Scooter pilot project an exciting initiative
By Letter to the Editor on May 26, 2021.
Editor:
I’m really excited that Lethbridge is going to try the e-scooter pilot project.
I have used these scooters when in Edmonton a number of times and they’re an amazing addition to an otherwise dull downtown. They’re a blast!
But listening to and seeing comments on social media, and from other sources, you’d think that City Hall just unleashed a scene from Mad Max.
I adore Lethbridge, but one of the things that makes me bonkers about the place is its characteristic (and, frankly, extraordinarily predictable) anti-anything-new-attitude.
Jesus could return to earth and certain people in Lethbridge would worry about what it would do to their property taxes, complaining that the noise of the Rapture is too loud for city streets.
Come on folks, the city has a six-figure population now, it ain’t a sleepy little town no more. So from one who has some experience with these scooters, let me provide a bit of information and maybe help alleviate some fears:
The two chief complaints I’ve heard so far are that the scooters will get wrecked or stolen.
In Edmonton, a number of the scooters were vandalized or thrown in the reflecting ponds at the Legislature. It happens. But the vast majority were just fine.
The company that owns and runs them includes this risk in their business model, and they also collect the damaged or vandalized ones. They don’t just lay there for weeks on end.
How do they find them? Well, that leads into the second worry, that they’ll get stolen. Each of the scooters uses GPS, which is how you can actually find them and use them via your smartphone. It’s also not like you just jump on these things and they whiz you off. You have to register to use them and pay for them via an app on your phone. In other words, you’re tracked in using them.
For those worried about them being used by rampaging hordes of wannabe Hell’s Angels, the company can actually set electronic gates in certain areas that prevent them from exceeding a certain speed and can also prevent their use in certain areas using the same technology.
Friends, I know new things are inherently scary for some. But this one is fun and economically beneficial to downtown Lethbridge.Â
I’ve ridden these and no seniors, small furry animals, or rattlesnakes were ever hurt.
Aaron Roth
Lethbridge
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haha! looks like we each have our share of trolls 🙂 you have a blank entry here and in another thread on the same topic, only to have net minuses. you gotta wonder about the emotional stability of some, and dig deep to find the heart to wish them well.
Then, there’s this: 🙂
“Calgary E-bike and E-scooter Accident Lawyers I Litco Law”
http://www.litwiniuk.com/areas-of-law/calgary-e-bike-and-e-scooter-accident-lawyers-litwiniuk-company/
there is much to suggest that these e-scooters create an anti-alberta aura, whereby their ability to create a sweat free movement without the use of gasoline causes folks to become vegan and even to embrace diversity. consequently, without years of further study, these frightful scourges should be considered as the witches brooms they are and be immediately burned at the stake fueled by jesus’s very own alberta oil. in the meantime, should these clean and quiet nuisances get in the way of one’s dirty and loud truck, just run ’em off the road. the last thing our downtown needs are more people finding a reason to be there.
Still, injuries associated with e-scooters and electric powered bikes can be very severe dental and maxillofacial injuries. Certainly these types of injuries related to e-scooters and bikes are being seen more often in Alberta emergency departments. More education and more enforcement and legislation have been suggested by the folks who gather data on this.