Street Legal?

I was driving south on 82nd Avenue from 143rd Street at dusk. As you may know, that stretch of road has a 40-mph speed limit. I was planning to make the left on to 151st Street and head east to Harlem Avenue. Mine was first car in the left turn lane. There were about four cars behind me and another three in the only lane to the right.

The green left-turn arrow appeared, and I started my turn after I made sure that no one going east or west was going to run the red (which, as I’m certain that you have experienced…they do).

Out of the corner of my eye, on the left, I spotted something moving quickly. Remember, there are no sidewalks on either side of 82nd Avenue near Silver Lakes.

A boy on an e-scooter cut across my green arrow. He was going about 20-25 mph and absently staring at his phone, AirPods visible, and raced at an angle in front of mine, and another car heading south into the Golfview subdivision. Both of us hit our brakes, hard. The boy continued down 82nd Avenue into the subdivision.

Oblivious.

This wasn’t the first time that I nearly hit some kid on an e-scooter this summer. Maybe you’ve come close as well.

As I wend my way through subdivisions back home, I see little kids pedaling wobbly two-wheelers with training wheels, barely capable of more than 5 mph…wearing helmets for when they tip over into the grass.

Yet, the kids and teens I see on e-scooters, are standing straight up, zipping around on a device that can reach speeds of more than 35 mph, and have nothing but AirPods or a baseball cap as head gear.

A year ago, the Illinois legislature passed Public Act 103-0899 regarding low-speed electric scooters.

• The operator must be age 18 or older.
• No riding on roads with speed limits over 35 mph or on state highways
• Required brakes, lighting, reflectors, and prohibited impaired or multi-person riding

Orland Park sees the e-scooter the same as any electric scooter – as a motor-driven cycle.

• Operating motor-driven cycles – including electric scooters – is prohibited on all public streets, sidewalks, bike paths, parking lots, or village parks.

Last October, a 7-year-old and a 12-year-old were seriously injured in Chicago after being struck by a van while on their e-scooters.

A 9-year-old was just killed on his e-scooter the other night in Los Angeles.

In view of state law and the local ordinance, what was that under-eighteen boy doing on a 40-mph road?

Pediatric ER visits are way up since 2017 as are traumatic brain injuries related to these scooters.

We have all seen cars do the “roll-through” at a stop sign. Some don’t even pretend to stop anymore. We’ve all become accustomed to the NASCAR qualifiers on LaGrange Road or 159th Street flying through red lights because they just can’t bear to be late for (fill in the blank) whatever.

We experience the recklessness of adult distracted driving every day.

Still, I see ten-year-olds, glued to their phones, unmindful of the traffic around them, darting in between cars at 25 mph.

No looking and no protection.

Today I passed two girls doubled up on a scooter. They were laughing while another girl on a bike was trying to hand one a bottle of Mountain Dew at fairly good clip.

The photo in this article was taken today on 70th Court where there are a number of auto repair facilities from the condos down to Meijer’s.

I was driving at 20-mph. The kid passed me up.

It’s the worst place to be screwing around on an e-scooter.

These are not toys.

The state figured that out. So did Oak Forest. So did Orland Park. Other communities are figuring that out as well.

Eventually, some local kid is going to get hurt. Nobody wants to be the person who puts your kid in the ER…or worse.