New Transportation Gadget Is Popular – And Annoying To Pedestrians
A friend and I were walking down 4th Ave., in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter when all of a sudden we were startled and nearly run over on the sidewalk.
It was not by an out-of-control car, but by a Bird scooter.
“Oh, another one of THOSE damned things,” we both said at the same time.
The Bird scooters are very popular in the Gaslamp and downtown San Diego. And I can tell you from personal experience, they are also very annoying to pedestrians.
On the one hand, it looks like a cool way to get around town. You hop on one, and take off, zip from one end of the Gaslamp to the other, to the harbor and even Little Italy. It’s kind of European, like cruising Rome on a mini-Vespa.
I saw a lot of smiles on people using them, but I was all frowns. That’s because the scooters are literally scattered all over the place. They are laying on the sidewalks so if you’re not careful, you’ll step on one and twist an ankle, trip, or worse.
Some are propped up against trees, huddled together like people hanging out on a street corner.
I felt myself almost tip-toeing around the Gaslamp. And the Gaslamp is not a place you want to be looking down all the time. There’s so much happening on the streets and in the restaurants and bars, you want to be looking at all fun activity.
Then there are the people on the scooters. They come up behind you and practically run over you or seemingly come out of nowhere and are suddenly right in front on you. One time, I jumped out of the way and nearly smacked into a tree.
Either the city needs to make it illegal to ride them on the sidewalks or limit the number of scoters in the downtown area.
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