Scooters may get rules for the road in Bellevue

The buzz of motorized foot scooters may not be so loud in Bellevue next year.

The City Council decided this week to explore regulating the scooters over the next several months. The devices, powered by small gas or electric engines, are popular with children and teens but have no city requirements for helmets, lights, age of rider or where they can be driven.

The noisy scooters are annoying to some residents and dangerous because they're often driven by young people who aren't aware of the rules of the road, council members said.

"It is incumbent on us to protect the safety of the people who are using our streets," said councilwoman Claudia Balducci at the council meeting Monday.

If Bellevue decides to act, it will be one of the last cities in King County to regulate the scooters. In summer 2004, at the height of the scooters' popularity, several cities passed ordinances, including Seattle, Renton, Kirkland, Issaquah and Auburn.

Seattle, for instance, bars the scooters from sidewalks and bike lanes and requires lights, brakes and a helmet — and that drivers be at least 16. Several other cities, including Kirkland, Sammamish and Issaquah, bar the scooters from streets with a speed limit over 25 mph.

Bellevue officials looked at the scooter issue a year or two ago but got caught up in other business and did not get around to possible regulations until now, councilman Phil Noble said. The council has received some complaints about the scooters over the past three years, though it is "not appearing to be a hot-button issue," he said.

Some council members say they're interested in requiring scooter helmets and lights and barring the scooters from the city's busy arterial roads.

The city also will take a look at possible regulations for other small motorized vehicles, including Segways and "pocket bikes," minimotorcycles about the size of tricycles.

The council plans to finalize any regulations before next summer, when use of the vehicles will be more widespread.

Ashley Bach: 206-464-2567 or abach@seattletimes.com