If you live in Evansville, or even drive through town other than the Lloyd Expressway, you'll encounter people riding scooters. No big deal right?  Depends on where you live I suppose.  I'm kind of in mid-town myself, but have lived on the southeast side as well since the scooter invasion started a few years back.  Not all scooter riders are a problem.  Many obey the rules of the road and that is really what this is all about.  The negative connotation of the scooter comes from those who abuse the fact that they're small and fairly quick -- can cut in and out of traffic, through parking lots to beat the red light and other unacceptable traffic offenses.  It's bad enough when car owners are guilty of such violations.  Thing is, a scooter (Most of them) can go as fast as a car; travel in traffic on public streets along with other vehicles, so therefore they need to be licensed and insured.  In many ways that is what driven several local residents to create the Facebook page Scooter People Of Evansville.  Earlier today I spoke to one of the page administrators and here's what they had to say about their page,

“In trying to further the awareness, education, and satire of the scooter epidemic in Evansville we shared our story with the Wall Street Journal. We the admins are happy with the level of attention our Scooter issue has received now at the national level and look forward to the laws being changed in Indiana. We thank and owe the popularity of our page to the members of the Scooter People of Evansville Army and the listeners of 103GBF who were with us from the beginning!” Admin #2

In all honestly, the FB page mostly makes fun of scooter riders, which is not my intent here.  Regulation -- that's what I want.  Responsibility comes with being on the road and that means having a license and insurance.  No one wants to take away someone's only way to get to work, but I'd like to limit the drunk guy who has already had three DUI's from hopping onto his scooter and crashing into someone or something. 2012 saw 90 scooter related accidents.  Wait until the 2013 numbers come in. The phenomenon has spread so far and wide in this city that we made it into the Wall Street Journal.  Last time I checked, that's New York and a long way from Jimtown.  Read the article here.

On the flip side, there are a couple of 'pro' scooter Facebook pages I must mention to be fair. Scooter People of Evansville Responder.and , Scooter Riders Of Evansville.

My last words...enforce the licensing and insuring scooters...bottom line.  Post your thoughts by using the Facebook or Twitter functions above and below.

 

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