Life is interesting. I spent my traffic enforcement career making sure that "other" forms of transportation did not share our highways. Cars and trucks, motorcycles and bicycles, fine. Segways, skateboards, go karts, bicycles with gas motors, not here in B.C. thank you. Now the B.C. government has made changes to the Motor Vehicle Act to allow some of these "other" vehicles and is soliciting municipalities to conduct pilot projects on their use.
An example of a micromobility device would be an e-scooter or something similar that has a zero emission motor, top speed, safety equipment and uses the same part of the roadway.
The aim of the project is to "explore the potential of new and emerging modes of transportation modes to move people safely and efficiently while reducing traffic congestion." Citizens are encouraged to get together with local governments and share their ideas about possible projects.
Deadline for expressions of intent must be submitted by January 31, 2020 and pilot project proposals must be submitted by March 6, 2020.
How receptive to these ideas do you think your municipality will be? I'm thinking of the Neighbourhood Golf Cart initiative of 2016 where only two municipalities showed interest and only one of them tried it.
There is a NZEV zone near my home that I have never seen an NZEV use. There might have been some buy in if the zone had included the local shopping center, but 200m of pavement posted at 60 km/h made that impossible.
Hopefully we will take bigger steps this time and make some changes to see if there is an improvement. If there is, let's run with it. Not everyone wants or needs a full size car or pickup truck to get around with.
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