Sidewalks are for people on foot. But every day, e-scooters and e-bikes from companies like Lime and Bird are ridden full-speed down them — past kids, older adults, and people with disabilities who have nowhere to move. The companies that put these vehicles on our streets already have the technology to stop it: geofencing and camera-based sidewalk detection that can slow or disable a scooter the moment it rolls onto a sidewalk. Lime has even built and begun testing its own version. But they've only turned it on in Seattle so far, and only on part of their fleet there. Everywhere else, sidewalk riding is left completely unchecked.

A few months ago, my son was walking across a sidewalk when someone on a pay e-bike barreled by and nearly flattened him on the pavement. I barely had time to grab and pull him out of the way. I don't even know what would have happened if I hadn't caught him in time. A couple of weeks later, I watched almost the exact same thing happen to another child near my home while walking. His dad also had to pull him out of the way of an e-scooter. Neither of these riders so much as slowed down, apologized, or even gave a passing glance.

I've also had my own close calls with e-bikes and e-scooters on the sidewalk. But these stories are the best case scenario. On May 31, 2025 a 51-year old father of two named Thanh Phan was struck by a speeding e-scooter riding on a city sidewalk and tragically died. None of us should have to flinch on our own sidewalk. And no family should have to wait for a child to actually get struck before anything changes.

Electric scooters and bikes have real benefits. I've used them to get around tons of times (on the street, as they're meant to be ridden). I'm a big supporter of public transportation and alternatives to cars. This isn't about banning them. It's about who's responsible for how they're used. Lime, Bird, and every major e-scooter and e-bike company can make sidewalks true no-ride zones — but only if they deploy sidewalk-detection and automatic slowdown across their entire fleets, in every city they operate, instead of running quiet pilot programs in a lucky few.

Sign this petition and tell Lime, Bird, and the rest of the industry: turn on the technology you already have, everywhere. Make sidewalks no-ride zones nationwide — before another family lives through a preventable near-miss, or something worse.