City council moves forward on regulating motorized foot scooters

At Monday’s Brandon City Council meeting, the first reading of an ordinance to regulate motorized foot scooters was approved.

The issue will move to a future city council meeting for the second reading and approval.

The issue of motorized scooters in Brandon has been on the council’s agenda for more than a year. It resurfaced again at their June 3 meeting, and the draft language was finally approved at Monday’s first reading.

The ordinance calls for riders under the age of 14 years to ride foot scooters on the sidewalk except between Elm Street to Cedar Street on Main Avenue.

Foot scooters may only be driven when wearing a helmet, and only one individual can be on the device. The speed limit is 15 miles per hour.

For riders 14 years of age and older, motorized foot scooters and electric personal assistance devices may be driven on the sidewalk and streets. The ordinance says the vehicles may not exceed the speed that applies to the street.

The penalty for violations is $25.

“This is an educational tool more than anything else,” City Administrator Bryan Read said. “We certainly have the capability of putting a radar on scooters. I’m just putting it out there just in case.”

Brandon Police Chief Jamie Steffel said the issue will continue to be ever-changing.

“You’re going to have to deal with this again because every municipality has to deal with electric scooters, they have to deal with e-bikes, there’s new technology when new things come out,” he said. “Right now, I just want to make sure everybody is safe. There is a fine for violating the ordinance, but we’re not looking to go around and start handing out fines. We just need something that we can start educating people, and talking to kids. The main thing is just the safety. Those things are flying down the road and the sidewalks and they don’t slow down at intersections. It’s a safety thing. We don’t want anybody getting hurt.”