Disabled San Diego residents sue over e-scooter ‘obstacle course’

[steven36]

A group of disabled Californians and their advocates are asking a judge to order shared ride scooter companies to remove their scooters from San Diego’s sidewalks and return money they earned by conducting business on taxpayer-funded walkways.

Philip Pressel, pictured here, is one of the named plaintiffs in the case

A man born with with no arms and one leg, a blind man, a male amputee, and a man with progressed Parkinson’s disease are plaintiffs in a federal case seeking class action certification against startup companies Bird, Lime, Razor, and the city of San Diego. The plaintiffs say defendants are denying disabled people their right to travel freely and safely on public ways.

The action, filed in connection with disability advocacy group, Disability Rights California (DRC) and the law firm Neil Dymott, alleges that the defendants are violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, California’s Municipal Code, and other laws, by failing to maintain public sidewalks, curb ramps, crosswalks, and transit stops in a way that is accessible for people with visual and mobility impairments.

Bird and Lime and scooter manufacturers are already facing lawsuits filed by non-disabled Californians who claim they sustained personal injuries and property damage from the company’s equipment and users.

‘An obstacle course they can’t navigate safely’

“When dockless scooters are left in the middle of the sidewalk and other rights of way, at points of ingress and egress, they block off access to the public rights of way,” the San Diego complaint states.

“Basically, it’s an obstacle course they can't navigate safely,” Ann Menasche, a senior civil rights attorney for DRC, said. “This taking of our public sidewalks and walkways for private profit is having a horrible impact on their safety.”

The action goes on to say that the defendants are aware that scooter riders often ride on sidewalks, which turns sidewalks into “a vehicle highway rather than a space for safe pedestrian access and use.”

“People with disabilities who wish to travel in the City using the City’s walkways are being forced to either put their physical safety at risk or just stay home,” the complaint says.

According to Menasche, as many as 150,000 disabled San Diego residents may be impacted by scooters along public walkways.

“My co-counsel estimated from his own research, there are possibly 100,000 people with mobility impairments in San Diego, and 50,000 people who are blind or have serious visual impairment,” Menasche said. “We don't know if there’s overlap with those numbers but there might be.”

Given the number of people potentially impacted by the scooters, Menasche says she thinks there’s a good chance the court will grant class certification.

“I don’t like to predict but I think it’s pretty good,” she said.

“What they’ve done is they’ve taken the public walkways, bus stops, and used them for their own business purposes,” Menasche said. “They’ve appropriated walkways and used them for their business to save money on things like rent, showrooms, and storage. It keeps costs way down to use the public walkways for free.”

‘They’ve appropriated walkways’

The plaintiffs are asking the court to issue an order that would stop scooter companies from continuing to operate on San Diego’s sidewalks, crosswalks, curb ramps, transit stops, pedestrian crossing,s and other walkways. The complaint also asks that Bird, Lime, and Razor be disgorged of any money obtained as a result of wrongful or illegal conduct.

Source

[vitorio]

3 hours ago, steven36 said:

They’ve appropriated walkways and used them for their business to save money on things like rent, showrooms, and storage. It keeps costs way down to use the public walkways for free.”

This should not be acceptable. Fines will solved this issue in particular.