City passes scooters ordinance

Motorized scooters allowed in some areas of the city; pocket bikes still outlawed

The Moses Lake City Council has passed an ordinance regulating the use of motorized foot scooters within city limits.

By passing the ordinance, the council hopes to end the discussion as to whether or not these vehicles are safe to ride in the streets of Moses Lake.

The ordinance states that motorized foot scooters may be driven on roadways, shoulders alleys and private aircraft movement areas not associated with aircraft operations.

It forbids their use on any city street with a posted maximum speed limit greater than 25 miles per hour, as well as on any city sidewalk, bicycle lane, multipurpose trail and any public aircraft movement area associated with aircraft operation.

However, the speed limitation makes it okay for drivers to use these scooters on places such as certain areas of Third Avenue. There is no need to get a license, either.

"They will be just like a bicycle," Moses Lake City Attorney James Whitaker said, adding that users would have to follow the same rules of the road as any other vehicle, with a few caveats.

For instance, no person under the age of 16 years old will be allowed to drive one of these scooters, and those who drive them are not allowed to carry any passengers.

Moreover, Whitaker said, this ordinance does not cover pocket bikes or mini motor-driven cycles, which are still outlawed in city limits but allowed in private properties.

These motor-driven cycles are not covered by the new ordinance, as their engine capabilities as well as their size falls short of the requirements. Motorbikes can usually reach up to five horsepower.

Moses Lake Police Interim Chief Dean Mitchell commented on the ordinance saying that it was meant to allow local municipalities to regulate, but not to outlaw, motor scooters.

In a press release, Mitchell said that users of motorized foot scooters must wear a helmet and "may not operate their vehicles after dark without proper lighting."

The ordinance describes the hours of darkness as those from half an hour after sunset until half an hour before dawn, and helmet as a protective covering for the head consisting of a hard outer shell, padding adjacent to and inside the outer shell and a neck or chin strap.

Those found in violation will be fined $260, Mitchell said in the release.

These violations, the ordinance states, include noise violations as well. Motor scooters must be equipped with a muffling device.

All these rules are expected to reduce the number of complaints Mitchell said had been received from citizens about motorized foot scooters running around "in a hazardous manner to the public," he added.

However, he said that he had not seen as many of these scooters on the road since the city addressed the problem.

"There has not been anyone cited, to my knowledge," he said.