AUSTIN — Next week, there could be new rules for those scooters you see zooming around Austin.
Right now, Austin is home to about 3,200 dockless scooters. And in July, scooter riders logged nearly 130,000 trips.
But with those scooters come safety concerns.
Between May 7 and Sept. 8, Austin Travis County EMS responded to 28 crashes involving scooters. In early August, a woman was critically injured when she hit a curb along South Congress Avenue on a "stand-up type electrical scooter."
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Austin city leaders are expected to release a new list of dockless mobility rules. We got a taste of what those new rules could look like at a meeting this week.
"We need to reduce how fast (they go) if we're allowing them on the sidewalks," said Austin City Council Member Leslie Pool. "People walk on an average of 3-to-4 miles per hour, and they are being passed by -- you can't hear the scooters coming."
Leaders will have to decide where those scooters can be used. Currently, city ordinance treats them like bikes. The scooters are allowed in traffic with cars and they're allowed on some sidewalks.
Once the rules are announced, the public will have 31 days to sound off.