Police Can Soon Seize Scooters
Effective August 4. Now up to Legislature to change state law and make scooters legal.
The Milwaukee Police Department and other city officials will have the legal authority to impound motorized scooters found parked on city streets or sidewalks starting August 4th.
The authority comes after the Common Council and Mayor Tom Barrett both signed off on legislation yesterday that allows the city to impound the vehicles, while simultaneously legalizing the vehicles should the state grant them an exception from regulations regarding motorized vehicles. The city’s paper of record, The Daily Reporter, is scheduled to publish the change, allowing the measure to go into effect after August 3rd according to City Clerk Jim Owczarski.
Until that exception is granted by either the Wisconsin State Legislature, Attorney General or counsel of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the scooters are being illegally operated on city streets, says Assistant City Attorney Adam Stephens. Riders are subject to $98.80 fines under state law, although the police have shown no desire to issue a ticket unless there is a crash.
Stephens rendered an opinion in late June that the motorized scooters are not legal under state law and that the city does not have the power to legalize them. The city filed a suit against Bird, the only dockless scooter provider operating in the city, after the company ignored a request to cease-and-desist operating in Milwaukee.
Bauman told Urban Milwaukee Tuesday that he expects the city to exercise its authority to impound the scooters. Should they seize them, Bird will have to pay $100 per vehicle to retrieve its scooters. If the company fails to retrieve its scooters within 30 days, the city may sell the scooters via an auction, donate them to a non-profit or scrap them.
An amendment introduced yesterday by Alderman Robert Bauman lessened the impact of the new legislation by striking a blanket prohibition on the vehicles, dropping proposed penalties associated with the operation of the scooters that would have created substantial city fines for riders and eliminating the mandatory participation in a pilot program upon state legalization. Bauman said the changes were made at the request of the mayor.
But until the vehicles are rendered legal by the state, riders could still be subject to a $98.80 fine under the current state law for operating an unregistered motor vehicle. The first ticket was issued two weeks ago after a scooter operator crashed into a pedestrian on a sidewalk.
In an interview after Tuesday’s meeting, Bauman expressed his frustration with the company. “Bird is getting away with murder here,” said Bauman about Bird’s positioning of the city as the bad guy, when he says the scooters are clearly illegal under state law.
Yesterday, Bird issued a statement via a spokesperson stating: “The City of Milwaukee passed an ordinance today giving local law enforcement authority to impound e-scooters being operated as ‘motor vehicles’ based on an interpretation of state law. However, the Federal Government motor vehicle safety regulator NHTSA has affirmatively stated that scooters like those offered by Bird “are not ‘motor vehicles.'” [See: https://one.nhtsa.gov/ca
In addition to granting impoundment authority and creating a pilot program, the Common Council unanimously passed a measure Tuesday requesting that the city’s lobbying team ask the legislature to legalize the scooters. That action may take some time as the legislature isn’t scheduled to meet again until January 2019 because of the fall elections.
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More about the Bird vs Milwaukee Controversy
- City Hall: Scooters Could Return to Milwaukee - Jeramey Jannene - Sep 30th, 2020
- Transportation: Lime Unveils ‘Group Ride’ Scooters - Jeramey Jannene - Sep 6th, 2019
- Transportation: Lime Debuts New Scooter - Jeramey Jannene - Aug 28th, 2019
- Transportation: Who Has the Cheapest Scooter? - Jeramey Jannene - Aug 14th, 2019
- Transportation: City Will Double Number of Permitted Scooters, Ends “Pause” - Jeramey Jannene - Aug 10th, 2019
- Transportation: City Blocking New Scooters, 100+ Complaints About Bad Riders - Jeramey Jannene - Aug 2nd, 2019
- Transportation: The Scooters Are Here! - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 23rd, 2019
- Transportation: Three Scooter Companies Apply to Operate in Milwaukee - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 19th, 2019
- Transportation: Scooters Legalized But Not on Sidewalks - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 9th, 2019
- Transportation: Evers Signs Bill Legalizing Scooters - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 8th, 2019
Read more about Bird vs Milwaukee Controversy here