Scooter, mo-ped riders face ‘lack of respect’ on road

Matthew Dill has been riding a scooter about four miles to work from his West Ashley home for about 18 months without incident.

Until last week.
“I got cut off and had to dump it,” said Dill, 30. “It left me pretty mad, but I didn’t have time to think about it because I had to get to work.”

The incident left him with “a little road rash” on his body and a broken headlight on his scooter, but it did not strand him because Dill also has a car.

“I just got the scooter for the gas mileage,” he said.

Although scooters can save money on fuel, the vehicles can be dangerous on congested and fast-paced roads.

Gary Stephens, 57, of West Ashley, was killed Tuesday when his scooter collided with a truck at the corner of King and Line streets.

Charleston Scooter Co. manager Mike Schillo said a lot of people buy scooters, or mo-peds, for their gas efficiency, which can be as high as 100 miles per gallon.

“When gas prices went up and what-not, a lot of people liked that idea,” he said. “Especially people who just have a short commute.”

Schillo said he cautions buyers that scooters are not motorcycles.

“I do anything I can do to make these things safe,” he said. “I preach safety and defensive driving to everyone who drives them, and tell them not to drive them where they are not intended to be driven.”

For instance, he said scooters are not a good mode of transportation for anyone who regularly crosses the Ravenel Bridge or where traffic travels 40 or 50 mph or more consistently.

Scooters and mo-peds, which can cost as little as $1,000, top out at speeds of about 30 mph. Drivers are required to have a driver’s license or a mo-ped license to drive them in South Carolina. No license is required for drivers whose licenses have been suspended for DUI for the duration of the suspension. And, like motorcycles, helmets are required only for those under 21.

Schillo said scooters have a reputation of being “liquor cycles,” driven by people who have lost their licenses because of drunken-driving charges, but they have found a more varied group of riders in recent years.

“My clientele is very diverse,” he said. “Some people drive them because they have no other choice, but there are also a lot of young professionals, college students and retired folks. I have sold them to doctors and lawyers. The stigma that used to be associated with them is changing.”

Kirk Rambow, 35, calls himself a “scooterist” who has been riding about 10 years because he enjoys the slower pace.

Before that, he rode a motorcycle.

“I am not a DUI person or anything like that,” he said. “I have a license, but scooters are my mode of choice.”

However, he has found getting around a little more difficult since moving to South Carolina from Maryland in January.

“There used to be nothing I enjoyed more than going for a ride,” he said. “Then I moved here. There is a lot of tailgating and there are too many people on cellphones.”

Maryland prohibits texting and use of handheld cellphones for all drivers.

“I am an enthusiastic ambassador for scooters,” he said. “I would like to organize scooter rallies and things like that, but I am hesitant to want to lead anybody on a ride. There is a general lack of respect here for scooter riders.”

Reach Brenda Rindge at 937-5713 or www.facebook.com/brindge.