Advisory council discusses e-bike and scooter safety; staff exploring signage, speed monitors and AmeriCorps ambassadors
Summary
Council members and staff discussed increased trail use, higher speeds from e-bikes and motorized mini-bikes, enforcement limits for parks staff, and options including signage, painted markings, speed monitors and recruiting AmeriCorps ambassadors to increase presence on trails.
Advisory council members raised resident concerns about higher-speed e-bikes, scooters and motorized mini-bikes on Davenport's multiuse trails at the September meeting. Staff described research and initial policy steps and said enforcement remains a challenge because parks staff are not code-enforcement officers and the police department lacks staffing to patrol trails continuously. Staff noted the city reclassified allowable e-bike types (class 1 and class 2) in May but said there is not a codified maximum speed in the city code and that a social expectation of 20 mph is commonly cited. A parks staff member said enforcement is limited and described multiple strategies under consideration: increased signage and etiquette messaging, repainting and restriping to delineate lanes and blind corners, installing speed-monitor displays in high-use areas and experimenting with way-finding signs that provide location codes to help users report incidents to police. Staff also discussed recruiting AmeriCorps members to act as park ambassadors who could be visible on trails during peak times, run pop-up programs and help liaise with users; PD is coordinating on potential bike patrol support and some trail-specific enforcement ideas. Council members suggested partnering with the school district on bike-safety education for children who commute to school and with police for public outreach.
