Imagine you’re enjoying a walk back from Aggieville on a cool Friday night when suddenly, in the distance behind you, you hear the electric whir of a motor and the loud hoots and hollers of drunk college kids doubled up on an electric scooter. They whiz by you, going 20 miles per hour on the tight sidewalk, narrowly missing you as the pair speeds toward wherever they are going for the night.
Would this make you upset? If it does, congratulations, you are part of a community of students, faculty and locals who are growing tired of this scooter chaos at Kansas State.
The rentable scooter was pitched as a sleek, fast and accessible way to get from point A to point B around Manhattan. But if you’ve actually spent time walking around campus dodging abandoned scooters in the middle of sidewalks, or flinched when one flew by you, you know that the marketing doesn’t quite match the practice.
A walk to class feels like a round of Crossy Road (or Frogger)
K-State is a walkable campus, and that is a major factor in what makes Manhattan such a tightly woven community. You meet and make friends on the walkable parts of our campus; you talk about classes, weekend plans or how desperately you need caffeine.
These sidewalks were designed for foot traffic, not a motorized scooter dodging and weaving through crowds, but scooters barrel through groups of students at wild angles and appear in the strangest of places across campus. If you’ve seen a scooter lying lifeless on a front lawn or stood in the middle of the World War I Memorial Field, you know what I’m talking about.
Scooters are a serious safety issue, too
Let’s be honest: People do not take driving a scooter as seriously as they should, nor do they respect the rules an e-scooter must adhere to. These rules go unenforced and unpunished, leaving the everyday pedestrian stuck dodging fast-moving vehicles in places where they shouldn’t be in the first place.
These risks are not only isolated towards the average pedestrian; in October, in Leawood, Kansas, KMBC reported that a fourth grader was struck and killed by a car while crossing the street on an E-Bike. This is a grim reminder of just how vulnerable these riders are, sober or not, and how quickly a tiny misjudgment can lead to serious consequences.
Additionally, some renters should not be legally allowed to operate these scooters, or any other wheeled motorized vehicle, for that matter. Pretending that every operator of these scooters is a sober one is futile. This is Kansas State University; we’ve seen the reality.
Scooters demolish the campus vibe
What everyone forgets is that scooters actually make the campus feel less like a college and more like Interstate 70. If you are constantly looking over your shoulder, worried you will get checked by an errant elbow of a negligent rider, you aren’t truly getting that K-State experience.
That’s not even mentioning the clutter that comes with them. Scooters are leaned against every building, blocking entrances, scattered across open fields and flowerbeds, looking like they’ve had a bit too much to drink. They somehow manage to end up everywhere but where they are supposed to be.
This can hurt K-State’s image. A senior in high school who prides themselves on aesthetics could be demotivated upon seeing scooters discarded across campus during their tour.
Scooters are a shortcut that makes the journey longer in the long run
For some students, rentable scooters are the cheapest available option for getting to class, especially for those who can’t afford to spend $2,000 on a moped or bike, or maintain a car in Manhattan. And for those students who work jobs, have unexpected plans arise or need to rush to Hale for an emergency study session, having a quick and cheap way to get across campus is essential. While these scooters are convenient, fast and affordable, this should not make us turn a blind eye to whether they are damaging our campus’ image in the long term.
As of right now, it is tough to argue the positives for these scooters in improving K-State. They add clutter and noise across campus, damaging our culture and warping it to where pedestrians feel like an afterthought.
Changes need to be made
Scooters shouldn’t be banished from K-State’s campus forever. The student body, however, needs to come together and reflect on whether having scooters on campus is good for us in the long term. This could mean limiting where they can be used, creating infrastructure such as parking zones or enforcing traffic laws on riders. Or it could mean admitting that these rentable scooters just don’t fit K-State’s campus layout, if they ever did to begin with.
K-State wouldn’t be the only university to ban scooters on its campus. According to “Scoot over, Tulane: Administration bans electric scooters, e-bikes” several dangerous incidents regarding scooters have occurred this school year, affecting Tulane University and resulting in a campus wide ban.
What is clear is that our current system is failing, and until something about this situation changes, we will keep having those Friday night scares when a scooter comes within inches of earning us an undeserved trip to Lafene.
