There are approximately 15,000 scooters and bikes on the University of Southern California campus. Some Trojans say wheels make it easy to get around campus. Others told Annenberg Media they live in fear of them.
“I think they’re terrifying,” said sophomore musical theater major Lydia Berckley, “There have been multiple times where I almost get run over and die by a scooter, because they’re going like 50 miles an hour and are less than a foot away from me.”
“If I move any inch of my body, then both of us are going down.”
According to previous reporting by Annenberg Media, 10.5% of injuries reported to the USC Health Center were caused by scooter collisions.
In 2022, the latest year with available data, there were over 50,000 scooter-related emergency department visits nationwide, according to personal injury law firm Easton & Easton.
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) also found a “substantial increase in the number of injuries and hospitalizations” related to e-bikes and scooters between 2017 and 2022.
Professor Joe Saltzman, who has been struck by numerous vehicles throughout his time here at USC said he used to be able to walk safely on campus with joy.
“In the 1950s through the 1980s, it was a pleasure to walk on this beautiful campus reading a book, talking to colleagues or students, just meditating on an idea or a dilemma,” he said. “But no more. Walking on campus is a dangerous pastime.”
For its first 100 years, the university had roads throughout campus where cars, bikes and other vehicles drove on streets. Student pedestrians would remain on the sidewalks. Now, however, electric vehicles travel on the same path as pedestrians, creating potential situations for a collision.
Many students who spoke with Annenberg Media said they supported banning electric vehicles on campus, like sophomore public relations and advertising major Jiya Patel.
“Scooters should be illegal or there needs to be some genuine safety reinforcement,” Patel said. “I know that sounds OD [overdone], but it’s really scary.”
Patel herself was in an accident with a car earlier this year while riding a rentable electric scooter herself.
“I was going full speed, and I felt like Lightning McQueen, and I had no idea how fast I was going,” she said.
For inexperienced riders, rentable scooters such as Limes, can be difficult to manage on public roads, and the policies surrounding the ride are not often enforced.
Lime scooters are intended to be for riders 18 and older, with a valid driver’s license and to only be ridden when not under the influence.
Stay safe out there, Trojans.