I’m certain every single child in my neighborhood has an e-bike or a scooter, and their parents said to ride on the sidewalk because it’s safer. Safer for them. The rest of us walk in fear. Zip, zip. Coming from behind. A muttered on your left, and that’s if they are feeling generous.
The whole thing makes me mad. I mentioned this to a friend, who said the e-bikes will be the end of our mobility. We, the sad old people who walk. They are coming for us. She said this is not our world anymore, and boy, truer words were never spoken.
If there was ever a reason to move to a 55 and older community, this is it. Except I’m betting the grandkids show up there to ride and nona and papa are pleased as punch.
I need a new game plan. I was planning to walk yesterday, but by the time I was ready, school was letting out. Gangs of them are released into the streets unsupervised. Hooligans. Officially, I’m not telling them to get off my lawn, but I do want them off my sidewalks.
But then I remember what my friend said. It’s not our world. Not my sidewalk. Get used to it.
While I’m at it, I may as well address the dog people. The law where I live is fuzzy on e-bikes and scooters, but there is a county-wide leash law people like to ignore.
One guy was jogging past me with his dog off-leash, and I said, “Please put the dog on a leash!” He turned around and said, “What are you gonna do? Call the police?”
I said no, I’m asking nicely, but that was my outside voice. I wanted to say, “No, because I am the fucking police!” Wouldn’t that be fun? Whip out a baton or something and take him down.
But I did not say that. Because I am reasonably civilized, and you know, of course, I am not with the police and don’t have the upper body strength to wield a baton with any force. And even with my extremely buff walker body, I’m clearly an old lady, and they don’t hire old ladies to keep assholes in line.
Well ebikes and scooters have been a boon for ER rooms
I’ll bet they have. Most of the kids in my neighborhood don’t wear helmets.
In fact, I watched a video from a “younger” “elder” who bought into a 55+ community and her horror discovery was that not only do the grandchildren get dropped off a lot, some of the grandmas are essentially doing day care for them while mom works (dads are irrelevant, of course). In worst case scenarios, basement dwelling-type [over]grown sons MOVE IN, in all but technicality. It gets very hard to regulate and is living hell for those who moved in there to get away from all that. I never could have imagined any of that. Shudder.
That is my worst nightmare. I figure they take over the pool as well.
You struck my nerve with this post. I live adjacent to a major street leading to/from a light rail station. Bicycles, e-bikes and scooters continually on the sidewalks. A menace to walkers and pets. City Council one year ago passed a law allowing such vehicles to operate on sidewalks despite a prior state law outlawing it.
I understand wanting to reduce vehicular traffic, but we have parallel streets which are one-way streets one block from the main thoroughfare which are much safer for scooters and bikes. Prior to the law I actually spoke at City Council requesting enforcement to protect the safety of pedestrians and to encourage vehicles to use the side streets.
Bicycles riding on sidewalks are more hazardous to the rider than riding on the street due to driveways and turning vehicles.
No one wants to enforce decency laws anymore. People forget that with rights come responsibility to self and others.
Be kind
Thank you for sharing your perspective. I’m impressed by your activism. I might get to that point. Soon. It is ridiculous that we have to dodge these “vechicles” on our sidewalks.
Thankfully my crappy little town only has a few sidewalks and they’re so broken, you can barely walk on them much less ride an ebike, plus the fact that I live in a very red county where, unironically most people can’t afford such contraptions for their children.
That being said, we enjoy biking on rail trails and the glut of people zooming past us at 20 mph while we’re using the old legs to go a modest 10 mph is frightening. Ebikes are the bane of society and yet another thing we can thank our fabulous president for; pretty soon the trails will be full of motorcycles and ATVs if he has his way! And leash laws don’t apply on trails anymore either. Can you tell you struck a nerve?
It’s striking my nerve all over again! I’m saving that quote. Ebikes are the bane of society.
Also this:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/07/i-felt-my-spine-and-body-split-the-woman-who-was-hit-by-a-child-on-a-lime-bike-and-denied-compensation
Lordy, that scared the daylights out of me.
Where I live, there are gangs of them riding on the street or sidewalk, doing wheelies. A lot of them are on electric bikes that are more like motorcycles–they go much faster than e-bikes. I was knocked down by a bicycle, which was bad enough. Can’t imagine being hit by an e-bikes or scooter.
I got into an argument on a pedestrian only path where a guy on his e-bike felt he had the right to go. Entitled POS. After getting hit by the bike, I prefer the pedestrian only paths.
What a horrifying experience that must have been. To me, these ebikes really aren’t much different than motorcycle gangs. I’ll have to see if there are any pedestrian-only paths near me — not that it would mean anything to some of these bicycle people.