|
Good morning!
At 11:01 AM on December 4, 2023, the University officially prohibited personal electric vehicles (PEVs) from campus grounds starting Jan. 25th, 2024. The ban on PEV privileges arrives on the heels of a PEV restriction imposed by the University on Aug. 18. According to this earlier policy, PEVs – which encompasses scooters, bikes, hoverboards, and electric skateboards – were barred from being used within the restricted zone from 7:30 a.m to 4 p.m. every weekday. Widespread flaunting of the rule was an open secret on campus, mocked in a cartoon in the ‘Prince’ earlier this year.
The University is not the only body to regard PEVs as a public nuisance. Earlier this year, the Princeton Police Department began issuing $50 fines to individuals caught riding scooters on public sidewalks, a punitive measure that enforced an enduring policy that regards scooters as “skateboards” according to Ordinance 2022-41.
Reactions to PEV restrictions and now, the ban, have been mixed. A few days after the University’s August PEV restriction policy was implemented, a guest contributor penned an op-ed in which they argued that the “scooter restrictions pose a harm to all students, especially disabled ones.” In a separate opinion column, Preston Ferraiuolo ’26 urged the University to expand TigerTransit in order to provide an adequate replacement for scooters that allow students to seamlessly navigate the University’s sprawling campus.
Furthermore, PEVs have posed dangers to the University community in a number of ways that extend beyond the obvious safety hazards of scooters zooming past students on crowded streets and sidewalks. In late September, two scooters in a Whitman College dorm ignited sparks after one of the scooter’s wheels began spinning uncontrollably, burning “a hole in the ground”, “setting off the fire alarm in the building,” and “causing multiple fire trucks to arrive on the scene.”
READ THE FULL STORY →
Analysis by Amy Ciceu
|
