OCEAN CITY – Police officials say they continue to educate the public on the use of scooters and two-wheel vehicles on sidewalks following recent complaints.
On Wednesday, members of the Ocean City Police Commission discussed recent complaints reported to the Ocean City Police Department involving the use of scooters and other two-wheel vehicles on the town’s sidewalks. Police Chief Ross Buzzuro said those concerns were being addressed through the use of warnings, citations and educational materials.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” he said.
Lt. Allen Hawk told commission members this week that the town had received a specific complaint on Aug. 24 about people illegally riding scooters and bikes on sidewalks and failing to stop at traffic lights.
Since that time, he said, the department has recorded four warnings and one citation for failure to drive on the right side of the road, six warnings and one citation for driving on the sidewalk, and 26 warnings and one citation for failing to stop at a red signal.
“Once we were in receipt of this complaint, we broke it down to our traffic safety unit within the town, as well as the shift level,” he said. “We had on-shift training to make them more aware of the violations that have been occurring.”
Council President Matt James, commission member, questioned if any of the scooters that were issued warnings or citations were rentals. Hawk said that information was not tracked, but that a local rental company – Cycle City – was mandated to have a logbook of incidents involving the police department.
“To break that down, we’ve had four incidents – a flat tire, broken key, ticket given for riding without a helmet and a rental without a license …,” he said. “There was one collision involved with a Cycle City rental on July 23. The scooter wasn’t at fault on that one. And we’ve had four calls for service involving the Cycle City scooters – disorderly, vehicle alarm, 911 hangup and the inspection of their logbooks.”
Hawk added that all two-wheel standup vehicles issued warnings and citations were privately owned.
“There’s no rentals in town due to our adopted ordinance,” he said.
When asked if any scooters, bikes or electric were allowed on sidewalks, Hawk said they were not.
Mayor Rick Meehan pointed out that many rode on the sidewalk to avoid the traffic lights.
“They do that so they can go through the traffic light, to avoid the signal …,” he added. “That’s how they avoid stopping.”
Hawk, however, noted that the department has made concerted efforts to address those violations. Councilman Peter Buas commended the police department for issuing warnings, as it informed residents and visitors of the law.
“I appreciate that these are mostly warnings,” he said.
Officials noted it was one of several educational initiatives aimed at bicycle and scooter usage. In addition to posting information on social media, Hawk said the police department had also reached out to J-1 students working in Ocean City.
“We’ve made contact with the J-1s during their welcoming events and dinner events,” Hawk said, “where we’ve handed out pamphlets, rules of the road, safety, as well as bike lane initiatives.”
The police commission on Wednesday also discussed enforcement efforts related to noise violations.
Meehan told officials this week he had recently received a complaint regarding noise issues along Coastal Highway and wanted to bring it before the police commission for discussion.
Buzzuro said the department had reached out to the complainant, a property owner on 57th Street.
“This particular person wasn’t a resident but had a secondary home …,” he said. “It was revealed that from time to time there’s excessive noise along Coastal Highway, and he could hear the noise at his location on 57th Street.”
Buzzuro said he believed the issue to be an isolated event. He said a look at the police department’s records revealed 26 calls for service were made this summer regarding noise issues along Coastal Highway.
“Most of them were for businesses,” he explained. “When we got on the scene, one of a few things had happened – the music had been turned down or the music was loud enough where we asked them to turn the music down. We really didn’t have to take any action beyond that, any other type of enforcement.”
Meehan said he was made aware that four jurisdictions were currently exploring the use of noise meters. Buzzuro said it was not something the police department was considering.
“There are four municipalities that are in the testing phases of a noise capturing meter of some kind …,” he said. “I don’t think that’s an area we want to explore any further at this time.”
He noted, however, that the police department continues to be proactive when it comes to modified exhausts and excessive sounds emanating from vehicles.
“We’re very cognizant of that and we continue our enforcement activities around those types of violations,” he said.
