At approximately 2 a.m. on Sunday, Sep. 18. 2022, 20-year-old Nathaniel Stratton was struck by a drunk driver while riding an electric scooter on the bike path at the IU Bloomington campus. Following the incident, the driver of the vehicle, 22-year-old Madelyn Howard, was arrested on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a level four felony, and leaving the scene of an accident where there was serious harm, a level three felony. She was then later released on bond.

 That should have been the end of the story, but the incident sparked a big discussion on scooter operation in Bloomington, which is interesting because the scooter driver wasn’t at fault. Simply put, a drunk driver killed a person, and the victim was blamed for it, or at least that’s what the city council makes it sound like.

The city council returned from recess and got right to work proposing legislation. Among the proposals were recommendations for electric scooter safety. The ideas came from Hank Duncan, Bloomington’s bicycle and pedestrian coordinator.

Duncan proposed an 8 p.m. curfew spanning from November to March. That suggestion isn’t well thought out because students like to be out late. For students who aren’t able to have a car on campus, scooters are an easy way to get around at all times, but if the city enacts a measly curfew of 8 p.m., students will be forced to find other means of transportation, as the city will lock scooters for the duration of the curfew.

The presentation went on to say that the curfew would only apply to stand-up scooters because black-out drunk drivers can’t get you if you are sitting down on your scooter. That wasn’t all Duncan had to propose: he also suggested that scooter operators should have to take semi-annual quizzes. Just in case the curfew wasn’t doing it, you can also have a glorified driver’s test to go along with your scooter ride that most likely won’t last longer than 10 minutes.

As someone who has lived in Bloomington for many years, I feel there are larger problems the council could address. Why are they worried about scooters when this whole issue sprouted from a woman who decided to drive a car while under the influence? The subtle redirection the council is using to redirect the blame from drivers onto scooter users is unacceptable.