It's time now for our Reporter's Notebook segment.

I'm Emily Prince, and I am joined by Kenton Hornbeck, the Boone County reporter for Lincoln Kenton.

Thank you so much.

It's so good to see you again.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah, we're glad to.

So let's talk about we're going to discuss a couple different topics going on in Boone County in Northern Kentucky.

The biggest one that's been taking a lot of the news lately is everything going on with e-bikes and e-scooters and concerns over safety.

So before we really get into the concerns, can tell us for people who don't know what our bikes and e-scooters.

Right.

So there's kind of this umbrella term that's being used called micromobility devices.

That's what a lot of local officials use to describe e-bikes, e-scooters.

But really e-scooters and e-bikes are personal electric vehicles powered by rechargeable batteries that are charged at these little hubs at people's houses.

They're kind of cheap, usually worth $500 or less at some stores that you probably recognize, like Costco, they're pretty easy to get their hands on, and they're very popular among teenagers.

We'll get into that more, too.

But tell us about what are the safety concerns that people are bringing up?

I know you were at a Boone County fiscal court meeting just last week, and there was a lot of chatter about it.

So what is going on and why are people so concerned about their usage?

I think people are mainly concerned about how teenagers use these e-bikes and e-scooters on a regular basis, and are impacting local traffic and really quality of life type concerns, whether that be disrupting pedestrians on sidewalks or running into vehicles because they aren't paying attention or looking at their phones.

And I don't mean to blanket demonize teenagers that ride these things.

Of course, this is just what the common theme of the criticisms are.

But really, when it comes down to safety concerns, there's been numerous documented events that show teenagers writing these e-bikes.

E-scooters have been running into cars or being hit by cars or running into pedestrians.

These have caused EMS to be called multiple times.

Actually, there's a statistic that was shared at the Boone County Fiscal Court meeting where two drivers of these vehicles as young as seven, were hit and they had the EMS services cord called.

So it's really becoming a community wide concern where people maybe they don't want the outright ban of e-bikes, but they certainly want more safety regulations in place.

And of course maybe it's an obvious thing to note, but because they're electric I'm sure they can go so much faster.

Right.

And that probably leads to a lot of these accidents because they're the speed that they can get up on these things is, is pretty intense.

And like you said.

So how many are we mostly seeing teenagers.

Are they people teenagers who don't even have their driver's license yet?

Do we know like stats on kind of the demographic of who is driving who's writing these?

I would say it skews primarily toward teenagers and young adults.

So anywhere between 13 to 17 people are using them to get around through their neighborhoods, to hang out with their friends, to meet up with their friends.

And that's generally the demographic of people who use them the most.

But there is also a subsection of people who use these as an affordable way of transportation to get to and from work.

You certainly see that here in Covington, where people use e-bikes to go to in front of their jobs.

E-scooters as well.

There's certainly a lot of that out in Boone County because it's just so much cheaper on gas, on on upfront costs.

So while it's primarily teenagers, there are adults who also use these vehicles.

And that also brought up a good point that I was going to ask you.

This seems really kind of specific to Northern Kentucky.

And Boone County especially has been having a lot of discussion.

Do you feel like is that a fair thing to say?

Is it kind of specific to the region, and if so, why is that?

Well, I think and I don't want to speak for Lexington and Louisville, but maybe they do have some of that as well.

But up here in Northern Kentucky, it's not just a Boone County thing.

It's Kenton, Boone and Campbell County.

And I think what it comes down to is the suburbanization of the Northern Kentucky communities that these e-bikes are in.

So Fort Thomas is a bedroom community in Campbell County.

You know, if you're in Fort Thomas, you can see downtown Cincinnati, probably from your house or through the city.

That's a popular place for these e-bikes and e-scooters, where kids will go around through the streets.

They live in close proximity to one another.

Same thing without end union where it's been a prevalent issue.

Union is a very suburban community where people, especially kids, have to use these e-bikes in a way to get back and forth, maybe between school or to their friends houses, or to go play basketball at the park.

So when you look at the overall problem here or quote unquote problem, it really comes down to suburban communities, of which there are many in Northern Kentucky.

I think out in more rural areas, you're not going to see people using these vehicles as much.

They might rely on cars or other modes of transportation to get back and forth, but there's really not a close proximity use case for a lot of these micromobility devices out more rural areas.

Right.

And just to make sure we hit on this, I know that the Boone County Fiscal Court did not take any necessary action last week, but what regulations could they consider about these e-bikes and e-scooters?

Right.

And it's important to note that they're most likely will be regulations coming down the pike in the future.

Last week's meeting focused primarily on the overall presentation of data that a specific group of county officials compiled when they were researching the issue to present before the fiscal court.

With that being said, some of the regulations that I think might be coming down, coming in the future, specifically regarding safety regulations on helmets and speed, I think also roadway regulations could be coming.

Maybe you can't ride your bike city scooters on certain roads.

Those are really the crux of what I believe the regulations will be in Boone County specifically.

Gotcha.

We will certainly keep an eye out to see what regulations fell into place, and how that might impact other counties and other municipalities, even in northern Kentucky.