Should Nashville ban scooters? Rise in injuries rekindles debate.

In April, the Nashville Fire Department responded to 43 emergency calls related to scooter injuries. Dr. Oscar Guillamondegui estimates Vanderbilt University Medical Center's trauma center and emergency department see about one major traumatic brain injury a month related to scooters and one-to-two injuries to faces, arms and legs per day. At Saint Thomas Midtown, Dr. Allison Bollinger said the emergency department sees two to three scooter injuries in any given eight-hour shift.

"If you think about the actual number of scooters on the road, it becomes pretty impressive that, with the few thousand (scooters) that they have, we are seeing that number of injuries per day," Guillamondegui said. 

After the first scooter-related fatality in Nashville last week, in which 26-year-old scooter rider Brady Gaulke was hit by a vehicle, the debate over scooter safety has heightened. Four leading mayoral candidates, including Mayor David Briley, agreed at a forum Wednesday that that there needs to be more regulations on scooters, and Briley on Thursday called for a ban on scooters if companies do not come up with adequate proposals on scooter safety within 30 days. The city council would have to approve such a ban.

Council members Freddie O'Connell and Jeremy Elrod have said it is possible that scooters will not be allowed beyond the city's pilot project, which ends in April 2020. 

Gaulke's family launched a petition to end scooter use in Nashville Thursday and it received hundreds of signatures within hours. His girlfriend has also encouraged a scooter ban, and last week, a candidate for Metro Council announced he would run on a platform focused on eliminating the motorized scooters from Nashville streets. 

While the scooters have been embraced by young professionals seeking faster ways to move through urban areas and have been celebrated as a means to help alleviate parking headaches and traffic congestion, they have also been heavily criticized for safety issues and for cluttering sidewalks, making transit more difficult for those with disabilities. 

"With all the traffic congestion that we have, it's been my hope that this would be an option for people to get around the city and to see if we can make them work," Metro Councilman Jeremy Elrod, who has sponsored various scooter legislation — first enabling their usage and later, calling for more restrictions — said. "I don’t think we can say we are making them work right now."

Nashville has been an early adopter of scooters and has seen their proliferation throughout the city's urban neighborhoods, as several other major cities have taken a more restrictive approach. In Nashville, 4,150 scooters are currently allowed under a pilot program, with 500 to 1,000 scooters allotted for each of the seven companies operating locally. There is no limit on the number of companies allowed to operate and companies are allowed to go beyond 1,000 if they gain approval by showing need.

Scooter company Bird was seeking to operate 1,250 scooters in Nashville, and Lyft and Uber's Jump were seeking expansion to 750 from 500 scooters at a Transportation Licensing Commission meeting Thursday. All three companies asked for a deferral of their requests Wednesday and a new date has not been determined.

In San Francisco, a more populated city and home to the majority of scooter companies, the transportation department recently said it would expand the number of scooters allowed to 2,500 from 1,250 — if the two permitted operators expand their reach to low-income users, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Seattle leaders have shunned the scooter market until earlier this month, when the the city's mayor announced the city would explore a pilot program. San Diego recently passed regulations limiting scooter speed to 3 or 8 miles per hour in high-traffic areas. Palm Springs, Florida, has so far kept its ban on scooters intact. 

In Nashville, riders are not allowed to exceed 15 miles an hour. Helmets are not required but companies encourage their usage. Helmets are rarely seen on Nashville streets, but it is not uncommon for riders to double up, with two to a scooter, and parents have also used them as they carry infants.

Metro Nashville has had 630 complaints related to scooters since September filed through hubNashville, said Metro Transportation and Licensing Director Billy Fields. That includes pictures of people illegally riding on sidewalks and scooters parked improperly on sidewalks. When complaints come in related to parking, the city reaches out to the scooter company, which has two hours to correct the problem. So far, the city has not issued any $10 to $25 fines to companies for violations because they have responded in time, Fields said. 

Metro Nashville Police records show roughly half a dozen scooter-related arrests, including citations for a suspended driver's license, operating a scooter on an interstate shoulder, driving under the influence, vandalism and two for public intoxication. Police spokesman Don Aaron, however, said warnings to scooter riders were not uncommon. 

Police officials are not aware of any citations issued for violating the scooter ordinance, Aaron said.  

Enforcement is among some Metro Council members' frustration surrounding scooters. 

"Any member of an enforcement department could stand in the Gulch at lunchtime Monday through Friday and issue nothing but moving violation fines, and we would be discovering a brand new revenue source," said Metro Councilman Freddie O'Connell.

The Transportation Licensing Commission is expected to deliver a study on scooter use in July, a month before companies seek renewed permits. The council could consider additional rules tied to parking zones, stiffer penalties for parking or operating violations or low speed zones.

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Elrod said he would also like to see a greater emphasis on enforcement and infrastructure from the city, such as additional bike lanes. 

"If there is no enforcement at all, people know that and they act accordingly, unfortunately," Elrod said. "I think that is what we are seeing."

Elrod said Nashville's scooter pilot sunsets in April 2020 and he thinks the city should see it through. If the council takes no action on approving scooters beyond the pilot period, scooters would not be allowed to operate, Elrod said. 

"It's kind of a Wild West situation out there," Elrod said. "I think everyone is frustrated about it. I know I have been. ... At minimum, the status quo is not working and it's certainly a possibility they go away in April."

O'Connell also emphasized the need for more involvement from scooter companies. That could mean more personnel available to address issues or additional help with holding riders accountable. Instead of allowing two hours to correct a parking violation, the council could seek to implement fines immediately, he said.

"I need much better partnership from all of the operators if they are going to continue to operate in Nashville," O'Connell said. "If we don’t get better help from the operators, we might very well get to that sunset and the next elected council decides, 'We tried this, we looked at data, we weren’t persuaded this is primarily a useful form of last-mile biker mobility, and instead it's become more of a nuisance, a safety risk,' and we pull the plug on it."

Bird released a report in April stating its data and other research shows a similar injury rate between scooters and bicycles. Bird riders reported one injury incident for every 27,000 miles traveled and the report said there was one emergency department visit per 16,885 bicycle miles traveled. It pointed to fewer scooter incidents in cities with greater bike safety and it called on cities to design safer streets, maintain safe street conditions, reduce car and truck speeds and reduce car trips.

The report also pointed to scooters reducing the amount of vehicles on the road. A 2018 study by the Portland Bureau of Transportation said 34% of residents and 48% of tourists using a scooter would have taken a car, taxi, Uber or Lyft if scooters had not been available. 

Injuries rise with increased usage

According to a recent study by Austin (Texas) Public Health with the Centers for Disease Control, 190 scooter riders in Austin were injured in about a three-month period last fall. Two others, a pedestrian and a cyclist, were injured. Of the 190 injured riders, about half had head injuries and 15% had evidence suggesting a traumatic brain injury. Fewer than 1% were wearing a helmet and the injuries "may have been preventable." More than a third of the injured riders said excessive speed contributed to their injury.

Guillamondegui said the scooter phenomenon is still so new that data is limited. The hospital lacked a code for scooter injuries until three months ago. Vanderbilt does not track how many local injuries are scooter riders versus pedestrians struck, but the injury patterns are the same for both, he said. Some trauma patients, with blood on their brain, are able to almost fully recover; others are not.

"The brain can heal where you are back to a baseline that nobody else would be able to tell you have any issue, all the way to where you could be left in a comatose state for the rest of your life to even dying," Guillamondegui. "It all depends."

While Saint Thomas does not see major trauma victims, doctors are treating fractures, dislocations, torn ligaments, head injuries and facial lacerations, many with permanent repercussions, Bollinger said. She described young people shattering shoulders that will affect them long term and a young man who tore a significant amount of skin off his face and who will never look the same. 

"That’s what concerns me," Bollinger said. "These people are getting maimed and they are certainly going to face, a lot of them, long-term debility because of these accidents."

Bollinger said the majority of scooter-related injuries involve someone who is intoxicated. She would like to see more accountability for riding scooters under the influence, more training for riders and helmet requirements.

Guillamondegui advises scooter riders to wear a helmet, to follow the rules developed by scooter companies and to follow the rules the road. A heightened sense of situational awareness is critical to safety, he said.

"There is no more precious commodity on your entire being than your brain," he said. "Protect it."

Reach Jamie McGee at 615-259-8071 and on Twitter @JamieMcGee_.

Nashville Fire Department patient transports related to scooters:

January: 12

February: 4

March: 15

April: 43