The Electric Scooter Epidemic: Make it Stop!
Have you ever been walking around campus, whether along University Park or around the Maxwell library, and suddenly feel the bombarding rush of someone on the scooter flying past you? Oftentimes, when it happens to me, I feel myself trip against my own footing and almost fall on my walk to class. Yet, the person who passed me gives me a glare, as though I was in their way by moving at a normal pace and following the crowd of students around me.
The scooter epidemic has ridden Bridgewater State for multiple semesters now. Typically, these scoots can drive between 15 and 40 miles per hour. They also often cost a pretty penny, with most pricing around 150 to 300 dollars. I can entirely understand the appeal of these; as a busy student myself with multiple classes in a day, it can often be stressful to get from place to place on time.
However, the abundance of scooters and the attitudes towards them on this campus raise plenty of frustration for both myself and many other students that I know. When comparing the campus size of Bridgewater State to other popular institutions in Massachusetts, our campus is incredibly tiny. UMass Amherst, for example, consists of 1,450 acres. To compare another state school, Westfield State is 30,287 acres. These are relatively common numbers for a large school; where external modes of transportation would be more fitting. Bridgewater, however, is only 270 acres of land.
I don’t bring these numbers up to discourage students from using modes of transportation such as scooters if they need them to move across campus independently. Many students have either physical or mental exceptionalities in which these devices would be helpful. If you are one of those students, this opinion is not directed towards you. Those who I see riding scooters the most tend to be the athletes on campus. They tend to be those who, once off their scooter, walk quickly with ease. They tend to consistently be those that don’t need it.
If you don’t need an electric scooter, don’t buy one. For everyone’s sake.
