Milwaukee leaders are considering tougher rules for electric scooter riders after a recent sidewalk crash left a man seriously injured downtown.
The Common Council’s Public Safety and Health Committee spent nearly two hours Thursday discussing scooter safety at City Hall. One proposal would raise the fine for riding an electric scooter on the sidewalk from $10 to $20 up to $100 to $200. The fine proposal moved forward, while city leaders continue weighing slow zones, enforcement measures and scooter company accountability.
Under Milwaukee rules, electric scooters are not supposed to be ridden on sidewalks. Riders are expected to use the street or bike lanes. But the recent crash has renewed questions about how to make those rules matter, especially in crowded downtown areas where pedestrians, restaurant patios, traffic, bike lanes and scooters all overlap…