ST PETERSBURG, Fla. — St. Petersburg Police officers are on the lookout for a driver who they are saying hit and killed an individual on an electrical scooter early Saturday morning on 34th Street North. Officers mentioned a driver hit the individual on a black e-scooter then left the scene. It occurred simply earlier than 3 a.m. Saturday.
Detectives imagine the scooter was heading west within the median lane going throughout 34th St. N. The one that hit the scooter was driving north.
By the time police arrived, the electrical scooter driver was useless. Detectives are on the lookout for a dark-colored Toyota sedan.
“We have no footage,” St. Pete PD’s Ashley Limbardo said. “We have no witnesses. We are asking if you have the littlest bit of information please come forward.”
Saturday’s crash did not involve one of the rental e-scooters in St. Petersburg, which only operate until midnight, but it does comes at a time when St. Petersburg city leaders are expanding the program by adding more scooters to the roads and allowing them to operate until midnight. (previously the program ceased at 10 p.m.)
St. Pete extended the Razor and Veo rental e-scooter program by three additional years. The city will now also allow 1,100 scooters to be rented in the city.
Yet, safety continues to be a top priority, and riders tell ABC Action News that they’re doing their part.
“The scooters have bells on them and we had to use them last night because there were a couple cars not paying complete attention but when you ring the little bell then they can hear you,” rider Samantha Meany mentioned.
Both VEO and Razor additionally added LED lights and florescent paint to make the e-scooters extra seen at night time.
WFTS
Kiley McNeill favored the function as a result of she believes it helps drivers to see the scooters higher.
“At night they have lights on them so you can see the road and there are brake lights in the back so the cars can see the same as if it was a normal car,” she mentioned.
Just how secure are the e-scooters? ABC Action News pulled the numbers from St. Pete’s pilot program from October 2020 to January 2022. In these 15 months, folks hopped on e-scooters 372,569 instances, they logged 5 million minutes and commuted 438,533 miles. During that point, there have been simply 12 crashes or site visitors incidents, in line with information collected by St. Petersburg workers.
Riders advised ABC Action News that almost all drivers appear conscious of the e-scooters sharing the street, however Saturday’s crash makes them extra cautious about their very own security.
“It’s similar to driving a automobile however smaller,” Meany said. “It appears actually like loads of the drivers are fairly used to them, so we’ve had loads of drivers searching for us and ready and yielding to us.”
St. Pete also issued several guidelines for riding the e-scooters safely including:
City Guidelines for How to Ride
- Ride carefully, ride respectfully
- Ride in bike lanes or on streets with a speed limit of 30 mph or less
- No sidewalk riding
- Riding on trails is okay except along the waterfront; yield to pedestrians
- Always ride with your drivers license or photo ID
- Do not ride against the flow of traffic
- Wear a helmet
- Only 1 rider per scooter
- Park in designated corrals to end your ride
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City of St. Pete
If you might have any data that may assist remedy Saturday’s hit and run crash, you’re urged to name St. Pete Police 727-893-7550 throughout enterprise hours and 727-892-1402 after enterprise hours.