Although scooters are common and can be prone to mishaps, campus police say accident reports are infrequent.
Captain Jeff Holcomb, of University Police, said the department generally does not receive many reports of scooter accidents despite the large population of scooter riders on campus.
If no one involved in an accident is seriously injured, they may not feel the need to involve law enforcement, he said. It is also rare that the scooter accidents reported at UF result in serious injuries.
According to law, he said, a person is only required to wear a helmet if they’re under 21 years of age and if the scooter exceeds a certain size.
Holcomb also said sometimes when scooter accidents occur, the rider does not have much experience.
“A lot of times, students aren’t familiar with operating something at those speeds in that manner,” he said.
Jennifer Johnson, a 21-year-old UF architecture junior, has been driving a scooter for about a year. She said she feels safer riding on and near campus because, in other areas, cars to tend to drive much faster than scooters can.
Johnson said she wears a helmet about 95 percent of the time, even though she notices many peers without one. She thinks of it as assurance of her safety.
“When I’m riding, I always feel like someone is going to be on the phone texting or not looking, and I’m going to be hit,” she said.
Holcomb’s recommendation to drivers of larger vehicles is to “be aware that there are a lot of scooters sharing the road with us in Gainesville.”
A version of this story ran on page 3 on 9/16/2013 under the headline "Scooter accident reports rare, helmets helpful"
