The Coalition Against Rogue Riding (C.A.R.R.) demands strict enforcement of traffic regulations for all street vehicles, including bicycles, and supports measures that will enable these regulations to be enforced reliably and efficiently.
This makes for some uneasy riders. Moped-rental service Revel
has only accelerated chaos on the streets of Brooklyn and Queens,
endangering riders and other travelers alike through shoddy training and
faulty parts, a series of lawsuits claim.
With just $5, a valid driver’s license and Revel’s smartphone app,
users can ride off on one of the 1,000 electric-powered scooters the
company has rolled out in the boroughs since May 2019 — no training required.
That level of ease has turned outer-borough traffic into a
high-stakes road test, according to lawyer Daniel Flanzig, who
represents two people bringing personal-injury suits against Revel in
Brooklyn Supreme Court.
“New York City is not the proper place to be learning for the first
time how to ride a scooter,” said Flanzig. “It’s not all that far off
from a motorcycle.”
Among Flanzig’s clients is Paul Dicesare, a bicyclist who claims he
suffered a broken ankle in a June collision with a Revel rider near York
and Gold streets in Downtown Brooklyn, filings show.
Revel “was vicariously liable for the reckless, careless and
negligent acts of its driver,” argues the suit, which seeks unspecified
damages.
But the rides — which can hit a top speed of 30 miles per hour — aren’t just alleged to be dangerous to other travelers.
In a suit filed through another attorney, Revel rider Afadikwei Reyes
claims that a moped locked up on him mid-ride, causing a crash that
left him with two fractures in his leg.
As Reyes was riding along Bergen Street near Buffalo Avenue in Crown
Heights early one August morning, “the vehicle began malfunctioning,
with the steering mechanism locking and the breaking [sic] system
failing to slow the moped,” according to that suit. Enlarge ImageRichard Harbus
Dicesare and Reyes are among seven people who have filed personal-injury suits against the company — a rate of nearly one per month since the service expanded to 1,000 two-wheelers in May 2019.
Under state law, a motorcycle license is not required for mopeds that top out at 30 mph — a low barrier to entry that regular motorcycle riders say is a recipe for disaster.
“They’re making it exponentially more dangerous,” said Nick Trocano, manager of the Union Garage motorcycle shop in Brooklyn.
Trocano said that he’s regularly spotted Revel riders flouting laws
by cutting against traffic through bike lanes, riding without helmets —
which are required by law — and zipping along areas that are supposed
to be off-limits to the scooters, including the Brooklyn-Queens
Expressway and the bridges over the East River.
“In this densely-populated area, if you crash one of their scooters,
you are not just hurting you and your passenger,” said Trocano. “The mom
and the little girl in the crosswalk [are] hit by a sliding scooter.” Enlarge ImageMichael FlahertyRICHARD HARBUS
The NYPD said that it does not track the number of motor-vehicle accidents specifically involving Revel mopeds.
In a statement, Revel said that the company does not comment on
pending lawsuits, but insisted that novice users can learn to their
hearts’ content before hitting the mean streets of the city.
“Revel offers free, in-person lessons seven days a week so new riders
who want to learn more about our vehicles and practice driving them in a
comfortable, supervised setting have that opportunity,” said a
spokesman for the Brooklyn-based start-up.
But even some of its own customers said that they take their lives into their own hands by mounting up.
“Someone is going to die and then they are going to have to figure it
all out,” said Michael Flaherty, as he parked his Revel scooter in
front of a Williamsburg deli. “It’ll be a slow process. But this is the
future of transportation in New York City, ride-sharing.
“Just try to find parking and you’ll see why.” Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy
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