Charlotte leaders delay discussion about popular electronic scooters

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The future of electronic scooters was up for debate when Charlotte city leaders met on Monday.

The city's pilot program for the scooters expires at the end of October.

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Officials are exploring the possibility of safety regulations, but it's unlikely they will ban the wildly popular scooters, which are used more than 100,000 times each month in Charlotte.

The electric scooters hit the streets in uptown six months ago.

Channel 9 reporter Mark Barber discovered the company Lime Bike brought them to the city illegally because it rolled them out without getting a permit approved by the city first.

Since then, riders have been spotted driving dangerously and not wearing helmets.

After City Councilman Larken Egleston spotted people riding scooters on Interstate 277, he said it’s just a matter of time until someone gets seriously hurt or killed.

Some examples of regulations city council could consider include:

Clarifying who is responsible if something goes wrong
Ordinances to keep scooters off sidewalks and off streets with high-speed limits
Requiring helmets, even though that would be difficult to enforce

On Monday, the transportation committee couldn't settle on which changes to make. Leaders agreed to continue discussions at another meeting.

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