Police launch e-scooter safety campaign after new ordinance sets rules

Kids in Wrangell are filmed using e-scooters for a safety video. (Screenshot from video by the Wrangell Police Department)

By Jonathon Dawe

Wrangell Sentinel

Wrangell Police Chief Gene Meek has started a public safety campaign to enforce new e-scooter regulations through education and enforcement.

The police department posted a safety video Monday, Aug. 11, on YouTube and other social media platforms. The video demonstrates proper scooter operation, hand signals, safety lighting and traffic law compliance.

“I think the immediate concern is getting the scooters off of public sidewalks,” Meek said. “With this being an older community, having someone travel at a high rate of speed on the sidewalk is a potential disaster.”

An ordinance approved July 28 by the borough assembly also bans e-scooters and e-bikes from school grounds, the shooting range, parks and playgrounds, recreation areas, walking and hiking trails, harbor floats and docks, cemeteries and the Wrangell Mariners’ Memorial.

The safety video deals only with e-scooters, not e-bikes.

The new law says operators of e-scooters and e-bikes must follow state licensing laws, which require a driver’s license for anyone using a device that can run at more than 15 mph.

Under state law, users of e-bikes and e-scooters that cannot go more than 15 mph do not need a license.

Questions remain about which scooters children can ride and how the new Wrangell ordinance will be enforced.

The assembly also approved a companion ordinance establishing fines for violations. The fines include $75 for failure to wear a helmet, $75 for speeding, $150 for violating traffic laws, and $75 for parents who fail to “exercise reasonable supervision or control” of their children.

“We are going to be immediately focused on how the scooters are being used,” Meek said. “My officers will watch for traffic law compliance, which will determine when we contact e-scooter users.”

Officers will watch for sidewalk use and scooters traveling faster than traffic, he said.

“We will be stopping and educating. That’s how this starts,” Meek said. “It’s difficult to say how long the adjustment period will be, but if someone repeatedly won’t follow the law, we’ll impound their property.”

The police chief said he anticipates seeing fewer e-scooters in use as the new school year begins and fall approaches.

“When it starts getting warmer next spring, we’ll still be looking to see that the law is being followed,” Meek said. “This is all about making sure that people are safe.”

• This story originally appeared in the Wrangell Sentinel.