The vote came after months of debate on creating a city ordinance regarding micromobility devices — or e-bikes and e-scooters. The Wrangell Borough Assembly decided not to enforce a minimum age for people riding the devices, and to follow state law to reduce liability for the city and borough.
At an assembly meeting on July 29, Borough Manager Mason Villarma said they’re still wrestling to figure out the issue.
“Clearly, there is no silver bullet, certainly not in Alaska, where the state hasn’t provided definitive guidance on certain classifications of micromobility devices or electric scooters, and in some cases electric bikes,” he said. “There’s so many different classifications. It can get confusing really quickly, and then our concern is namely borough liability.”
He said the best advice they received from the assembly is to adopt a minimum age for riders that mirrors state learner’s permit requirements, or not adopt an age limit at all. If the latter, the borough would wait for the state to come out with regulations.
State statute has a lot of grey area to micromobility devices
Ultimately, Villarma said it’s important for the borough not to expose itself to additional liability that the state doesn’t back, at least not yet.
Borough Attorney Rob Luce said the state statute is not clear at all. He said there’s a lot of grey area to e-bikes and e-scooters.
“These scooters do fall within what is known as a motor driven cycle,” he said. “For those of us that grew up in the 60s and 70s, these are those mopeds that people used to run around with.”
Opinions were split on the issue. During public testimony, one resident, Angela Allen, compared children riding e-scooters to those who ride bicycles very fast without wearing helmets. She said it’s unfair to not treat both cases equally.
“We’ve kind of opened a bigger can of worms”
She said she agrees that creating an ordinance for the devices will put a liability on the city and borough.
“We’ve kind of opened a bigger can of worms than anything,” Allen said. “Now we’re going to limit our kids access to the things that they want to do on nice days.”
She said it’s unfortunate that irresponsible kids have impacted others who have been respectful and ride safely.
Even there’s not minimum age, rules on micromobility devices still exist
Assembly Member David Powell pushed back saying that it’s not just the kids who would experience trauma if an accident happened. It would also be the driver of the car involved too.
“Unfortunately, in our societies, the bad ones always make us make new laws,” he said. “That’s just the way it works.”
He said it’s just a matter of time before an accident happens. But he is also concerned about liability if the borough takes on the ordinance and the required training for riding the devices.
Even though the assembly voted against expanding the rules on micromobility devices, there are still rules for riders to follow. The city still prohibits riders from riding in certain areas in Wrangell, like parks, playgrounds, sidewalks, the Wrangell Mariner’s Memorial and other locations. Helmets are required for people younger than 18 and everyone should abide by traffic laws. Additionally, certain safety equipment must be on the devices, like brakes that can stop within 25-feet at 10 mph, a kickstand and other gear.
