The BeltLine scoots

By Guest Columnist JUDY DIGGS KEENAN

First let me make my position clear—I love the BeltLine.  Almost daily, I am on it running, walking to the grocery, or taking my dogs to Piedmont Park.  The creation of real walkability for in-town Atlanta has truly revitalized this city.  Nevertheless, some basic issues need to be addressed.  For starters, let’s talk e-vehicles — from scooters to bikes to those strange one-wheeled things that look like they came out of a “Back to the Future” movie.  It reminds me of that South Park Episode “The Scoots,” (Season 22, episode 5).  One day scooters appear and suddenly they have taken over the BeltLine.  Trying to sidle onto the path on a sunny weekend day is more dangerous than merging onto the connector on a Friday afternoon.

Judy Diggs Keenan has worked as an editor and writer. Currently, she has a wholesale needlepoint design business, Canvas & Thread and is working toward a certificate in creative writing.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, injuries from these micro-mobility vehicles jumped 70 percent during the four years from 2017 to 2021 across the country.   What’s more, many studies worldwide have shown that, e-scooters in particular, are substantially more dangerous than bicycles or motorcycles.

The City of Atlanta adopted an ordinance in January 2019 regulating their use, including such basic safety measures as no cell phone use while riding, one person per scooter, and always yielding to pedestrians.  Furthermore, children 16 and younger are required to wear a helmet.  These laws are routinely ignored on the BeltLine.

My personal pet peeve is when people line up their scooters or simply drop them in the running lane.  According to the city ordinance, scooters should always be left upright and not block the right of way.  Furthermore, any non-functioning scooter should be immediately removed from service or the rental company can be fined up to $1,000 per day.  The ordinances are there, but not the enforcement.

The Atlanta BeltLine, Inc., which is responsible for the building of the BeltLine, has started an etiquette campaign, which from my observation, has consisted of a series of signs along the right of way that try to educate users on basic manners and safety.  It will take more than a few friendly signs to help people be aware of other people around them.  How likely is someone who doesn’t notice that their dog is clotheslining the entire width of the BeltLine, likely to notice a sign?  The problem with basic etiquette has more to do with an entitlement mentality that is buried much deeper in our culture, unfortunately.

Once the Atlanta BeltLine Inc. builds a section, they then turn it over to the City of Atlanta.  In 2013 The City of Atlanta partnered with the Atlanta BeltLine Inc. to create the Path Force unit, which is an arm of the Atlanta Police Department.  I remember years ago seeing pairs of bicycle cops cruising up and down.  I can honestly state that I have not seen one Path Force officer on the BeltLine in quite a few years.

It started out in 2013 as a 15-person unit.  A 2017 United States Department of Justice Grant was supposed to double the Path Force, by adding an additional 15 officers. But the City of Atlanta website indicates it is still a 15-officer unit.  My repeated phone calls to the APD have not been returned.  To their credit, they have added lighting and security cameras along the 33 miles of BeltLine, but cameras have no ability to enforce laws.

In a recent off-the-record conversation I struck up with an off-duty police officer on the topic, he told me that they put the rookie cops on the Path Force and that they receive little training and fewer benefits, so the turnover is quite high.

According to Aaron Gordon in an article published in Vice, America doesn’t have the infrastructure for e-bikes, which are faster and heavier than regular bikes.  I would add that we don’t have the infrastructure for most e-vehicles, especially on the BeltLine, where travelers, be they on foot, bike, or e-vehicle, move at varying speeds and often stop unpredictably.  Recently, as I walked home with a backpack full of groceries from the BeltLine Kroger — formerly known as Murder Kroger — I saw a fallen scooter and a pool of blood where the passage narrows for the bridge across Ponce.

Obviously we need to enforce the few laws that we do have. Everyone knows the Atlanta Police Department is underfunded and oftentimes dealing with crimes much more significant than people riding scooters in tandem.  If the APD doesn’t have the means to monitor and enforce safe practices on the BeltLine, then perhaps the BeltLine organization needs to put some of their funds and efforts into hiring private off-duty officers to patrol.

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