VPD campaign targeting e-scooters

0:00This episode is brought to you by PayPal. You know how a mom's bag has everything? Sunscreen? Snacks? A stapler? The new PayPal app is like that, but for your money. Shop, pay, manager account, and earn rewards all in one place. And with purchase protection on eligible items, biometric security, and pasquies, you're protected at every step. Download the new PayPal app to get started. See PayPal.com slash protection terms. If you are a pedestrian, if you are somebody who drives anywhere that takes part in the eScooter pilot project, you probably know eScooters are everywhere. And oftentimes they are in places they're not supposed to be on busy streets, major roadways, on sidewalks, in crosswalks. They're out there. I don't think they're going anywhere, but I do think something needs to be done as far as having uniform rules from city to municipality and Metro Vancouver,

1:01figuring out who's in the pilot project, maybe getting rid of the pilot project and just figuring it out altogether. Well, there are actual rules when it comes to riding eScooters. Things like you have to wear a helmet. You're not supposed to double on an eScooter, those kinds of things. And again, if you've spent any time on the roads, you know that not everybody follows those rules. Well, the Vancouver Police Department has been doing a very targeted campaign. Ticketing people, giving people warnings, trying to educate people about where they can and can't use these devices, how they can use these devices. And they've actually been giving out quite a few tickets. Joining me to talk more about this is Inspector Stephanie Willoughby with the Vancouver Police Department to Inspector. Thank you for being with us. Oh, you're very welcome, Jill. I think this will be very good news. Or people will very much appreciate the fact that the Vancouver Police Department is almost at the end of a month-long targeted campaign enforcing the rules

2:02when it comes to electric kick scooters and the regulations. What has this campaign actually been focused on? Well, the campaign has been focusing on a combination of enforcement as well as public awareness and education. And we started the initiative on September 4, which involved officers from the entire operations division, along with support from the VPD's traffic enforcement unit. And so far, we have had 1275 interactions with the public for a variety of offenses. That feels like or sounds like a lot for a one-month campaign. Yes, it is. And we will be continuing to raise awareness on East Scooter Rule and safety because what we did notice in this campaign is that out of the 1275 interactions we had with East Scooter riders, 920 of them were not wearing their helmet.

3:08Wow, okay. You know what, I'm not surprised by that. It is a huge number, but not surprised just with what I see on the streets every day and what I'm sure listeners see on the streets as well. So with 920, and is this specifically East Scooters or does it involve e-bikes or bicycles as well? Our focus with this initiative was East Scooters. However, in the officer's experience for the month-long initiative, they did stop cyclists and people that were riding other mobility devices, but we don't have the numbers broken down for that. The majority of them were East Scooter riders. Okay, so with the 920 interactions that involved somebody not wearing a helmet, were they given warnings or tickets? What happened when they got pulled over and an officer told them, hey, you have to wear a helmet? So out of the 920 riders that we did stop, 753 received a verbal warning and education

4:12on wearing a helmet and that it is a violation. And 167 tickets were given out for not wearing a helmet. Why would there be a difference? Why would one person get a warning whereas another person would get a ticket? Well, it really is case by case and up to the discretion of the individual officer. I can't speak to what the interactions were, obviously, but we were focusing on public awareness and education for this initiative. All right, so 753 warnings, 167 tickets. Then I want to also ask you about something that again that I see all the time and I'm sure listeners do as well and it makes me so frustrated. People on East Scooters that go whizzin' along on sidewalks. Was that part of this campaign as well? Absolutely, it was. Our number one reason for stopping riders was the no helmet. The number two reason was for East Scooters riding on the sidewalk

5:16and in crosswalks. And when that happens, were there tickets that were given out for East Scooters on the sidewalk? Yes, there were. Out of the 181 riders that we stopped for riding on the sidewalk or a crosswalk, 159 verbal warnings were issued as well as 22 violation tickets. And interesting when you say that because I think we think a lot about these devices on sidewalks and the fact that they're not supposed to be on the sidewalks. There are some crosswalks though. In fact, I think the one right in front of the Vancouver Police Department, there's a walk crosswalk and there's a bike crosswalk that can be used. So, but I would imagine, so you're talking about the crosswalks where it is strictly a pedestrian crosswalk that anybody on an East Scooter or a bike is supposed to walk the device. They are supposed to walk the device when they walk in a crosswalk or on a sidewalk. They're supposed to walk the device.

6:17What about people doubling up? I've seen many times two people on a scooter. I see an adult with a child on scooters sometimes. Did you encounter or did officers encounter that? Yes, that was very concerning to us. And that was the third reason that officers stopped. A rider was for doubling. And this was a concern shared by all the officers because obviously, you know, two people on a smaller device, the more chance that they can displace the balance and then tumble and fall. So, yes, we did stop 82 riders who were doubling or carrying a passenger. And what about age with the age? Is it 16 that you need to be to ride an East Scooter and did you find people that were under that age? Yes, we did. And you do have to be 16 years or older to operate an East Scooter. We stopped approximately 41 riders

7:20that were under the age of 16. We gave 38 verbal warnings to these riders and issued three violation tickets. How would you characterize this month-long campaign as far as the number of tickets and warnings and perhaps more importantly or also important, the education, I would imagine the goal isn't to keep giving tickets and have this happen. The goal is to stop this behavior. How would you characterize how successful this campaign has been? The campaign in my view has been extremely positive. This month-long initiative has entailed a combination of both the enforcement and the public awareness on the education and how to properly ride an East Scooter and also to get to your destination safely. Because we do recognize that the East Scooter is a great way of getting around from A to B but we really want our riders to ride safely.

8:23And the positive interactions that we had, our feedback that we had from the East Scooter riders was also very positive. They were very thankful for providing the information and reminders about wearing a helmet. And also from the onlookers that were in the area, looking at officers giving out violation tickets or warnings, they also were giving us the sums up and saying, you know, helmet saved lives. And thank you for doing this initiative because it keeps all the pedestrians safe as well. And that's one of our concerns too, especially since pedestrians should feel safe while walking and crosswalks and on the sidewalk. That says something, doesn't it, about the frustration of people about these devices, not the devices, but about when people aren't using the devices properly, that you actually had bystanders, giving police sums up for giving tickets. Yes, it does speak to it.

9:23And we have had in the past couple months, we have had some members of the public reach out to us and also stating that there is some frustration. So that was part of the reason for our initiative as well is to try and have all the officers get on board with this initiative and just get the messaging out there. Another reason that we conducted this initiative is that in July, we did have, we did unfortunately see one seriously injured rider and sadly one fatality. So that was another reason why we felt it was necessary to undergo this initiative. Very interesting numbers, given this month-long campaign, Inspector Willoughby, thank you for coming on the show. You're very welcome, Jill.