisiana Tech has established regulations governing PEMDs on campus, including electric scooters, electric bicycles, electric skateboards, hoverboards, longboards, one-wheel devices and other electronic mobility devices used for personal transportation.
The rules cover virtually every aspect of their use.
Riders are required to wear helmets. PEMDs operated at night must have an operating headlight and either a rear reflector or taillight.
When operated on a roadway, riders are expected to obey traffic controls, including stop signs and traffic signals, and yield when required.
And one of Tech’s most important rules is aimed directly at the type of accident captured on video.
PEMD operators are required to dismount and walk or carry their devices when using a pedestrian crosswalk.
“We see them all day long not doing it,” Davis said. “We’re just having a hard time getting them to understand.
“The purpose is not to regulate them or restrict them from enjoying their personal electronic mobility device. The idea is to protect them and keep them safe.”
The challenge is getting riders to know — and follow — the rules.
Davis and other Tech Police personnel are scheduled to speak to approximately 40 to 50 freshman classes this fall about campus safety. Part of those presentations focuses specifically on pedestrian and scooter safety, including photographs and videos of actual incidents on campus.
Tech has also sent emails addressing pedestrian and scooter safety, while the university’s regulations are available electronically. But Davis has seen firsthand how difficult it can be to get that information in front of students.
“When we get into these classrooms, we say, ‘How many of y’all have read the email about scooters or pedestrian safety?’” Davis said. “Out of a class of 30, 35, generally you might have four or five that raise their hands.
“How do we get that across to them? We’re using every possible media that we can. It’s on the university website, and then we’re trying to educate them when I see them.”
That education can be as simple as an officer stopping a rider to point out a violation.
“If I’m walking through campus and I see one riding a scooter, I’ll say, ‘Hey, regulations say you need to wear a helmet. That’s for your protection,’” Davis said. “You see one ride across the crosswalk, ‘Hey, you’re supposed to walk that.’
“They don’t always appreciate that, but it’s for their own safety.”
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One number may illustrate the education challenge better than any other.
Five.
During his interview for this story, Davis called Tech’s vehicle registration office and asked how many scooters had been registered for the fall.
That answer was five.
Davis estimated the actual number operating on campus is in the range of a few hundred to more, although Tech has no definitive count.
“I have no way of knowing that exact number,” said Davis. “But if you just kind of look throughout a day, I would dare say you’d see 100 or more different scooters on campus throughout a day.”
Tech requires PEMDs operated on campus to be registered. Registration provides another benefit beyond compliance.
If a scooter is stolen, Davis said students often don’t know the serial number police need to identify it. When a device is registered, Tech Police have that information.
“If it’s stolen, nine times out of 10, a student has no idea what the serial number is on their bicycle or device,” Davis said. “If it’s registered, we have it. And then if Ruston PD finds that thing being ridden or abandoned somewhere, then we can say, ‘Yep, that’s one of ours.’”
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Tech Police have generally emphasized education rather than punishment.
There have been exceptions.
Davis said two students last year were riding scooters recklessly and deliberately forcing pedestrians off sidewalks. Police identified the students and issued summonses for reckless operation. Both had to appear in court.
“We’d rather not do that,” Davis said. “We don’t see as much of that, but a lot of times we’ll get complaints. On the regulations, they’re supposed to yield the right of way to pedestrians on sidewalks and not run them off the road, let them know they’re coming up behind them so they don’t startle them or step out in front of them without knowing they’re there.”
Enforcement also presents practical problems.
Unlike a parked automobile that can be ticketed, a scooter violation often happens in seconds.
“It’s going to have to be officers that are actively out there, and it’s hard to safely stop a scooter unless you happen to be right there,” Davis said.
The issue extends beyond Tech’s boundaries.
Ruston Police Chief Eric Watson said electric scooters have not become a major enforcement problem for his department. But he has seen situations that demonstrate their potential to become one.
One came during the Louisiana Peach Festival, when downtown sidewalks were packed with pedestrians.
“The sidewalks were extremely crowded downtown,” Watson said. “There was a group of kids that were riding electric scooters on the sidewalk, and it was just so crowded that they were literally bumping into people. I got out and told them to get off the sidewalk.”
Watson said he has also seen riders in the middle of West Alabama Avenue near Tech’s baseball facility.
“Definitely unsafe,” Watson said. “I would like to see them ride with traffic if they’re going to be in the roadway.
“But not a huge issue right now.”
Louisiana law specifically addresses some electric scooters, allowing them on sidewalks, bicycle paths and highways while permitting local governments to restrict their use for safety reasons. However, that statute defines the covered “electric low-speed scooter” as a rental or commercial scooter weighing less than 100 pounds with a maximum powered speed of 20 mph. That means the statute should not automatically be assumed to cover the privately owned scooters commonly seen around Tech.
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For Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker, one encounter demonstrated another problem.
Walker and his wife were crossing the Tech pedestrian bridge area one night when a scooter rider passed them, cut in front of a vehicle stopped at a red light and continued through the intersection.
Walker followed the rider to an apartment complex and talked to him.
“I said, ‘Look, we don’t mind you riding these, but you need to obey the traffic laws or somebody’s going to hit you,’” Walker said. “You’re crossing lanes of traffic when you shouldn’t.”
Walker said scooter riders also need to remember they aren’t the only people using Ruston’s sidewalks. That is particularly important in a community that is home to the Louisiana Center for the Blind.
“They’re fine if people will use them respectfully of others,” Walker said. “One of the issues we have in Ruston is a lot of them ride on the sidewalk, which is fine. But we also have blind students that are using those same sidewalks.
“So they need to consider the fact that it’s not just sighted people, but it’s people who are blind that are on those same sidewalks that they’re using.”
Crawford said the same principle applies on campus.
“Where bikes, scooters and pedestrians, and then in some cases cars, all intersect, how do we be safe?” Crawford said. “What’s a safe approach, respecting everybody’s safety? If you’re on a scooter, understanding you’ve got to respect the pedestrian and the bike and the car, and vice versa.”
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Not every risk comes while a scooter is moving.
Some occur while it is parked. Or charging.
Tech prohibits PEMDs from being operated, parked or stored inside university buildings. The university also restricts indoor charging because of concerns involving lithium-ion batteries.
“The batteries that are in these things have a tendency to create an unbelievably hot fire,” Davis said. “So we don’t want that in a building, and we don’t want them charging inside of a building.”
Davis said the concern is particularly significant in residence halls, where a battery fire could occur at night in a building filled with sleeping students. He said Tech has sought guidance from the State Fire Marshal on the issue and housing officials have provided outdoor outlets where students can charge devices.
Davis has seen what that type of battery can do.
About three years ago, he said, a similar battery — although not one from a scooter — caught fire in Bogard Hall.
“In no time flat, that thing was so hot,” Davis said. “It did a lot of damage just in that immediate area of the battery.”
The concern isn’t theoretical nationally, either. But for Tech officials, the local example is enough to explain why the university doesn’t allow the devices to be stored or charged inside its buildings.
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PEMDs still represent a relatively small portion of the traffic moving through Louisiana Tech and Ruston each day. But their numbers are growing. So are the number of interactions between scooter riders, pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists. Most happen without incident.
The concern for university and city officials is what happens when they don’t.
Davis believes education remains the best first step. But he also acknowledges there may eventually be a point where education alone isn’t enough.
“I wish there was a fix-all for it,” Davis said. “I think the only thing left for us to do is to start physically doing enforcement.”
For now, Tech officials continue taking their message into classrooms, sending emails, directing students to the regulations and talking to riders when they see unsafe behavior.
Crawford said the message ultimately comes down to two things.
“We want to make sure that students riding their bikes or scooters around campus are safe, and not only they’re safe, but they’re making sure everyone else is safe, too,” Crawford said. “They’re not running into someone or hitting someone. People are not having to dodge out of their way walking on the sidewalk.
“So just being respectful, right? Being safe and respectful. That’s what we try to educate.”
