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Michael Pierce was riding a Lime scooter on a Downtown sidewalk near Meridian Street on Sept. 23 when a passing police officer noticed, turned his car around and told Pierce and his girlfriend to get off the sidewalk, Pierce said.

Mac Brown was riding a Bird scooter on a Downtown sidewalk near Meridian Street on Sept. 4 when a truck leaving a Downtown parking garage struck him, causing him to fall off the scooter and strike his head, landing him in the hospital.

Both Pierce, 33, and Brown, 30, chose to not follow city rules saying that the electric scooters must be ridden on streets because they felt unsafe doing so. Together, they're an example of the push and pull taking place between Indianapolis pedestrians, scooter riders and drivers.

Riders feel unsafe riding on streets, where city rules say they should be. Pedestrians feel unsafe when scooters zip by on the sidewalk. And drivers feel unsafe when scooters occupy the same traffic lanes they do.

And as Bird and Lime scooters become fixtures on Indianapolis streets and sidewalks, police are stepping up enforcement measures to keep scooter riders off the sidewalks.

The enforcement efforts come at a crucial time, as the future of scooters in the city remains uncertain. According to at least one member of the City-County Council, the ability of riders to follow the city's regulations could determine whether the scooters are here to stay. Public safety is key.

To this point, Brown's accident has been the most well-known scooter-related injury in Indianapolis. Brown, a manager at Taps and Dolls, was riding a scooter during rush hour traffic, when he thought there were too many cars to ride safely in the road, he told IndyStar.

“The street was really busy, and I did not want to get hit or run in to anyone,” he said.

Now Indianapolis scooter riders can expect to see more enforcement of the rules that say where they can ride and park.

Why riders are more likely to be ticketed now

When scooters returned to city streets on Sept. 4, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was given an “informal” grace period to get officers up to speed on safety rules, according to IMPD Sgt. Jim Gillespie. The department had to make sure every officer had the proper ordinance books to write violations. A bulletin detailing the “do's and don’ts” of shared motorized scooter use was emailed to officers on Sept. 12, he said.

“We are now in the enforcement phase,” Gillespie said.

Gillespie said officers patrolling in the city are now issuing tickets to riders violating the rules.

“If officers see something happening or see scooters on the sidewalk they can immediately take action if they have that opportunity,” Gillespie said.

Such opportunities would include people operating on sidewalks, trails or the canal, according to police. The first citation issued requires the rider to pay $20. If the fine isn’t paid within 28 days, it goes up to $40.

Riders should approach their use of the scooters as they would a car and abide by all traffic laws, Gillespie said. For example, being intoxicated while operating a scooter could lead to a OWI or DUI charge, he said.

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In addition to monitoring where people are riding scooters, the city has set rules for where the devices can be parked.

City regulations passed by the City-County Council in July list eight restricted areas, including driveways, curb ramps, handicapped parking spaces and loading zones.

If a scooter is left in any of the places listed in the ordinance, city inspectors may issue the company that owns the scooter a $25 fine.

That cost lands at the feet of the scooter companies, but it could find its way back to the riders. "Unfortunately, if the city chooses to fine Lime for rider behavior that it deems inappropriate, we will need to assess how we pass this fee along to the rider," Maggie Gendron, Lime's director of strategic development, told IndyStar.

These parking regulations are enforced by the city's Department of Neighborhood and Business Services, which also provided an informal grace period until the final week of September, according to Brandi Pahl, chief communications officer for the department.

Pahl said they put a focus on education in the first weeks after the scooters' return to Indianapolis, but the first week of October marked the beginning of the department's effort to issue citations in addition to educating riders.

Anyone can report an improperly parked scooter by contacting the company that owns the device or the city itself.

These reporting processes were among the topics discussed when business owners and leaders questioned scooter company representatives at a September meeting.

At the time, Downtown representatives referenced a scooter that had been thrown into a fountain in Monument Circle. More recently, IMPD tweeted a picture of a scooter that had been dumped in the canal.

IMPD has taken a proactive role in teaching users where to ride and where to park. The department put out a PSA last month to inform riders of the rules.

“(It’s like) back when you’re getting training as a student driver. Then from there you’re trusted to follow these traffic laws,” Gillespie said. “We’re going to have this PSA, but at some point we have to trust people to be cognizant of the rules.”

And there may soon be more riders to educate and inform: On Oct. 3, the city's 1,500-scooter limit on each company expired, and the city did not immediately institute a new limit.

"We have seen no evidence that would cause us to address the caps at this time," Pahl told IndyStar. "The initial request when the companies filed for their permits was 1,500 scooters for the first 30 days. We do not plan to extend that request."

A Lime spokesperson did not say whether the company would take the opportunity to increase the number of scooters it operates in Indianapolis, telling IndyStar that Lime is "still evaluating fleet size."

In a statement provided to IndyStar after the initial publication of this story, a Bird spokesperson said the company was "pleased that the city of Indianapolis has decided to allow the 1,500-scooter limit to expire, allowing more areas of the city access to our affordable, environmentally friendly transportation option."

When following rules doesn't feel safe

The day after he and his girlfriend were instructed by a police officer to not ride scooters on sidewalks, Michael Pierce emailed Zach Adamson, vice president of the City-County Council.

In the email also sent to IndyStar, Pierce criticized the city for what he saw as "harassment" by the officer who confronted him the day before. He also asked whether the city was enforcing the rules passed by the council this summer.

"About 100 percent of the people I see in my little downtown bubble are not following the law." Pierce wrote. "Is it fair to say that there has been no enforcement so far, and we are moving toward selective enforcement (meaning only egregious violations will be cited, similar to speeding)?"

In an email later that day, Councilor Adamson responded, "It is being enforced. That is all that matters. The grace period was not for YOU. It was to get the city enforcement arm up to speed. You were ALWAYS supposed to be riding within the law. Nowhere did you see any official either in the media or the city, telling the public that they didn’t have to follow the law."

The exchange between Pierce and the councilor continued. Afterward, Adamson told IndyStar that this is not the first time he has received emails like this about scooters and that they are usually from people who are not in favor of the vehicles.

"I’m getting many more communications against them. In fact, I’m getting no communications supporting them at all anymore," Adamson said. "During the period when they first launched illegally, the companies were doing push communications with 'click here' to send an email to elected officials. Even then, it was still 10 to 1 against."

In a statement to IndyStar in response to questions about safety and enforcement, a Bird spokesperson emphasized the importance of rider education and working with the city.

"Rider education is very important for Bird, and we are committed to partnering with every city in which we operate to ensure that all communities, and their visitors, safely embrace our affordable, environmentally friendly transportation option."

"Our scooters have only been on the streets for a month, and we are rolling out our rider education tools on rider behavior and parking," Gendron from Lime told IndyStar. "In many cities, it takes some time for the message to change rider habits. We look forward to working with the city on getting the message to riders around behavior."

For Adamson, the future of scooters in Indianapolis all comes down to riders following the rules that are in place.

"We would be having a completely different conversation if the violations of the law were isolated incidents. There is widespread disregard," Adamson said. "The compromises the city has made with the scooter companies intending to protect public safety and build acceptance between users and non users have been met with very little cooperation by both the scooter companies and the scooter riders."

So far, Adamson isn't pleased with the results of the city's and companies' efforts to have riders follow the rules.

"So, again, we’ve tried to make this work for everyone, but to say the experience has been disappointing would be an understatement."

A 'tremendous' increase in injuries

In September, Indianapolis emergency workers responded to 22 scooter-related incidents, not including walk-ins, according to Brian Van Bokkelen, a spokesman for Indianapolis EMS. The injuries range from bruises and scrapes to a few broken bones, he said.

The most prevalent injuries have been facial and head trauma due to riders not wearing a helmet, according to Indianapolis EMS Medical Director Dr. Daniel O’Donnell, who said there has been a “tremendous” increase in injuries since scooters returned from their hiatus.

“(Riders are) falling and a lot of time falling on their head and face,” he told IndyStar. “I’ve yet to see someone who’s wearing a helmet.”

While national data is hard to come by, a Washington Post report in September found that doctors in seven cities saw "a spike in severe accidents after the devices launched on their streets."

While O’Donnell noted that in Indianapolis there’ve been no serious head trauma incidents where people have been unconscious or in comas, he saw one patient with a major jaw fracture who needed emergency surgery. Others have sustained broken bones, specifically upper arms because they’re reaching out with their hands, O’Donnell said.

O’Donnell said scooter riders should be required to wear helmets.

“(The scooters) are motorized vehicles,” he said. “These aren’t the scooters we grew up pushing with our feet. Someone’s going to have a very serious injury because of these things.”

Wearing a helmet is encouraged by both the city and scooter companies; however, Indiana does not have a law mandating the use of helmets for motorized or nonmotorized vehicles like bicycles.

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No scooter-related deaths have been reported in Indianapolis. But there have been two fatalities that involved scooters in the U.S. Last month, a man died on a Lime scooter after he was struck by an SUV in Washington D.C., the Washington Post reported. Another man died after an apparent scooter accident in Dallas, the Dallas Morning News reported.

The D.C. incident reportedly happened around 10 a.m. and the Texas incident around 4 a.m. It’s unclear whether more incidents in Indianapolis occur at night or during the day. O’Donnell estimates he’s had only one shift since the scooters returned where there wasn’t at least one scooter injury.

Lime spokesperson Lara Beck said most of the company's scooters are collected between 9 and 11 p.m. However, Beck said the company recently received verbal approval from the city's Department of Business and Neighborhood Services to operate a smaller number of scooters at night.

Pahl, however, said the department did not provide approval because the company did not need the city's permission to operate at night as long as scooters were equipped with front and rear lights as required in the city's regulations passed this summer. Lime uses different models of scooters, including at least one that features a white light facing forward and red lights on the rear.

Bird begins collecting its scooters at dusk, though riders may finish a trip on a scooter after the sun goes down.

Taking scooters to the trails

With sidewalks off limits and some finding streets to be unsafe, attention turns toward the city's trails as a safe place to ride the scooters.

But riding on the Monon or Cultural Trails is not permitted, the city's Department of Business and Neighborhood Services said in its release announcing the scooters' return to Indianapolis.

Michael Pierce is in favor of allowing scooters on trails.

"The Cultural Trail is perfect for scooters!" Pierce said. "It's wide. It's a distinct lane from the normal sidewalk. It was built to accommodate alternative modes of transportation. How much better can it get?"

He continued: "I don't understand why the city is so hung up on the prohibition of anything with a motor on the trail when the max speed of these scooters is only 15 mph. I've seen tons of cyclists plow through intersections going much faster than 15 mph, but no one talks about banning bikes."

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When asked about the possibility of scooters being allowed on trails, Councilor Adamson told IndyStar that it could make sense if there were more evidence that riders could follow rules put into place.

"If we could trust scooter riders to follow the rules, the plan WAS to open up the trails," Adamson wrote in an earlier email to Pierce and IndyStar. "It would be irresponsible for us to subject pedestrians to what has become the obvious pattern thus far. So this has been a test. Follow the rules, we could expand it. Ignore the law, we have no choice but to ban them."

Adamson said he fought for the scooters to be allowed in Indianapolis, but he also acknowledged that he and other council members have since considered banning them.

"Our first priority as a city is to ensure that the public has a means to move that is safe and as threat free as possible," Adamson said. "If scooter riders can not manage to follow the simplest of rules on this matter, the only option I can see is to prohibit them outright. From what I’ve heard from other Councilors, the will is definitely there. If this experiment doesn’t work, it won't be because the city didn’t try."

So where should you ride?

With sidewalks and trail off limits, scooters are pushed to the roads and bike lanes along them.

Operating a scooter in the middle of a roadway is strongly discouraged, Gillespie said, especially given the vehicles’ limited speed.

“If you’re in the middle of the lane and you’re going five miles an hour, that’s a safety concern,” Gillespie said. Riders who are in the middle of the road will likely be told to move to the side, he said.

On the side of some roads, riders will find bike lanes, where scooters are allowed.

Bicyclists say they don’t have a problem with sharing spaces with scooters, as long as riders are observing the rules and guidelines, said Katie Feltman, president of the Central Indiana Bicycling Association.

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In the organization's Facebook group, Feltman asked bicyclists what they thought about possibly encountering the scooters. Most people had no issues with co-existing with the motorized vehicles and even seemed excited that the city had another mode of transportation.

“When we’re talking about safety, the scooters are low on our list of worries,” Feltman said. “It’s cars that we’re worried about.”

Scooter riders should share that same concern because they are facing the same dangers as bicyclists and pedestrians, Feltman said. Despite having lights on them, scooters are harder to see than bikes, she said, because they’re not as large.

Bicyclists were OK with the idea of having scooters on trails if riders are being safe.

“There are cyclists who ride safely and cyclists who don’t,” Feltman said. “(Safety) has more to do with the operator of the vehicle.”

Denver handles scooters differently

While the Circle City wants scooters off sidewalks and on streets, the Mile High City has taken the opposite approach: Denver rules consider the scooters "toy vehicles" and ban them from being ridden in bike lanes or "general traffic."

But Denver’s enforcement strategies are still being determined, according to the Denver police.

"The Denver Police Department is currently working with other city agencies to determine how best to apply the ordinances pertinent to standup electric scooters, the best strategies for enforcement, and how the City can create the safest environment for all users of sidewalks, bike lanes and roads,” the department said in a statement to IndyStar.

During the process, police are focusing on the “most serious” scooter issues, such as reckless riding and operating under the influence, the statement said.

While assistant chief paramedic Stephen Jackamore said Denver doesn't officially collect data on scooter-related injuries, doctors at Rose Medical Center reported an uptick in injuries related to the devices. A spokesman for the private hospital confirmed this fact, which initially appeared in an Oct. 2 editorial in the Denver Post.

Denver does not have fines in place for improperly parking scooters. "Denver Public Works is asking users to park scooters and dockless bikes at bus and transit stops," said Heather Burke, a public information specialist for Denver Public Works.

"In the coming weeks, transit and bus stops with a lot of parking activity will get designated painted dockless parking zones to help create organization in the public right of way," Burke said. "(The public works department) is evaluating where the parking zones are needed, and we’re working with permitted operators to get them installed over the first few months of the program."

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The two cities have handled some regulation matters in similar ways: Indianapolis instituted a $15,000 annual fee for companies to operate while Denver charged a $15,000 permit fee for companies to participate in a one-year pilot program, according to an overview of the city's program.

While Indianapolis charges companies $1 per scooter per day, Denver charges a one-time fee of $30 per scooter deployed.

While Denver charges higher fees per scooter, it allows fewer of the devices to operate. Indianapolis limited the companies to 1,500 scooters each for the first 30 days. Denver only allowed 250 scooters per company at first with an opportunity to deploy 100 more.

Neither city requires that riders wear a helmet, though it is encouraged by the scooter companies and cities alike. Like in Indianapolis, scooters are not allowed on Denver trails, Cyndi Karvaski with Denver parks and recreation confirmed.

When it comes to scooters, Denver and Indianapolis have one other thing in common: Both cities are trying to land Amazon's coveted second headquarters. And the conventional wisdom has been that Amazon prefers to locate in a city that welcomes new technologies and transportation options.

But for Adamson there is a more pressing concern: public safety.

"I fought hard to have them here in the hopes that they could coexist, peacefully with simple guidelines based on common sense," Adamson wrote. "Don’t ride on the sidewalks or trails where pedestrians have to walk, don’t leave them in places that obstruct the thoroughfare."

"So far, it’s been thoroughly disappointing."

Call IndyStar digital producer Ethan May at 317-444-4682. Follow him on Twitter @EthanMayJ.

Call IndyStar reporter Crystal Hill at 317-444-6094. Follow her on Twitter: @crysnhill.