micro mobility device

Leesfield & Partners’ Founder and Managing Partner, Ira Leesfield, sat down with Fox 35 Orlando’s Garrett Wymer to discuss Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to veto Senate Bill 382, a bipartisan e-bike safety bill.

“This is chaos,” Mr. Leesfield said. “If you go into any municipality on a Friday night, you’ll see people doing wheelies, weaving in and out [of traffic]. And neither the governor, no you, nor I … can tell an e-bike operator where to operate his or her e-bike. What is safe?”

If it had been passed, SB 382 would have created a 10 mph speed limit for e-bike riders when within 50 feet of a pedestrian on sidewalks and shared paths and mandate audible signals when passing these individuals. Additionally, the bill outlined requirements for the creation of a task force to monitor crash statistics and data collected by police throughout the state to make future recommendations.

Parked along every street corner or perched against the sides of South Miami buildings, taunting drivers sitting in gridlocked traffic on U.S. 1, is a cluster of e-scooters for rent.

The “epidemic,” as Ira Leesfield, the Founder and Managing Partner of Leesfield & Partners, first dubbed it in 2019 has become the cause for concern for councilmembers, politicians and safety advocates across the United States and abroad. Without licensing, insurance or age requirements, the drivers of electric scooters and bikes can go anywhere they please, meaning sidewalks, streets, pedestrian paths and more.

“Being unsightly may not be unforgivable, but landing innocent pedestrians or others in a neurosurgical coma is,” Leesfield said. “Not to mention a slew of other reported serious injuries … Just ask those who work at Hospitals and Emergency rooms or walk-in medical facilities.”

Articles Tagged with micro mobility device

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