ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — Ann Arbor is cracking down on impaired people riding electric scooters while under the influence. City Council recently voted to require the Spin scooter company to include a sobriety test for nighttime riders when they renewed the company's contract.
Watch Randy Wimbley's video report:
Scary scooter stories might be a dime a dozen in Ann Arbor. Eva Millwood, who works in Ann Arbor, described the craziest thing she's seen with someone riding those scooters.
"My friend ran into a wall on those once. Yeah, a brick wall," Millwood said.
Oforitsenere Bodunrin, a University of Michigan freshman, said she's "almost been hit by them like multiple times."
Nico Sarantou, a UM junior, described seeing "someone flying down the hill at at least 30 miles an hour with no helmet."
When asked for a thumbs up or thumbs down on the new requirement, a group of three young women all gave it a thumbs up. Amber Turner said, "You should not be operating anything while under the influence of something."
However, questions remain about enforcement of the new sobriety requirement. When I checked the Spin app on Tuesday, I could not find the sobriety test before getting on a scooter.
"My first question, honestly, is how are they going to enact that?" Bodunrin asked.
Raymond Lin, a UM student, said, "I don't think it does anything to be honest because anyone can just take it because there's nobody reinforcing it or anything like that."
But that does not mean it's a free-for-all when you take a Spin for a spin. Ann Arbor Police Department says if officers observe or suspect an impaired rider, they treat them the same as they would if someone were behind the wheel drunk. Though it's rare, police have made OWI arrests involving riders on scooters.
Sarantou asked, "Have you ever seen anybody crash on any of these things? Late at night, probably intoxicated."
The unanimous decision comes after a 21-year-old was severely injured in a scooter crash in September of last year, and another 21-year-old was killed at a city intersection in a crash in 2023. Police and toxicology reports say the young man who died was under the influence.
The city would not say if those crashes played a role in its decision.
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