An unidentified Lime Scooter users ride the bike path along de Maisonneuve Street in Montreal, on Wednesday, August 21, 2019.Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette One week into Montreals experiment with dockless electric scooters, the man responsible for the growing cocktail of mobility options crowding the citys streets is sounding pretty irked.Despite regulations described as some of the strictest in the world, reports are multiplying of Lime e-scooters abandoned on sidewalks, of riders driving without helmets, and of near-misses with pedestrians and drivers.We created a system of rules based on making the operator responsible for enforcing them, and we are not satisfied, said ric Alan Caldwell, the citys executive committee member responsible for urban planning and transit.Despite our rules on parking, there are still many reports of e-scooters, and we have seen it ourselves, that are improperly parked. We are not satisfied. We will meet with the operator and demand they fix the situation, and improve it.If not, he said, Lime, which introduced roughly 200 e-scooters onto the streets of Montreal last week, and painted 239 designated zones on city streets where the scooters are supposed to be parked, will be fined.Parking issues could be the least of Montreals worries, however. Touted as the next green alternative because theyre easy to ride and backed by millions in venture capital funding, the use of electric scooters has exploded worldwide. One study showed the number of trips doubled in the United States in one year alone, to 84 million trips in 2018.The rapid growth has led to several tragedies. An investigation by the Associated Press combined with more recent figures indicate at least 11 people have died in the U.S. since 2018 while riding a rented electric scooter. A Lime Scooter is parked next to a trash dumpster outside Arsenal in Montreal, on Wednesday, August 21, 2019. Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette Canadian municipalities have tread cautiously, with the first pilot projects launched in major cities this summer. Calgary reported 85,000 trips taken in the first two weeks after e-scooters debuted in mid-July. It tried to limit accidents by requiring riders to stay on sidewalks, within parks or on bike lanes, and limiting speeds to 20 kilometres an hour. Despite that, physicians reported 60 scooter-related emergency room visits in two weeks, one third of which involved fractures, mostly of wrists and elbows. About 10 per cent of injuries were to the face or head. Calgary doesnt require helmets.In a statement, Lime said the company has invested more than $3 million in safety awareness campaigns and distributed 250,000 free helmets globally. It noted first-time users must watch a training video. The company said e-scooter users experience about the same rate of injuries as cyclists, although other studies have found injury rates for scooter users were actually twice as high. Since scooters are often used in the place of cars, where accident rates are far higher, they lower the overall injury rates, Lime argues. It wouldnt say how many trips have been taken to date in Montreal. Montreal is working to limit accidents by outlawing usage on sidewalks, limiting speeds to 20 km/h and requiring helmets. Police are responsible for ensuring safety regulations are followed, and there has been increased police presence on city bike lanes in the last week. Police said they do not have figures yet on the numbers of infractions handed out.Tragedies in other cities as well as unbridled growth Paris found itself with 20,000 e-scooters operated by 12 different startups have led to a tightening of restrictions. The mayor of Nashville, Tenn., threatened to cancel e-scooters outright after a fatality there. In Atlanta, usage has been banned at night. Firms have taken to locking out users after midnight to reduce cases of e-scooter drunk driving.Caldwell notes that Montreal is starting cautiously. We are far from the situation of chaos that other cities have experienced, he said. The idea is to offer more mobility options without interfering in the lives of others. It should be an added bonus, not an obstacle. Since its a pilot project, regulations can and will be modified, he said.Vigilance will be needed. Bird Canada, another e-scooter supplier, is reportedly in talks with the city to roll out its e-scooters this
Origin: What is Montreal doing to avoid e-scooter injuries and deaths?