Case Date:

10/26/2021

The resident at the corner of Morningside Drive and Park Lane is running a scooter business in his front yard and on the street. He also has a great deal of trash in his driveway, on the lawn, and along both sides of the house. The scooter business involves going around town, picking up scooters, and recharging their batteries. He has two trailers and at least one is always parked on the street. The trailer and the towing pickup typically jut out into the traffic lanes and create a hazard on an alreaddy overcrowded street. I request that the city take action regarding these complaints. Park Lane is a relatively heavy travelled road because it has no speed bumps. Adding these trailers into the mix is going to cause accidents....

Case Date:

11/8/2018

I noticed the recent guidelines for scooters don't specifically explain who has the right-of-way on the B-line trail. It's already unclear whether cars are supposed to yield to bike traffic. Some do, some don't, leading to confusion in the entire community. Now the same is applying to electric scooters. I was on a scooter on the B-Line this morning, slowed as I approached 2nd Street, and cars in each direction had also slowed as if they were yielding. I proceeded through the crossing but the westbound car did not in fact yield and nearly hit me (at a very low speed, granted--so I couldn't tell if they didn't see me or were being super aggressive). So when I approached the 4th Street crossing I came to a dead stop, as did the cars on 4th Street, waving me on. TL;DR the right-of-way rules on the B-Line were already unclear and are even more so now with a third major type of trail use. Please create clear signage at every major intersection on the trail that states who has the right-of-way so that both trail users and vehicular traffic understand the rules.

Case Date:

9/26/2022

Bloomington resident Sam Melchior (dsamuelm375@gmail.com) contacted me through an email message the following concern: " I would still appreciate a further response as the scooter and ebike problem continues to worsen. I have added ebikes due to the increased use of them on the Bloomington Rail Trail and the increased size and speed of these vehicles. They are extremely dangerous and damaging to the natural surface trail. Thanks." Please direct a response to Mr. Melchior via his email address dsamuelm375@gmail.com. Thank You, Pat Martin

Case Date:

11/17/2022

Hi, It seems there maybe miscommunication within the chain of command or not a 100% buy-in to "best practice" or a little of both. Report #181846 described a problem and its location. Unfortunately the problem has not been addressed in any way. However, it does look as though some one came through with a leaf blower and cleared the cypress leaves that had covered the trail further up towards Southeast park, next to tennis court entrance and wood post. I do very much appreciate that as the the pavement is very bumpy there in the corner and can cause loss of control of bike or scooter as well as trip walkers. I don't have construction experience but have used a shovel in the yard and that is probably all it would take. Just a shovel and one person to remove some soil blocking the current grade from working properly. If that isn't the solution how about adding a thin layer of pavement so runoff goes the other direction. I believe this was done on Renwick trail, there are patches of pavement here and there. Thanks for your help with this.

Case Date:

11/8/2018

The lack of shoulders on the roads is a serious problem in Bloomington. I have lived in a number of cities across the US and Bloomington is the first city I've seen that has very few (if any?) shoulders on the roads. This is unbelievably problematic - if someone has car trouble they can't pull off to the side, if you are dropping someone off you can't just pull off to the side, if I receive a phone call I can't pull over, if riding a bicycle you can't ride along the side.... there are a fair number (surely more than is acceptable) of bike and scooter accidents in Bloomington, and this can largely be attributed to lack of shoulders on roads.

Case Date:

9/23/2015

Are mopeds and motorcycles allowed to use the 7th street tunnel under the bypass? Today, I saw two (orange scooter and a black-mini-motorcycle thing with a skull and crossbones on front, each coming from different directions) using the tunnel.

Case Date:

11/3/2019

I really don't know what category this would fall under since it really encompasses several things, so I have just called it "other." I see that in case #170862, there has been a complaint regarding speeding through the W. 12th, 13th, and Illinois Streets area. This is very much like a report I made a few months ago regarding speeding on W. 11th St between N. Adams St. and Fountain Dr. (I don't have the specific case #) The statement in case 170862 is correct. There are children, pedestrians, a transit stop, and an increasing amount of scooter traffic in this area. I am assuming that it's because of the increasing density on Crescent Rd., but the traffic is heavy on W. 11th, and there are many drivers who run through the section between Adams and the curve at Fountain Dr at a speed well above that of a residential area. I own seven pieces of property on Oolitic and W. 11th, so I am there a lot to see it. One issue is that there are no speed limit signs either direction in the area between Adams and Fountain Dr. This is an issue that can be remedied, and I am hoping that speed limit signs can be placed. A second issue is the design of the road encourages speed. It doesn't look like a residential street. This is a much more complicated issue. I would like to put in a request that, at some point, the section of W. 11th between N. Adams and Fountain Dr. receive curbs on both sides. This is still zoned residential despite the presence of C&S and the one artisan property. This brings me to a third issue. Residential/neighborhood streets are typically limited at 25 MPH. In addition, Tri-North is right there and numerous students walk to and from school. I would like to request that the speed limit on W. 11th from the railroad bridge to Fountain Dr be reduced to 25 MPH. It is currently 30. Finally, I know that the police department is stretched thin. More officers are needed and I absolutely understand that fact, to say nothing about the fact that they have to argue to get a city contract put through. However, I do hope that, whenever possible, an officer can radar monitor for speeders on that section of W. 11th. Please note, I did see an officer pull over a speeder. Thank you for that. I don't wish to get people in trouble. I only wish for safety. That isn't an industrial artery, it IS a residential street. Thank you for your time.

Case Date:

9/21/2022

Ever since the city created the bike lane on east seventh street between Walnut and the University the street has become a drag strip. Stop signs were taken away and people are traveling at excessive speeds. The condition has become exacerbated by an increase flow of bike traffic at various times of day. A person traveling north on Lincoln to safely cross must now watch the high speed vehicle traffic, the pedestrian traffic as well as the bike traffic. Visually it is a very difficult task to take in all of the information at the same time and the problem is that it is difficult to take in the bike lane when you are looking across the street at the pedestrian and high speed traffic. Bikers heading east come over the hill from Walnut and accelerate into the intersection. The curbs are extremely high and one cannot enter seventh street from Grant heading west without turning into the oncoming traffic lane or hitting the curb and damaging tires. On Monday I approached Seventh and Lincoln from the south around five o’clock pm. There was so much activity I missed a biker traveling west. I missed the person because there was simply too much to watch. Yesterday I made the decision to stop crossing Seventh St altogether because it was just too dangerous. I took a route that brought me from the west into the intersection. The city has now placed crosswalks without any warning signs of change all around the university and now pedestrians are no longer waiting for traffic to clear before attempting to cross and are now entering the crosswalks into the traffic flowing east and west with the expectation that it will stop, effectively a stop without a stop time. As I approached from the west to turn north onto Lincoln the east and westbound traffic had completely stopped for the cross walkers. Five persons on scooters zoomed into the intersection from south Lincoln and crossed through the stopped traffic. A six scooter, a straggler followed, suit entering right at the point when it had appeared to have cleared. These people should have been governed like the rest of cross traffic but instead acted effectively as pedestrians. Obviously no one was looking for them and they were traveling at a speed closer to a car than a pedestrian or biker. A dangerous situation has now been worsened by an intervention. We have spoken to the police officers in the neighborhood and obviously they cannot conceivably be there to do the work that traffic sign regulation had accomplished effectively for years. I can no longer move directly in my neighborhood because it is simply too dangerous. I am going out of my way to avoid the dangers and still cannot do that safely because of the chaos. We are going to see a scooter death or a bicyclist death if something is not done to prevent it. At least the City will be on notice when the lawsuit follows.

Case Date:

9/26/2013

Hello. I am a graduate student at the Kelley School of Business. This semester my team and I are responsible for consulting with a small business, Wick's Wheels, to help the store gain more access to students and make a greater presence on campus. One of the things we are recommending is the business have a "booth" opened on Kirkwood for next welcome week helping to kickstart a scooter rental idea we are pitching to them as well. I am just wondering for reference, would the business have to gain a permit to set up on Kirkwood somewhere or how would that work? Thanks!

Case Date:

2/4/2015

The scooter sales business has a temporary sign without a permit.