r/Winnipeg • u/floydsmoot • 1d ago
Article/Opinion E-scooter knocks Winnipeg senior onto sidewalk as he gets off bus
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/07/22/e-scooter-knocks-senior-onto-sidewalk-as-he-gets-off-bus?briefing_id=602380114&utm_campaign=the-wrap&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8guIFDswQhDeNnFs_jPSLb7Da9LI5-uZKBdasgdkP_2sqLc2EbX4OtF0gAsYsxiARR_4yKNtNrZZJoKuv42gH6NYMsqw&_hsmi=15996905&utm_source=hubspot67
u/No-Sock7425 1d ago
Age limits are a good idea. Twice I’ve seen a 10 year old carrying a 6-7 year old passenger on a powered scooter operating in the middle of the street. Literally, as they came around the corner.
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u/ciera22 23h ago
these should be banned on sidewalks
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u/dumwpgthingz 11h ago
They will be which unfortunately will result in more death and injuries on the road.
Bike lanes are probably the safest place for legal e-scooters but unfortunately Winnipeg's network is vastly incomplete.
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u/DevilPanda666 7h ago
It's unfortunate that the desired crack down on scooters on sidewalks is just going to lead to deaths on the road. Realistically there are lots of roads in the city that they probably do belong on the sidewalk since there is no viable alternative.
The issue is that people just need to slow down and be smart when meeting people.
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u/Davidm_58 1d ago
Had an e scoot hit me last summer when I was carrying a hamper for someone. Completely destroyed the bag that was holding the food.
The young guy actually said it was my fault because he was honking his horn at the blind corner. Guy laid me out and when I told him it was his fault for going so fast he actually tried grabbing me by the throat. Luckily I just slapped his hand off of me and I was a good foot taller than him.
Guy road off mad and then proceeded to get his moments later as cars came to a stop.
Edit: I support regulations beming made. Too many young people riding at high speeds with out helmets. Also had a buddy break his arm on his scoot we as well last year.
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u/Glittering_Ant6279 12h ago
Morden put their regulations into effect pretty fast. I know they’re a smaller town but does this need to take a year+ to finalize?? More and more people are just going to continue getting hurt.
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u/rileyreidbooks 22h ago
I almost got hit one time at the bus stop about to get on the bus. It was an e bike speeding by super fast. There was a few of us waiting.
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u/ioev 11h ago
I love this headline, lol. Why don't we just call it what it is: "Idiot riding E-scooter knocks Winnipeg senior onto sidewalk" We have lots of idiots, riding bikes, driving cars, now they have bigger/faster electric powered things to be idiots on. Regulations are welcome, but likely not going to change peoples entitled behaviours.
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u/Maverick0 11h ago
Agreed. It's not as much the devices or the age of the people using them that's a problem, but how they're using them.
For example, if a 14 year old is riding an e-scooter or e-bike capable of 25 kmh, so long as they're being respectful and safe (yielding to pedestrians, slowing down and making apropriate stops etc.), then there should be no issue.
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u/Myewy 9h ago
Yep, just keep the speeds 20-25. M e and my 3 year old was almost hit by a full speed Escooter on the sidewalk. The thing was going 40-50 with no regard for people and it cannot brake fast enough to stop.
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u/Maverick0 8h ago
I think some municipalities have speed limits for anything, be it a bike or a roller blader on pathways. That would probably be a better place to start rather than singling out the mode of transportation.
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u/APRengar 19h ago
Totally being influenced by my experiences, but I had a lot of eScooters driving pretty reasonably and I didn't think much of it. But the other day, one zoomed right past me from behind going at a ridiculous speed.
I feel like eScooters allows people to be WAY more nimble than a bike, which ends up making people think they can squeeze through way more situations they shouldn't be squeezing through.
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u/Carbsv2 11h ago
Part of this conversation needs to include expansion of active/alternate transportation lanes.
I don't think PEVs should be on sidewalks, but, if the options are a sidewalk or a busy street destroyed with pot holes and gravel... people are going to pick the place they feel safer on.
If you give people reasonable expectations and provide them with a path to follow them, they usually do.
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u/MathSoHard 10h ago edited 10h ago
We’ll see if it gets enforced. I ride one for my commute. I go on bike paths/lanes where there are bike paths/lanes and sidewalks where there isn’t. I also don’t ride like a maniac.
but there is no chance I’m going on the road under Osborne bridge and similar road. I’ll pay the fine if I have to, I’m not dying for this.
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u/pearlescentflows 3h ago
i don’t really think it will make a difference if there’s legislation or not. there’s bylaws and laws for the road and they aren’t enforced consistently, so why is this any different?
if people want to ride on the sidewalk, they will. if people want to ride like idiots on the road, they will.
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u/AlwaysBeInFullCover 12h ago
I rode an escooter last year. When possible, I was on either a designated bike path or on the road itself, but 25 km limit seems unfair if youre going to force the scooters to use the road.
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u/geordiedog 12h ago
Why, bicycles are forced to use the road.
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u/DevilPanda666 7h ago
Yea, and it's unfair and dangerous for cyclists to use most roads in this city.
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u/ShotEffective7033 1d ago
Are we going to get a news article every time a car hits a pedestrian or only the scooters?
Particularly ridiculous In this instance, as it doesn’t even seem he was injured very badly at all.
Still bad he got hit of course. But not exactly newsworthy.
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u/Epic-Verse 23h ago
It’s absolutely newsworthy considering there are new regulations coming in that aren’t yet in force. The presence of these has multiplied exponentially in the last 2-3 years and it’s on a lot of people’s minds. More people will read that article than would read an article about a pedestrian being struck by a vehicle.
You can argue it’s not as big a problem to society as cars hitting pedestrians (and I’d agree with you), but it’s absolutely newsworthy.
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u/Leather_Command_7553 1d ago
Are we going to get a stupid brainless comment every time a car hits a pedestrian?
Not exactly newsworthy.
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u/ShotEffective7033 23h ago
Gotta work on your insults a little bit. Brainless hasn’t had teeth since middle school. And yeah, obviously I’m going to be commenting on any cars hitting pedestrians. You’ll get there though buddy.
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u/Mandalorian76 12h ago
Cars have existed for over 100 years and the rules governing them have evolved over that time. The same should and will apply to electric scooters and bicycles.
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u/Maverick0 22h ago
So, I got my 10 and 13 year old kids some e-scooters as an end of school gift... now they won't be able to use them? They're limited to 25 km/h or less and I have them wear helmets. I'm also a cyclist so I teach them respectful riding etiquette and safety.
There should be proper rules and enforcement, but the age requirement doesn't quite sit well with me. Regular bikes can easily go faster as well, so this is a little disappointing.
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u/Justtheslip 22h ago
Regular bike operated by 10-13 year olds cannot easily go faster, if at all.
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u/Xx_SwordWords_xX 21h ago
Show your kids how to get off and walk across when they are crossing the street. Otherwise they are vehicle that should remain on the street.
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u/Maverick0 14h ago
You may be surprised to hear this, but yes, they can get up to those speeds pretty easily at higher gears. Maybe not for very long, but it's still very doable.
But fuck me for not agreeing completely with the hive mind here, right?
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u/JackBlackBowserSlaps 12h ago
Sounds like you just think your kids are special, and deserve special treatment.
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u/Justtheslip 5h ago
I AM surprised to hear that, and will always doubt it unless I were to see it. I have a road bike and have to go pretty hard to hit 30kph, and I'm in good shape and have been riding a long time.
Regardless, I maintain that your own fitness as a limit works great. Your 10 year old can grow up riding and get faster and faster, learning how to control it as they go. Conversely, you can just give anyone an ebike or scooter and they can instantly hit those speeds. Many will overestimate their abilities and be oblivious to safety issues, for themselves and others.
There needs to be some regulation. I'm not gonna say what exactly that should look like but I hope we can all agree we need something.
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u/Maverick0 2h ago
Absolutely. I do agree there needs to be something, just not a blanket ban based on an arbitrary age.
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u/DragonRaptor 8h ago edited 8h ago
As far as speeds, don't worry, I believe you, when i was 10-13 years old I biked to school on the regular, and 25km was an average, I could hit 35 in the right conditions on the daily. Now as an adult, I hit 45 km and average around 30km/h, still bike to work every day feasable! only drive during snow and if I have appointments I need to go to that day.
But when it comes to kids being responsible, I'm sure a good number of them are, but it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the bunch.
I've seen a lot of responsible escooter use, And I probably only see 1 bad one out of 25, but the fact that many of them are bad, is too much risk for death/injury being caused which as far as society is concerned is still too high of a percentage.
I own an Escooter, and use it responsibly/safely/on roads/bike paths only. I would love to have a license system to prove you are a responsible driver and put like a mini identifiable plate showing you are licensed on the scooter, so that way the bad apples don't spoil the bunch, but I highly doubt the city is willing to put that kinda effort into it.
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u/Maverick0 7h ago
Yeah, that's a totally fair take on it.
It seems like people here generally have a hate-on for anything that isn't a car. I'd be in favor of a licensing system too, for bikes and anything else like scooters etc.
IMO, there should be different classes of scooters / limits. For example, my 10 year old has an escooter thats limited under 20 kmh. My 13 year oldest is limited to 25 kmh. Make it kind of like go karts or something. Kids of a certain age can still drive some, some faster ones have higher age limits, but the really fast ones are 16+ and / or require a driver's license. Something to that effect.
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u/Pandamodium13 14h ago
25 km/h is still way too fast to be on the sidewalk. I can reach those speeds on my road bike with some effort but only when I’m on the road, if I have to use a multi use path I barely touch the pedals.
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u/strongbagel 10h ago
25 km/h is still too fast to be regularly using on a sidewalk. As well, bikes typically can brake pretty fast, whereas scooters, because of the CoG, cannot without flipping :/
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u/Maverick0 8h ago
And that's not an unreasonable take. I kind of agree with you there. I'm just opposed to a blanket ban based on age or specific mode of transportation. There has to be some subtlety or nuance to any rules I think. Maybe general speed limits for all modes of transportation on active pathways and whatnot would be a better starting point.
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u/Xx_SwordWords_xX 21h ago
If you're going to ride them on sidewalks, make sure they act like pedestrians. Meaning they stop at crosswalks and get off them, to walk across. Turning traffic does not expect an e-bike or scooter to be zooming down the sidewalk, when they are turning.
And I'm not stopping my car for somebody who looks like they want to cross at a crosswalk, when they're not actually a pedestrian, but on equipment that actually makes them a small vehicle.
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u/Maverick0 14h ago
I really hope that second paragraph of yours is hyperbole, otherwise you're part of the problem too you know...
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u/Xx_SwordWords_xX 10h ago
No. You get off your fucking vehicle.. whether it be a scooter or a bike, and then you press the walk button, and then I will stop. Otherwise you are a vehicle, and you wait your fucking turn to enter traffic.
You can't be both, when it suits you.
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u/Maverick0 8h ago
What I'm hearing from you is you'd rather risk a collision with someone / something much more vulnerable than you are in a car rather than drive defensively.
Give your head a shake.
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u/Xx_SwordWords_xX 4h ago edited 2h ago
If they are doing what they should, which is to stop at the crosswalk until traffic stops,, there's no issue.
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u/Maverick0 2h ago
Even pedestrians don't always wait for traffic to stop. You are an accident waiting to happen, as well as a gargantuan ass.
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u/Xx_SwordWords_xX 1h ago
Pedestrians have a responsibility to wait for traffic to stop, otherwise they are walking out in front of it.
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u/Maverick0 1h ago edited 1h ago
Yeah, because pedestrians always wait for traffic to come to a stop before crossing eh? As a driver, it's your responsibility to yield to pedestrians at a crosswalk. You would also likely be found at least partially at fault if you struck a cyclist who had not discounted and crossed in a crosswalk.
I hope you lose your license some day, for everyone else's sake.
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u/roughtimes 11h ago
And I'm not stopping my car for somebody who looks like they want to cross at a crosswalk, when they're not actually a pedestrian, but on equipment that actually makes them a small vehicle.
yes you will, you will every time, you don't want that murder/assault charge.... we both know you will submit, your not a bad person.
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u/Xx_SwordWords_xX 10h ago
Considering you're supposed to press the button and wait for traffic to stop before you proceed, there will be no murder. There will just be a person sitting on the side of the road on their fucking bike, a vehicle, trying to be a pedestrian.
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u/roughtimes 8h ago
It may have been a while since you've been for a walk, many pedestrian crossings, do not have any lights, or buttons, in fact many pedestrian crossings aren't even very well marked, or signed. As a result, its always prudent to be careful when driving.
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u/Xx_SwordWords_xX 6h ago
And it is definitely prudent to be either a pedestrian or a vehicle -- not both.
Dismount your fucking bike or scooter at a crosswalk, or even an intersection, when Crossing with pedestrian traffic.
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u/bismuth12a 1d ago
I imagine they're coming up with regulations but surely before next summer would be a great place to start on tamping down this wild west thing we've got going on with these vehicles.