City Council members calling for changes after 2nd scooter death

ATLANTA — There is a new push for change after a man on an e-scooter was hit and killed by a bus in Atlanta.

Brad Alexander, 37, was riding on a scooter Wednesday night when he was hit by a CobbLinc bus turning at the intersection of 15th and West Peachtree streets.

Police and emergency medical technicians pulled Alexander out from the under the bus but he died at the scene.

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So far, Atlanta police have not determined who was at fault in the wreck.

On Thursday night, two Atlanta council members called for changes on Atlanta streets in light of the deadly scooter crash.

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Amir Farokhi and Andre Dickens issued statements following the man's death:

“I’m deeply saddened by the incident in Midtown last night that resulted in the death of William Alexander as he rode a scooter home from the Atlanta United game. As we await full details of the incident, my deepest condolences go out to Mr. Alexander’s family and all involved. Our city aches whenever a life is lost.  

In addition to a time of mourning, it’s also a call to act. We need to invest more in complete streets -- streets that accommodate cyclists, scooters, and pedestrians as much as they do cars. It’s in our power to ensure these sorts of tragedies are absent from our city. 

When someone dies on our roads, it, in part, represents a failure of design. It does not matter whether you are walking to lunch, biking to see a friend, scooting home, or driving to the grocery store, you should be safe as you move around the city. 

Too often, we normalize tragedies like last night’s because Americans die on roads every day. We can and must do better. In Atlanta, where we increasingly live, work, and move in closer proximity to one another, we have a duty to re-design and deliver public spaces for all modes of mobility. This means making policy decisions that foster safer streets and allocating money to make it happen. 

While I am working aggressively with the City’s Office of Mobility to solve the problems created for pedestrians by e-scooters, the vast majority of which occur in District 2, we must solve the bigger problem of streets and sidewalks that are not safe enough for all modes of mobility.

As we mourn the death of Mr. Alexander, let us learn from tragedy and use this moment to work toward improving safety for everyone." - Amir Farokhi, District 2 Atlanta City Council member

“It is with great sadness that I learned this morning of the fatal incident involving an e-scooter rider and a Cobb County public transit bus. My prayers are with the family and friends of the victim. There are no words that can bring consolation, but my hope is that this tragedy can help us to prevent more in the future.

As the Atlanta Police Department conducts their investigation, I ask that Atlanta’s Chief Operating Officer, and our Commissioners of Public Works and City Planning conduct their own evaluations with regards to how our city’s transportation and construction management practices could be improved and aligned to prevent further injury and loss of life on our streets and sidewalks.

In the six months since City Council passed new laws impacting the operation of e-scooters and other mobility devices in the city, we have learned a lot about ridership trends, rider behavior, and how to manage these devices. In that same period, a cyclist in a bicycle lane was severely injured just last week, and another scooter rider was killed near West Lake station in May, on top of multiple fatal vehicle accidents and pedestrian deaths.

These events and others indicate that we need a critical review of our light transportation infrastructure, our police practices around enforcement, and our overall safety around all forms of transportation.

When I called for the creation of the Atlanta Department of Transportation, which is now being established, I knew it was critical that we provide constant comprehensive review of transportation across all forms of travel. As we acknowledged when discussing the scooter legislation, we must constantly evaluate and improve upon the usage and regulation of shareable vehicles to ensure that we limit the frequency and reduce the severity of incidences like we saw Wednesday evening." - Andre Dickens, Post 3 At-Large Atlanta City Council member.

Cox Media Group