One day after the official relaunch of the Shared Dockless Vehicle Program in Dallas, a scooter user was struck by a DART train.
The scooter user was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, but no one else was injured in the incident. The collision occurred just before noon on June 1 on Olive Street, the same day that a safety demonstration for City scooters was held.
According to an initial police report, a southbound Orange Line train “made contact” with the scooter rider, who was reportedly trying to cross the tracks ahead of the approaching train, as WFAA reported.
It is unclear whether the individual was riding a rented scooter or a personally-owned scooter.
E-scooters and e-bikes returned to the city on May 31 following a two-year hiatus due to safety concerns and issues with abandoned scooters cluttering the streets, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. The units were provided by three vendors: Lime, Superpedestrian, and Bird.
About 1,500 of these vehicles were rolled out during the initial phase of the relaunch, significantly fewer than were deployed in the program’s initial launch. The relaunched program has stricter regulations governing the use of these electric vehicles.
Superpedestrian policy manager Jacob Mandel explained the parking tracking feature for these scooters at a safety demonstration attended by Council Members Gay Donnell Willis and Paul Ridley.
“You’ll finish your ride and click end ride on your app and a screen that will pop up is a photo, and you’re not able to get out [of the app] without taking a photo,” said Mandel, according to Fox 4.
If too many electric vehicles pile up in one area of the city, the vendors must pick them up and redistribute them.
Mandel said that the organization is still receiving feedback on the geofencing features that would keep these units out of prohibited areas and is continuing to make adjustments to improve the system.
The City of Dallas website offers additional information about the Shared Dockless Vehicle Program, including safety tips. The guidelines remind users to be aware of speed restrictions and No-Ride Zones, to ride one person per scooter, to obey all traffic laws, to yield to pedestrians, not to wear headphones, and not to ride while intoxicated.
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