Temecula: Unsafe at scooter speed

By: PAUL JACOBS - For The Californian | Saturday, October 11, 2003 8:25 PM PDT ∞

My wife and I are enjoying a second childhood of sorts with the purchase of a pair of electric scooters. We have been ecstatically zipping around town for errands and dining for the past several weeks. Our evolution to electric travel was a bumpy road, but well-worth the journey.

The technology-packed Segway first sparked my interest, but the price was beyond consideration. For our 22nd anniversary, I ordered a pair of tiny scooters for less than $150 each from a catalog. After assembling the flimsy machines, we rode them to the end of the block where the scooters came to an abrupt halt at the first degree of incline. We rode them back home and back into the box they went.

But that short, wobbly ride whetted our appetite to feel the wind on our faces and the wattage beneath our feet. A search of the Internet led me to a Temecula scooter store that sells a remarkable electric scooter that looks like a retro bicycle for about seven times the price of our original scooters, but the additional built-in value and quality is well-worth the investment.

The "eGO" basically looks like a bicycle at both ends and a Vespa in the center. It travels at roughly 20 mph and has an advertised travel distance of 20 miles, but with Temecula's rolling topography, I'd lower that expectation to 10 to 15 miles.

What may seem to some to be extravagant toys, the scooters have proved to be quite utilitarian. It is an unbelievable joy to run an errand to the store, the post office and stop for coffee or a meal. We strap a cooler onto the carrying rack to keep groceries and leftovers cool in the hot Temecula sun.

Besides not using gasoline or emitting noxious pollutants, the scooters are relatively quiet, save for a varying degree of whir from the 24-volt motor and braking system. At cruising speed they are stealthily quiet and you become more intimate with your neighborhood and the community. They are lean, green, serene traveling machines.

During our few weeks of traversing Temecula on two wheels at bicycle speeds, we have discovered that our community is woefully lacking in safe pathways through the city. Department of Motor Vehicle regulations allow small scooters and motorized bicycles to travel in bicycle lanes, but there are places in the city where bicyclists and their ilk are forced to travel the sidewalks.

Temecula's few, intermittent bike lanes line some of the busiest thoroughfares where traffic flows briskly and scarily at 50-plus mph. A number of bicyclists gladly risk a ticket for riding on the sidewalk, rather than travel next to the unforgiving fender of a fast-moving, errant SUV.

Temecula, like most urbanized areas, is not bicycle-friendly. The city needs to do more to encourage residents who are choosing alternative modes of transportation.

My wife and I just want peace on Earth; we don't want to end up on Earth, in pieces.

Paul Jacobs of Temecula is a regular columnist for The Californian. E-mail: TemeculaPaul@aol.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.