Student trio takes instructive scooter course

The numbers were small, but the instruction was rich as the School District No. 2 BOCES program sponsored an E-scooter safety course Saturday morning at Lovell Middle School.

Just three middle and elementary school students signed up and attended the course, which included both indoor “classroom” instruction and hands-on outdoor instruction.

Education for scooter riders has been encouraged locally by citizens and is being worked on by Town of Lovell and School District Two officials. 

The course was conducted by Lovell High School math teacher Adam Craw, who also has experience in driver’s education, and Lovell Police Officer Dusty Schultz.

Taking the course were seventh graders Austin Pitt and Kaden Waltjen and fourth grader Ellis Miller.

Craw started with a PowerPoint presentation featuring the most common scooter riding mistakes to avoid: incorrect foot position (not side by side), incorrect body position, one-brake braking (use two with equal pressure applied to both), terrain awareness and not using both hands to maintain control of the scooter. He taught the students to use an extended leg to signal a turn rather than releasing a hand from the handlebar to signal.

Above all, Craw stressed: Scooter riders must pay attention and drive defensively, noting, “Never assume a driver can see you.”

Officer Schultz agreed, adding, “You guys need to watch for other people. Maybe someone is late for work or school or is an inexperienced driver. Your responsibility is to be a defensive driver.”

Craw and Schultz urged the students to stop at every intersection and look both ways before proceeding, even intersections without a stop sign for cars.

Schultz said that, as yet, the Town of Lovell does not have a scooter specific ordinance, though a new ordinance is in the works, so the police department is currently recognizing scooters under the same ordinance category as bicycles. For instance, scooters cannot be ridden on a sidewalk in the downtown business district – Shoshone to Pennsylvania -- with pedestrians not anticipating a device traveling 20 miles per hour.

Bike lanes are very helpful, and Schultz said he personally would like to see bike lanes added on Jersey, Kansas and 9th. He said both local ordinances and state law require bicycle riders, and thus, scooter riders, to ride with traffic and as close to the curb as possible, slowing and steering carefully around parked vehicles.

And while current law requires a bicycle to have a light visible from 500 feet when riding at night, the new scooter ordinance will likely not allow the devices to be ridden at night and only cross the street at intersections, Schultz said. Scooters are not to jump on and off curbs, and he said the new ordinance might require a scooter license or a student to take a safety course before being allowed to ride a scooter to school.

Schultz said the law allows for only one rider per scooter and requires scooters traveling together to ride one after the other, not side by side. He said if an officer sees two people riding a scooter together, “you will be stopped.”

Craw and Schultz said a scooter rider should never carry anything that limits the use of both hands to steer and said riders should avoid after-market baskets, which upset the balance of scooters and can lead to accidents. And if riders take their scooter to another town, the ordinances may be different, and riders should learn local ordinances to follow, Schultz said.

Craw gave a five-question quiz to the three students and awarded prizes to each student. Snacks were also provided.

Outside, Craw and Schultz led the trio of students through several different instructive stations using cones including how to approach pedestrians while riding, turning techniques, how to maintain a proper speed, how to brake carefully and completely, how to signal with one leg and what to do when approaching an intersection.