Posted on: Friday, April 26, 2002

Motorized scooters: Give us a break

From an adult perspective, motorized scooters have got to rank among the most obnoxious vehicles on the road these days. They're noisy, dangerous and suited to neither street nor sidewalk.

The owner of Scooter Alley Hawai'i laments that a proposal to keep them off sidewalks would deprive kids too young to drive from a means of transportation.

As far as we know, youths under16 have no constitutional right to drive motor vehicles.

Emergency rooms nationwide reported more than 2,000 motorized-scooter-related injuries for the first seven months of last year. And at least three people have died, including two children.

If we had our druthers, these raucous and pricey two-wheelers would be outlawed. Aside from grating on the nerves, noisy vehicles fueled by small gasoline engines are big polluters.

But since the genie is already out the bottle, we'll support City Councilman Romy Cachola's bill to allow motorized scooters only on private property or on sidewalks with their motors turned off.