ISLAND VOICES
Give kids a break on motor scooters

By Albert Young
Honolulu resident

Adults as well as younger people use motorized scooters to go to work, school, practice, do newspaper routes. It is a necessary resource for their modern lifestyles.

These families have invested hundreds of dollars for the convenience and economy these scooters offer.

Thousands of parents have bought these scooters for their kids toward incentives for good behavior, scholastic achievement, education and awareness.

Younger citizens take pride and interest in their scooters, keeping the kids out of street gangs and away from drugs. These productive attributes contribute to the welfare of society in a rapidly changing world. We must recognize that growing up today is far more difficult than it was 20 or 40 years ago.

Stock scooters and electric scooters are quieter than a weed whacker. It is only when scooters are heavily modified or altered that they become noisy.

As for scooters being dangerous, they are no more so than bicycles, skateboards, roller-blades, etc., which are all on the sidewalks. The percentage of scooter accidents nationwide is also far less than many of the popular organized sports.

Based on the above facts, we can see the tremendous potential for the practical adoption of these alternative transportation devices. Safe passageways are needed for people who commute other than in cars or buses. Motorized scooters are street-legal in California, regulated similarly as bicycles and mopeds. Our lawmakers must seriously provide insight and not leave us blind through biased, uninformed public opinion, or make hasty decisions. The success of our children's future depends upon it. We must start to prepare now.

Regulation should be enforced upon irresponsible individuals who give scooters a bad rap. Agreeably, noise should be curtailed and speeds should be governed. Certified training should be offered to qualify operators for safety and knowledge. But chucking the whole thing and dumping it based on negative insight benefits no one.

We have two choices:

• To openly consider the many new opportunities that await us, to provide for our future and the future of our children in positive and different ways, or,
• Be content to seek primitive solutions for modern-day problems.

Choose one. Give our kids a break.