Police have arrested dozens of moped drivers and impounded hundreds of scooters as of Monday during the District’s crackdown on the mopeds zig-zagging their way through city streets.
Metropolitan Police said 67 people have been handcuffed for driving a gas-powered scooter illegally, according to the latest enforcement data shared with The Washington Times.
Police also confiscated 203 scooters and issued 207 citations to drivers in the roughly two weeks since the sweeps started.
MPD’s “Operation Ride Right,” which launched June 5, has sought to rein in the explosion of moped drivers swerving around D.C. traffic.
“They are not following the rules of the road,” D.C. police Capt. Daniel Harrington told local Fox affiliate WTTG earlier this month. “They have to follow the same rules as motor vehicles. They have to be registered. They have to have insurance, and the operator has to have a license.”
Many of the scooter drivers work for delivery companies, and a chunk of those drivers are new immigrants in the country.
D.C. Council member Brianne Nadeau, Ward 1 Democrat, introduced this spring a new bill that would require moped rental companies to register and insure their vehicles.
Before selling a scooter, rental companies would also have to show proof of registration and that the vehicle is properly classified.
The bill hasn’t progressed out of the council’s transportation and environment committee.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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