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Council Seeks to Outlaw Motorized Scooter Sales

By JORDAN MOSS

The motorized scooters racing around local streets and parks are illegal to operate but legal to sell. That may change if the City Council has its way and it wouldn't be a moment too soon for local police officials and residents who are fed up dodging the noisy and menacing motor bikes.

The commander of the 52nd Precinct, Joseph Hoch, said that 29 of the illegal vehicles have been confiscated in recent weeks.

He also said that Fire Department officials were worried that the bikes, which run on gasoline, are being stored in apartments and could be "quite an explosive device."

While it is legal to sell the bikes, legislation is pending in the City Council to outlaw that practice soon.

According to the Council's Transportation Committee, in 2000 "the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 4,390 emergency room-treated injuries associated with motorized scooters."

The vehicles cannot be registered by the Department of Motor Vehicles, primarily because they lack safety equipment such as lights and reflectors. They therefore cannot be operated in any public space in the state, including sidewalks, parks and streets.

The bill, introduced by Council Members John Liu of Queens and Michael McMahon of Staten Island, would punish those selling or renting a scooter to another person with a $1,000 fine and/or 15 days in jail.

Those who operate the bikes could face a fine of $500.

Meanwhile, stores like Scooter World on Bedford Park Boulevard are doing a swift business. The store has sold about 150 of the bikes in just the last month, according to co- owner Gil Davila.

Though a "For Sale" sign now hangs in the window, the owners maintain that their upcoming move is not due to the ban in question. Davila is unconcerned about the possible effects of the legislation and claims that the product itself is not dangerous. "We let [customers] know that it's off-road, recreational use only," he says.

Davila adds that Scooter World requires all buyers to be 21 years old, and that the store sells a significant number of its mini-bikes to upstate New Yorkers, who have the opportunity to use them for legal off-road purposes.

But the 29 bikes snared by cops in the area were very much on road. And the precinct is likely to add to its collection unless the Council legislation becomes law.

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