Last Monday, May 29th, in response to my request that a motion be heard related to the shared e-scooter pilot program, 8 members of Council including the Mayor made no comments other than their NO votes.
So the e-scooter motion Councillor Neal and I were attempting to move and be brought before Council was not read or discussed.
Later in the week local reporter Reka Szekely published an article “Oshawa opts not to reconsider e-scooter pilot project after woman’s death” which contained comments made by Oshawa’s Mayor.
The Mayor did not acknowledge the many concerns and complaints the public have been raising. Not acknowledging them does not make them go away. The narrative on the shared e-scooter issue in my opinion should not be that one sided.
There is an on-going police investigation into 20 year old Kaitlyn Pollock’s death while driving a shared e-scooter. I extend my deepest condolences to her family and friends and all devastated by her tragic death which occurred May 17th in the Taunton and Harmony Rd. area.
Irrespective of when the police investigation is completed, the police really have no say when Oshawa Council may advance an investigation to determine what, if any additional restrictions or rules need to be put in force for improved safety. Tomorrow will be the 45th day since the City of Oshawa's agreement with the two vendors, Neuron and Bird, was launched.
I sincerely hope Oshawa staff and Council look at the example the City of Kelowna provides on how to respond to public e-scooter concerns. In April 2021 Kelowna launched its shared e-scooter program.
By June, 45 days later, Kelowna Council was intent on making improvements. Two Council meetings in June were held to address the many issues. At the first meeting, "after nearly three hours of presentation, deliberation and comments, council endorsed 19 changes to the program...to help remedy those issues"
"Changes ...included a ‘pledge’ that users are sober; helmet selfies that earn riders rewards, restrictions on late-evening scooting and
limiting the speed of first-time riders, quicker retrieval by operators of improperly parked scooters, sidewalk stickers to remind riders to keep off the sidewalks, and limiting scooter density by requiring operators to place no more than 30 per cent of their scooters downtown."
According to one councillor who did not mince his works, ‘the rollout was reckless and haphazard and there are far more negatives than there are positives. Change is needed rapidly.’
Physicians at the hospital in Kelowna were were saying the public needs to know the e-scooters are ‘fracture machines’.
At the second Council meeting later in June more restrictions were passed.
https://www.kelownacapnews.com/.../helmet-selfies-and.../
https://www.kelownanow.com/.../Kelowna_city_council.../...
In November the Kelowna General Hospital provided the City with a report on the incidence of scooter related injuries and suggested policies to mitigate injuries.
https://kelownapublishing.escribemeetings.com/filestream....
"Studying KGH e-scooter head injury data in conjunction with consistently high rates of head injuries and low rates of helmet use from the studies discussed above points towards an urgent need for stringent policies regarding helmet use for e-scooter riders.”
Imo this type of dive into how the Oshawa shared e-scooter pilot project can be improved is necessary and should be welcomed by Council sooner rather than later.
So the e-scooter motion Councillor Neal and I were attempting to move and be brought before Council was not read or discussed.
Later in the week local reporter Reka Szekely published an article “Oshawa opts not to reconsider e-scooter pilot project after woman’s death” which contained comments made by Oshawa’s Mayor.
The Mayor did not acknowledge the many concerns and complaints the public have been raising. Not acknowledging them does not make them go away. The narrative on the shared e-scooter issue in my opinion should not be that one sided.
There is an on-going police investigation into 20 year old Kaitlyn Pollock’s death while driving a shared e-scooter. I extend my deepest condolences to her family and friends and all devastated by her tragic death which occurred May 17th in the Taunton and Harmony Rd. area.
Irrespective of when the police investigation is completed, the police really have no say when Oshawa Council may advance an investigation to determine what, if any additional restrictions or rules need to be put in force for improved safety. Tomorrow will be the 45th day since the City of Oshawa's agreement with the two vendors, Neuron and Bird, was launched.
I sincerely hope Oshawa staff and Council look at the example the City of Kelowna provides on how to respond to public e-scooter concerns. In April 2021 Kelowna launched its shared e-scooter program.
By June, 45 days later, Kelowna Council was intent on making improvements. Two Council meetings in June were held to address the many issues. At the first meeting, "after nearly three hours of presentation, deliberation and comments, council endorsed 19 changes to the program...to help remedy those issues"
"Changes ...included a ‘pledge’ that users are sober; helmet selfies that earn riders rewards, restrictions on late-evening scooting and
limiting the speed of first-time riders, quicker retrieval by operators of improperly parked scooters, sidewalk stickers to remind riders to keep off the sidewalks, and limiting scooter density by requiring operators to place no more than 30 per cent of their scooters downtown."
According to one councillor who did not mince his works, ‘the rollout was reckless and haphazard and there are far more negatives than there are positives. Change is needed rapidly.’
Physicians at the hospital in Kelowna were were saying the public needs to know the e-scooters are ‘fracture machines’.
At the second Council meeting later in June more restrictions were passed.
https://www.kelownacapnews.com/.../helmet-selfies-and.../
https://www.kelownanow.com/.../Kelowna_city_council.../...
In November the Kelowna General Hospital provided the City with a report on the incidence of scooter related injuries and suggested policies to mitigate injuries.
https://kelownapublishing.escribemeetings.com/filestream....
"Studying KGH e-scooter head injury data in conjunction with consistently high rates of head injuries and low rates of helmet use from the studies discussed above points towards an urgent need for stringent policies regarding helmet use for e-scooter riders.”
Imo this type of dive into how the Oshawa shared e-scooter pilot project can be improved is necessary and should be welcomed by Council sooner rather than later.
