When Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms issued an executive order last week barring Atlantans from using dockless e-scooters and bikes after 9 p.m., local mobility advocates rolled their collective eyes.
To many, the move suggested officials, having witnessed three people die while riding e-scooters within Atlanta city limits in the past three months, were placing the blame on riders, instead of the drivers who hit them.
In response to what they consider a dangerous automobile obsession, activists have planned to rally tonight at Atlanta City Hall to put a car to sleep.
The plan is to “symbolically put Atlanta’s car-centric transportation planning culture ‘to bed,’ by literally tucking in a car to sleep, reading a bedtime story, singing a lullaby, and demanding that the Bottoms administration take immediate action to prioritize life on Atlanta streets,” according to a media statement by organizer Niklas Vollmer.
Activists expect to congregate on the city hall steps at 8 p.m. to implement what they’re calling a “CARfew.”
They’re trying to drive home the fact that automobiles are statistically far more dangerous than cyclists, pedestrians, e-scooter riders, and every other alternative mode of transportation.
The movement also represents a cry for transportation infrastructure improvements that make streets safer for all.
Activists have called for “complete streets” upgrades—sacrificing car lanes to make way for Light Individual Transportation (LIT) lanes and wider sidewalks—and Vollmer and company are vying for reduced speed limits to 25 miles per hour as well.
“Nine out of 10 pedestrians hit by motor vehicles will survive being hit at 20 miles per hour; yet, only one out of 10 will survive at 40 miles per hour,” per Vollmer’s statement. “The current lack of protected lanes only exacerbates this motor vehicle violence—and the nighttime scooter (and dockless e-bicycle) ban doesn’t address the true cause of this violence and lives lost on the streets of Atlanta.”
Metro Atlanta appears to lead the nation in e-scooter-related fatalities, having witnessed three within city limits and one in the City of East Point.
Additionally, per the press release, U.S. Congressional District 5 is No. 13 on the nationwide list of the 100 most dangerous districts for pedestrians.
“In lieu of prioritizing comprehensive speed reduction and protected infrastructure, the mayor has singled out scooters and e-bikes as easy targets and has created an inequity issue that disproportionately affects third-shift and service industry workers,” the release says.
Essentially, per the activist group, late-night employees aren’t able to utilize dockless mobility devices now when they get off work.
“The nighttime ban is definitely a strain, monetarily,” said Sam Hughes, a 29-year-old who works downtown, according to the release. “I get off work at 9 p.m., and home is about two and a half miles away.”
Taking an e-scooter costs Hughes in the neighborhood of $3, whereas an Uber or Lyft could cost twice that and take longer to get home. “And I won’t have the flexibility to stop at the grocery store on the way home without spending even more money or time,” he said.
Bottoms’s executive order last week paves the way for “an accelerated plan for changes to our streets, creating safer, dedicated spaces for cyclists and scooter riders,” as well as a revised permitting process.
That revised plan is expected to be complete by February, City of Atlanta officials vowed last week.
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