Buckley residents to find no respite from foot scooters

Published 1:37 pm Thursday, December 11, 2008

By Jessica Keller, The Courier-Herald

Motorized foot scooters may be a nuisance, but Buckley city officials have found their hands tied when attempting to regulate them.

City staff and City Council members on the Public Safety Committee have been addressing the concerns of 17 Buckley residents, who signed a petition asking the city to regulate the motorized scooters.

The petition requested the city of Buckley adopt a 24-hour noise limit on gas powered motorized scooters.

Some of the reasons listed on the petition were: riders are younger than 16; riders are racing scooters using both lanes of the road; riders are not stopping at stop signs; they are out at night with no lights; they are traveling fast with no protective head gear; they don't have licenses or insurance; city streets are being used for a playground; and scooters will only get increasingly popular.

The complaints originated about kids riding motorized scooters in neighborhoods around Mason Avenue.

But after looking into the issue, and what recourse the city may have, city officials admitted their hands are tied by state laws.

In general, motorized foot scooters have access and can be ridden on roadways to the same extent as bicycles, state law says. Also according to state law: a motorized foot scooter is not required to have a vehicle registration or display license plates; no driver's license is required to operate a motorized foot scooter, and there are no age requirements for operating them. Motorized foot scooters, however, may not be operated at any time from a half hour after sunset to a half hour before sunrise without a type of reflector approved by the Washington State Patrol. Cities also can't regulate or place requirements on the mufflers on any motorized foot scooters.

Police Chief Jim Arsanto said two issues are involved dealing with the scooters. A safety issue has been raised, especially because helmets are not required in Pierce County or in Buckley. The other issue is noise, which has irritated a lot of Buckley residents, as the scooters can be very loud.

"It's like somebody constantly running a Weed Eater outside your window all day," he said.

But until state law is changed to regulate the motorized foot scooters, and give cities the jurisdiction to regulate them, there is nothing he or his officers can do, Arsanto said, except to make sure drivers of the scooters are abiding by traffic laws, and not riding them on sidewalks.

Arsanto said he was hoping an act being looked at by the Legislature, which would have regulated motorized foot scooters even more was going to be passed, but it was legislators did not vote on it before the session closed.

What this means, City Administrator Dave Schmidt said, was Buckley can only continue to regulate certain things.

Other cities in Washington, such as Lake Stevens and Wenatchee, have passed ordinances regulating the scooters, but Buckley attorney Duncan Wilson did not think Buckley should pass its own until state law could be used to back the ordinance, Schmidt said.

He said the city can regulate 11 things for the foot scooters, which essentially apply to bicycles as well. The city can regulate the access of the scooters to trails, prohibit them from sidewalks and require riders to obey all traffic laws and hand signals. The city can prohibit scooters from carrying passengers or items on the handlebars that restrict the ability to drive; also, the city can require that scooters be equipped with front and back lights and brakes.

With those limitations placed on the city, Councilman Ron Weigelt, who is the chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said all the city can do at this time is send a letter to each of the citizens concerned about the scooters who signed the petition. He also said a letter can be drafted from the city sent to legislators voicing support for new legislation regulating motorized foot scooters and granting cities the authority to carry out restrictions.