Former councilman Adam Dread is running for an at-large Metro Council seat and he's focusing on a single issue: banning scooters in Nashville.

Dread, a veteran attorney, served on the council from 2002 until 2007. He ran for general sessions judge in 2014 and lost, seemingly bringing his career in public service to an end. Dread ran as a Republican, but describes himself as a social liberal.

And then electronic scooters came to Nashville last year, creating a complicated issue for the council to regulate. The scooters are popular with tourists, but at least some Nashvillians want to see them go.

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Dread said his platform will be about banning scooters and if he's elected, he'll file legislation on the first day to do so.

Dread's campaign launch to ban scooters comes on the morning after a serious accident in which a scooter rider suffered life-threatening injuries on Thursday.

"I want to get rid of these scooters," Dread said. "There are 4,000 of these things. They are an invasive species. Somebody has to do something about them.

"I have to walk over them in front of Biscuit Love and all those places in my neighborhood. They just drop them on the ground, it's unbelievable."

Only two at-large council members — Bob Mendes and Sharon Hurt — are seeking reelection. Former At-large Councilman Jim Shulman won a special election last year to become vice mayor.

At-large Councilwoman Erica Gilmore is challenging Shulman in the upcoming election for the vice mayor job.

And At-large Councilman John Cooper is running for mayor, leaving three open seats.

District Council members Burkley Allen, Steve Glover, Fabian Bedne, Sheri Weiner, plus former Councilman Michael Craddock, are among the candidates challenging for the five at-large seats.

Dread filed to run for at-large in 2015, but didn't run a formal campaign, didn't seek fundraising dollars and didn't attend any community forums.

The Metro election takes place in Aug. 1 and the early starts July 12. The filing deadline to qualify for the ballot was Thursday.

Andy Humbles contributed to this report.

Reach Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 and nrau@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tnnaterau.