Electrical scooters aren’t the massive problem they have been a few years in the past when flocks of them first appeared on the streets, however they’ve a brand new identify.
The Greensboro Metropolis Council on the Tuesday, Oct. 6 assembly plans to redefine electrical scooters and electrical bikes as “micromobility automobiles.” The previous definition of an “electrical standup scooter” outlined it as having two wheels, whereas the brand new definition permits it to have not more than three wheels and a prime pace of not more than 20 miles per hour.
The brand new definition comes with an entire bunch of rules. However the one that may doubtless trigger a variety of concern for micromobility automobile riders is the impoundment clause.
The impoundment clause offers “any regulation enforcement officer or parking enforcement worker” of town the fitting to impound any micromobility automobile or bicycle that’s being operated or parked in violation of the regulation.
If the parking enforcement staff implement this regulation with the identical vigor as they implement parking rules, then a variety of people are going to go away their micromobility automobile outdoors a enterprise whereas they run in for a minute and once they return, they may uncover it has been impounded.
Precisely how that impoundment will happen is just not specified.
The ordinance additionally doesn’t specify the “administrative charge” that shall be charged for the impoundment and storage with a purpose to get the micromobility automobile again.
The ordinance does set up that it’s unlawful to journey a micromobility automobile or bicycle on the sidewalk within the Central Enterprise District and the micromobility automobile or bicycle could be impounded for that violation.
The ordinance additionally establishes that designated bike lanes can be utilized by micromobility automobiles and it’s unlawful for any individual to park or drive any automobile in a chosen bike lane aside from micromobility automobiles and bicycles.
