State lawmakers attempt to define electric scooters

State lawmakers advanced a bill that would define electric scooters and provide some regulations for the devices, but if the bill passes it might not change much on the streets in Indianapolis.

House Bill 1649, authored by Shelbyville Republican Sean Eberhart, would clarify that an electric foot scooter is not a motor vehicle, should be treated as a bicycle for enforcement purposes, and must have brakes (Lime and Bird e-scooters already have brakes).

The bill would also:

• Require scooters being operated on a highway anytime between a half-hour after sunset to a half-hour before sunrise have lights on the front and back of the device.
• Restrict local communities from prohibiting the scooters from being used in bike lanes.
• Allow e-scooters to be parked on sidewalks, as long as the scooter doesn’t “impede the normal or reasonable movement of pedestrians or vehicle traffic.”

The regulations would be similar to the rules Indianapolis approved in July. The city’s regulations for e-scooters prohibit users from riding them on sidewalks or multi-use paths, such as the Monon Trail or the Cultural Trail, and do not allow the scooters to be parked in certain areas, such as driveways, curb ramps, loading zones and handicapped parking spaces.

The city also requires e-scooters to have lights on the front and back if they are being used between sunset and sunrise.

The state legislation would not override the city’s ban on e-scooters on multi-use trails, because those paths are not exclusively for bikes.

The bill passed the House Roads and Transportation Committee on Wednesday and heads to the full House.

Dockless e-scooters from Bird and Lime flooded Indianapolis this summer, which sent city officials scrambling to figure out how to regulate the app-based service. Both companies pulled the scooters from the city, as they awaited the regulations, and both returned with even more scooters than before once the regulations were in place.