There has been a marked increase in the use of e-scooters, e-bikes and other small electric transportation vehicles on the streets of Plattsburgh lately. It was a key topic of discussion for the Plattsburgh Common Council this week.
No matter what street you are driving on in Plattsburgh you are likely to see e-scooters and hoverboards weaving in and out of traffic at speeds near or greater than the cars they pass.
The e-vehicles have become so prevalent that it was a topic of discussion by city leaders Thursday evening.
Ward 1 Democrat Julie Baughn is among those spotting a person on a hoverboard speeding through traffic.
“I don't know about you guys, but I've been seeing those, um, they're standing up. I saw a guy go up Cornelia Street and I swear to you he had to have been doing 40 because he was going faster than the cars,” Baughn observed. “I mean, I'd like to say it's going to slow down during the winter and it will. But I swear to you last year we saw people with little things on their tires so they could get through the snow. I mean, it was ridiculous. And I will give the gentleman credit, the one I saw going up Cornelia, he did have a helmet on. Obviously, he knew he was going to be doing 40 miles an hour.”
Police Chief Jarrod Trombley told councilors the issue is being addressed proactively.
“I'm kind of building this as a five-tier platform, the youth, the adults. City laws being one of them. Law enforcement would be another one. So I have a training set up, it came out of Rochester,” Trombley noted. “Rochester and Syracuse area seem to have them handled. We're having a regional law enforcement training class September 24th to help educate us so we feel confident in our knowledge in what to do next. I've sat with meetings and coming up with some ideas with the school district.”
Ward 5 Councilor David Monette was curious about the larger cities’ successful efforts.
“What's Rochester and Syracuse doing that’s ahead of the curve?”
“Their streets were built and reconfigured to allow the bike lane to be well identified. You know their parking lane is actually sidewalk, bike lane, parking lane. Our roads can't handle that. They're not wide enough and also never will be,” Trombley explained. “But they seem to be ahead of the curve just in education. It's not just educating the users of the E bikes and bicycles. It's also educating pedestrians, operators of vehicles and the general public at large.”
Monette then asked Trombley if any small electric transportation users had been ticketed.
“Have we done any citations against anyone?”
"I want to say there was one, sir,” replied Chief Trombley.
“One?” Monette queries.
Trombley replies, “One.”
“Because I'm not kidding you. Just in the last two weeks, I've seen three events,” Monette said.
“Two things that we do in law enforcement, educate and enforce. It's hard to knee jerk with just enforcing this thing when we really haven't been enforcing,” Trombley said.
Baughn asked Trombley about the potential to enact regulations.
“I'm not saying that we should go this avenue or this route. But are there laws that we can create so they couldn't get away with it, basically?
“So the law that comes to mind is the Play Vehicle law, in my opinion, I think that we probably should update that,” Trombley said.
“What is that?” asked Baughn.
“The Play Vehicle. It doesn't really establish what a e bike is, and probably look at it and include the electric vehicle,” Trobmley explained.
Ward 4 Democrat Jennifer Tallon pointed out that some people have no other way to get around.
“For some it’s their only transportation,” Tallon observed.
“It's fair," Trombley agreed. "We don't want to exclude these, these individuals. It is a mode of transportation. They just, we all have to follow the rules.”
During regular session public comments, Margaret Street resident David Hamilton said he has spoken to the police department about the need for varied mobility transportation in the city and enhancing awareness by car drivers.
“A lot of times I see drivers just going through a stop sign. That's the thing. These drivers don't pay attention or they can't see too well or they’re distracted by something," Hamilton observed. "So this safety being said, I hope you can take this into consideration.”
No action was taken by the city council.
