I would snap electric scooters out of existence if I could

In this day and age, electric scooters are the worst modern invention to ever plague college campuses. They take up space, they’re safety hazards and, quite frankly, I feel mocked when they speed past little old me on my skateboard. Yes, they’re a fun alternative to driving and public transportation, and are technically pretty useful. No matter how hard I push on my skateboard, an electric scooter will always beat me to my destination in half the time — even with my brand new cruiser wheels. But at what cost?

I write this not because I am bitter, but because I fear for the wellbeing of my fellow Trojans. The number of electric scooter crashes I have witnessed and heard about have been innumerable. They’re hard to maneuver and there’s no way to make a quick turn on one — in turn putting the thousands of pedestrians on campus in imminent danger. I’ve seen the fear on people’s faces when an electric scooter zooms by a little too close. 

On a less melodramatic note, a friend of mine recently got into an electric scooter accident at an intersection. He was on his longboard, and the other person careened into him at a much higher speed. Not only were there no DPS officers nearby to help, seeing as it was the middle of the day, but he ended up needing stitches, while the scooter user left with barely a scratch. 

Accidents like these are a lot more common — and painful —  than you might think. An analysis conducted by UCLA from Sept. 1, 2017, to Aug. 31, 2018 found that 249 people involved in electric scooter accidents needed medical care, and a third of those people required hospital attention. Most accidents were the result of falls, collisions or riders getting hit by moving vehicles or objects. Yikes.

This is such an issue, in fact, that Los Angeles lawmakers proposed to temporarily ban the widely-loved vehicles in July 2018. They cited the influx of accidents, and L.A. residents complained that scooter riders were using sidewalks and putting pedestrians in danger despite sidewalk riding being illegal in California. The city opted to issue cease-and-desists to popular scooter companies such as Bird and Lime, rather than a strict legal demand, which, due to their increasing popularity, would have been much more difficult to implement. 

I’m not saying no one should own an electric scooter. I often find myself a little jealous of electric scooter owners, especially when having to find the strength to skate home after a late night study session at Leavey. I am arguing, however, that people should be a little more cautious when riding them. Seeing as our campus is so ideally flat and walkable — unlike a certain hilly rival that just so happens to also be in L.A. — USC has a pretty high number of pedestrians. 

At high traffic points in the day, no one should be scootering across a crowded intersection. While everyone’s rushing to and from class and focusing on where they have to be in the next ten minutes, not fully paying attention to their surroundings, it’s simply too dangerous to be moving at that speed among so many people. I honestly would argue the same for people on skateboards, bikes or anything other than their own two feet. 

While I love my skateboard, despite it being less of a hazard than a scooter, I always pick it up at the Village intersection to and from my 12:30 class at CPA — I’ve come far too close to taking both myself and someone else out not to. So if you ride an electric scooter, do yourself and everyone else a favor: invest in some comfier walking shoes, and walk it across that intersection. Get those steps in and avoid an intersection disaster — it’s a win-win situation.