After two near accidents this month with children on motorized scooters, Hoffman Estates Mayor Bill McLeod wants his community to become the latest in a growing list of suburbs to ban them from streets and sidewalks.
“These things have gas engines. They can go 30 m.p.h., and you have little kids driving them. It’s a recipe for disaster,” said McLeod, who said he almost hit a youngster on a scooter as he pulled into his driveway.
“They can go wherever they want to ride them, just not here.”
Riders are quickly running out of places where it’s legal to use the gas or electric-powered contraptions, which resemble skateboards with handlebars. Neighbors complain about the engine noise, police about dangerous driving.
Bloomingdale banned them this week, joining Itasca, Schaumburg, Des Plaines, Roselle, Glen Ellyn and Worth. Other communities such as Libertyville, Hinsdale and Elmhurst have effectively outlawed the low-slung scooters by treating them like cars or trucks.
“They have an engine, so we consider them a motor vehicle and you can’t drive a motor vehicle on the sidewalk,” Libertyville Police Chief Pat Carey said.
“They can drive on the street, but only if they have license plates, brake lights, turning signals, rear-view mirrors, title and registration. And since no scooter has that, they can’t drive on the streets either. So they’re pretty much banned.”
New York has passed statewide legislation to make them illegal.
That attitude frustrates scooter fans who consider the vehicles harmless fun. Although they’re faster than foot-powered scooters, they aren’t to be confused with motor scooters, such as Vespas, or mopeds, which are essentially small motorbikes.
“I drive responsibly. I don’t hurt anyone,” said Eddie Sproviero, 14, who has ridden his scooter for four years in Buffalo Grove, which doesn’t restrict their use, and considers it safer and more fun than a bike.
“Sure there are people who drive them recklessly, but there are just as many people who go nuts with bikes. It’s just stupid to outlaw them altogether.”
The laws also anger scooter companies that have struggled to make scooters an accepted form of transportation.
Tim Patmont is assistant vice president of Patmont Motor Werks in California, the nation’s largest producer of motorized scooters. He said it was ironic the anti-scooter laws were being passed when state legislatures were paving the way for the new Segway Human Transporter.
The electric-powered Segways, which cost at least $3,000 but aren’t available to the public, resemble scooters and can go about 8 m.p.h. The U.S. Postal Service is helping test them and has bought some. The Illinois House recently approved a bill that allows the use of Segways on sidewalks.
“I think we’re in the same niche as the Segway, and eventually it’s going to make people realize that these bans are silly,” said Patmont, whose company ships out 200 to 300 Go-Peds a day.
Despite the new restrictions, scooters are selling better than ever, local dealers say. Costing anywhere from $500 to $1,900, they’re popular with children, teenagers or adults looking for an environmentally friendly way to get to work.
Faced with mounting legal obstacles, scooter fans can either ride them on their own property or take them to Chicago, where they’re allowed.
The Hoffman Estates Village Board is scheduled to consider the ban Monday night. The board banned the scooters in February but agreed to allow them on sidewalks after receiving letters from people such as Glenn Wellman.
Wellman, the grounds supervisor for Schaumburg School District 54, commuted to work every day last summer on his homemade electric scooter, specially built for his 270-pound frame. He stopped when he learned that Schaumburg had outlawed them.
Now he rides only occasionally around his Hoffman Estates home but fears that fun will end soon.
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous. I thought I was doing all the right things by leaving my car at home and cutting down on pollution,” Wellman said. “I thought they had come to their senses.”
McLeod said the issue resurfaced because residents have filed more complaints and police have noticed dangerous driving. Besides the near-accident on his driveway, McLeod said a child on a scooter almost plowed into him and his wife on the sidewalk.
So far this summer, police have issued 25 $20 citations. In Hinsdale the fine is $500 and a mandatory court appearance.
Mitch Fields, the owner of Arlington Motorsports in Arlington Heights, said the negative publicity has made customers wary, but he still sells about half a dozen scooters a week.
“I really don’t understand what all the fuss is about,” Fields said. “All I know is when summertime comes and politicians have nothing to do, they always go after these scooters.”
