Scooter Safety: Ohio State shares ways to stay safe while riding

Electrical scooters, simply identifiable by their brilliant colours and excessive speeds, have turn out to be a fixture of campus life. Nevertheless, Ohio State expressed its security issues with scooters in a universitywide e mail Sept. 11. 

In response to the e-mail, Ohio State reminded college students to take security measures whereas driving electrical scooters. These measures included driving them on the highway, warding off sidewalks, parking in designated areas with the intention to not block pathways, carrying a helmet and yielding to pedestrians. 

College spokesperson Dan Hedman mentioned in an e mail to ensure that everybody to stay protected on campus, people ought to be accountable after they journey it doesn’t matter what mode of transportation they use. 

“Ohio State believes in a multimodal transit system and asks everybody to journey responsibly, look out for his or her fellow Buckeyes and share the highway,” Hedman mentioned. 

Hedman mentioned the college additionally has measures to make sure individuals stay protected when there’s elevated foot site visitors on and close to campus. 

“On soccer Saturdays, scooters don’t function in areas close to the stadium,” Hedman mentioned. “This can be a security measure with elevated foot site visitors.”

Hedman mentioned he would additionally wish to remind college students the Oval is all the time a stroll zone, and scooters and bikes ought to all the time be walked, not ridden, throughout the realm.    

The Metropolis of Columbus can also be involved about scooter security and has plans to implement protected scootering. Restrictions have been created to cope with the issue offered by irresponsible riders. Debbie Briner, public relations specialist for the town’s Division of Public Service, mentioned in an e mail sure areas of Columbus have been geofenced, stopping scooters from being pushed via the digitally fenced-off areas. 

“The Metropolis of Columbus works with our e-scooter distributors to implement digital, or “geofenced” no-ride zones as a security measure in areas with excessive pedestrian site visitors and to assist security issues recognized by the Division of Police,” Briner mentioned. “The scooter operators’ apps inform a tool consumer of no-ride zones, and the gadgets gained’t function in them.”

Briner mentioned these no-ride zones can both be non permanent or everlasting, relying on the pedestrian site visitors in these areas. Long run no-rides zones close to campus are at the moment in place alongside Excessive Road within the Brief North to handle security issues, she mentioned. 

“No-ride zones could also be carried out for a short lived interval, akin to for main occasions downtown like Crimson, White & Growth and out of doors festivals that appeal to massive crowds with excessive site visitors and pedestrian volumes,” Briner mentioned.