ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta is banning electric scooters in the nighttime hours during what’s been a deadly summer for riders.

The ban comes as cities across the nation struggle to regulate the companies renting the devices and keep riders safe.

In Atlanta, three riders have died since May in crashes that involved a public bus, an SUV and a car. Police in the Atlanta suburb of East Point say a fourth rider was killed there Tuesday in a collision involving his scooter and a truck.

“Sadly, we have seen a pattern in the recent and tragic fatalities involving scooters - they all occurred after sunset,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a statement Thursday.

“Having a variety of mobility options is critical to any city, but safety must be our top priority,” she said. “This nighttime ban, while we continue to develop further long-term measures, will ensure the safest street conditions for scooter riders, motorists, cyclists, those in wheelchairs and pedestrians.”

City officials on Thursday announced a ban on electric scooters and electric bikes from 9 p.m. until 4 a.m. daily. The ban takes effect Friday.

City officials have asked e-scooter vendors to disable the devices during the hours they’re banned, the mayor said.

Other communities, including Dallas; Nashville, Tennessee; and Athens, Georgia, have recently considered some form of regulation of scooters, partly over concerns about safety.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed medical records from scooter riders in Austin, Texas, in an effort to learn more about the risks associated with riding them. Researchers in the Austin study identified 192 scooter-related injuries in three months in 2018.

Nearly half of those were head injuries, including 15% that were traumatic brain injuries, the CDC said in its report. The researchers also found a troubling trend: Less than 1% of the injured riders wore a helmet.

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This story has been corrected to say police in East Point reported the latest death; not Atlanta police.

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