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news:
Safety issues
divide walkers, riders
By Derrick Engoy
On-line Forty-Niner
Cal State Long
Beach students fall into two categories, the "walkers"
and the "riders."
The walkers are
students who travel campus by foot. The riders are students
who get around by means of any form of self-propelled vehicle,
skateboards, bicycles or roller-skates, for example.
A safety issue
divides the two.
Trying to cut down
the time it takes to get from one class to another, a sea
of riders blanket the campus with any one of these vehicles,
making CSULB campus look like a typical afternoon on the freeway
during traffic hours.
A recent addition
to the traffic jam is the leveled-off trend of a lightweight
self-propelled scooter.
Weighing no more
than 10 pounds, these scooters are usually made of aluminum
and are collapsible for easy carrying and storage.
Convenient as the
scooters may be, the trend has caused a rising number of irate
walkers to be concerned about being run over by careless riders.
Robyn De Jesus,
graduating business major, noticed the trend and said she
was interested in these self-propelled vehicles. She borrowed
a friend's scooter, last year, to get to and from class and
said she was ecstatic at the time she saved.
That was then.
"More and
more people are catching on to these things," she said.
"And more and more people are being careless when riding
the scooters."
As much as it is
a trend to ride the scooters, being hit by a foot-propelled
vehicles is also a rising trend, according to De Jesus.
"Last semester,
I must have had countless encounters with careless students,"
De Jesus said. "Even during summer session, with less
people, I have to watch my step."
Supporters of the
scooters argue that the situation goes both ways.
"It's not
an issue of carelessness by scooter riders," Amber Ng,
junior Asian American studies major said. "Pedestrians
also walk where they're not supposed to, like jay walkers
for example."
Because these vehicles
are fairly new, there are no laws for safety officials to
enforce. Adapting the city of Long Beach's municipal code,
University Police can only enforce laws concerning skateboards,
bicycles and roller-skates.
"All we can
do is recommend the wearing of safety helmets," said
Stan Skipworth, University Police captain. "If a student
is operating the scooters in an unsafe way, then we would
act accordingly, but that's all we can do."
Although Student
Health Services reported only one minor injury associated
with the scooters, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission,
a federal regulatory agency dealing with the safety of consumer
products, reported 40,500 scooter-related injuries in 2000
with a total death count of five. There were 13,600 injuries
reported in April 2001 and the death count for this year is
eight.
"I think the
fact that there are no strict laws concerning the scooters,
students take it for granted," De Jesus said.
Carelessness remains
the major issue concerning the scooters. Many of the student
complaints and reported injuries are due to careless riders.
The reported deaths, by the CPSC, are because riders did not
obey basic traffic laws.
"We had one
incident where a person was riding down the hill," said
Mary Risinger, captain of the Signal Hill Police Department.
"The person zipped through a red light and was struck
by a car."
The city of Signal
Hill does have a specific law regulating the use of scooters.
According to the Signal Hill municipal code, riding scooters,
as well as skateboards and roller-skates on any public street
is prohibited. Any person violating the code will face fines
and the confiscation of their vehicle.
The injury report
on the CSULB campus is low, but the rise of injuries outside
the campus is a major concern among many.
"I see people
fall off the scooters everyday," said Miguel Gregorio,
graduating health care and administration major. "One
injury may be reported, however, there are many more that
go unreported."
Adapting stricter
laws concerning the scooters remain in the hands of the Planning
Department of the city of Long Beach, Skipworth said. Until
then, he said officials can not do anything major.
"If other
cities have enforced laws, then why can't our campus?"
Gregorio questioned. "If the scooters pose a rising threat
to safety concerns, why can't our officials go far and beyond
to monitor our safety?"
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