‘A silent menace’: Disability advocates urge Toronto to enforce e-scooter ban

Despite not being allowed on streets, sidewalks, or bike lanes in Toronto, disability advocates say e-scooters are everywhere and they are urging the city to start imposing the rules preventing their use.

Arguing the two-wheel micro-mobility vehicles pose a danger to disabled and senior residents, advocates want the city to maintain and enforce the ban on the vehicles, saying they are are still being widely used across the city.

A virtual public meeting on Tuesday evening, hosted by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, focused on the e-scooters and growing concerns the city will reconsider the ban on them.

“Because they are a silent menace, someone like me who is blind can’t tell if they are coming up in front of me or behind me,” says David Lepofsky, who spoke at the public forum.

“Too often in cities they are left lying around the sidewalk,” he says. “For blind people they are a tripping hazard. For people in wheelchairs they are an accessibility barrier.”

The meeting comes ahead of a city staff report on micro-mobility set to be delivered to the Infrastructure and Environment committee next month. The report is expected to include future plans for the electric vehicles.

In a statement to CityNews, the city says they are currently developing a new micro-mobility strategy which will consider how other cities are managing e-scooters by “engaging a wide range of interested parties,” including members of the accessibility community.

Those in favour of e-scooters say there are steps the city could take to make them safer, arguing they are environmentally friendly and help reduce congestion in the city.

Recommendations for safer use include barrier preventing technology and audible sound emission for people with low-vision.

“My difficulty as a blind person is I can’t jump out of the way,” says Ian, who took part in Tuesday’s meeting. “I have no idea what direction to move in.”

Currently, e-scooters, considered standing electric kick-scooters, are not allowed to be operated, left, stored or parked on any public street in Toronto. This includes bicycle lanes, cycle tracks, trails, paths, sidewalks or parks under multiple Municipal Code Chapters.

Toronto city council voted to opt out of the province’s e-scooter pilot in May 2021. The program allows municipalities to choose where and how the vehicles can be used.