Our neighbors in Mequon have scheduled a discussion for this evening concerning the use of 'small electric vehicles' on streets with speed limits as high as 35 miles per hour (MPH). The Mequon Police Chief appears to be in favor having sought ordinance language that would permit this.
These vehicles apparently have a top speed in the 20 to 25 MPH range, are four-wheeled and likely have the necessary lights and equipment to be qualified to operate on a city street.
We have more and more scooters and small motorized bicycles on the streets now that gasoline prices are rising. Those are difficult enough to see and cause slow downs. Those are typically operated by young people or younger adults. My real concern is the operation of such vehicles by senior citizens who may or may not have the reflexes, vision, flexibility and strength they once did.
Cyclists may take me to task but I don't make the same connection with this proposal.
I am torn with my internal debate on this subject. I am now a senior citizen by definition; I don't feel like a senior but that may come along soon enough. Members of my family have gone through the process of losing their personal freedom by being unable to drive. That is a most painful and, probably, humiliating process.
I think of the old fellow (now anyone who is more than twenty years my senior) from Iowa who, feeling he needed to see his brother near Richland Center one more time, rode his John Deere lawn tractor on the shoulder of roadways making his way on that trek. I see those who have personal disabilities riding around the sidewalks on their electric scooters.
But, the idea of these, essentially, golf carts with lights and a horn traveling on Pilgrim Road or Mequon Road (where speed limits are 35 MPH) is something I can't quite square. I would be very fearful that accidents would either involve those vehicles or be caused by the distraction of those vehicles. Autos and trucks are now traveling at speeds up to 10 MPH greater than the posted speeds on those routes. Imagine a golf cart being overtaken by a pickup truck that is traveling at twice its speed. Imagine the sudden braking and the chain reactions. Imagine the lawsuits. Imagine the personal injury or deaths. Imagine the 'road rage'.
How will such a vehicle fend for itself on the round-abouts being placed here and there? What if the driver chooses to travel at even less than the maximum speed of the vehicle. Imagine a 10 or 15 MPH golf cart going down Mequon Road at 4:00PM or at 7:30AM.
How will drivers of standard size vehicles maintain lines of sight so that they can identify and avoid these vehicles. Full sized vehicles can "suddenly appear" where we didn't see them a moment earlier.
I know I may regret having stated this position if I ever find myself being forced into immobility, but it just seems fraught with problems.
