First off, I’ll state the obvious: Esk8 is fully illegal in Florida despite the fact that many of us get away with it.
Now for the good news: Senate bill 542 “An act relating to mobility devices and motorized scooters” is real damn close to being our salvation. I’ll summarize it because legal bits are boring:
20mph top speed [not amazing, but tolerable]
No driver’s license or insurance requirement [Perfect]
Anywhere you can legally ride a bike (bike lanes, roads, sidewalks) you can ride a scooter*
No wattage or power cap [perfect]
If you want to make a scooter* rideshare service, you have to pick them up before hurricanes and storms [not really relevant unless you plan to become the Bird of Esk8]
Seats are an optional accessory for scooters* for all you lazy people [not super relevant]
No riding on private property without express permission of owner [probably just a trespass catchall]
Local governments can still impose restrictions on where scooters* can ride if they want to. [seems reasonable]
Helmets are not mentioned at all in the bill
The big * is that the bill current stipulates that a scooter “which is designed to travel on not more than three wheels” which is a deal killer. I’m in the process of contacting my state senate rep to have them change that wording, but we’ll see how this progresses. If other Florida Esk8 folks could contact their state senators, maybe we can finally become legit.
I was reading it and It actually said that if you ride a motorized vehicle on sidewalks and bikepaths and its a traffic infraction if you do.
I also like to add a lot of places that have rule on helmets are usually useless. The rule were I live is you are required to wear one if you are under the age of 13.
They def. won’t change the 3 wheel wording… too many loopholes would be exploited if they did, essentially eCars would be permitted without license or insurance (albeit slow, but inner cities are slow anyway)… the legislation is there to permit scooters in line with many other cities - that’s all.
All they need to do is add a third description for electric skateboards: a device with a platform for standing on with no more than four wheels. The Michigan and California laws have good legal descriptions of skateboards.
Possible I suppose - can’t see it happening though :-/… a lot of the time councillors are too arrogant to amend bills just on the request of a few people. There could be a reason they haven’t adopted the same policy as the other states you mention too… TBH it usually depends on one individual calling the shots at the end of the day!
Do people elsewhere get shit from cops for riding their boards? Where I’m at right now in CO, the cops give me no issues. I ride with a reflective vest and safety gear on and they just wave. They pull cars over more than the never that they have stopped me. And I’m pretty sure what I am doing is not specifically legal.
Only on certain places. Also big days with events the cops are usually on high alert and they just want us to be safe for the most part and not ride through heavy traffic. If we had solid rules then where we ride wouldnt be up to the whim of a cop.
Yeah we need a law like California because technically, an eskate is a “motor vehicle” so it must be registered and it must be insured to be registered… ridiculous.
I think the answer is to stick to the sidewalk; be respectful to pedestrians; and just kick, push, and coast when you see a cop.