The University of Maryland announced a new interim policy on Thursday that requires all micromobility vehicle users to wear helmets while riding on campus.
The Micromobility Workgroup, composed of university staff and students, recommended the policy to address safety concerns regarding micromobility vehicles, vice president and chief administrative officer Charles Reuning and University of Maryland Police chief David Mitchell wrote in a campuswide email.
“With this new interim policy, we hope to further safety and reduce head injuries. Our long-term goal is to continue to nurture a safety culture across UMD for everyone who travels across our campus,” the letter read.
The temporary policy states that any undergraduate or graduate student who does not wear a helmet while operating a micromobility vehicle on campus will be referred to the student conduct office.
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A micromobility vehicle is defined as any electric, battery-powered, solar-powered or manually–operated vehicle. This includes manual and electric bikes, skateboards and scooters.
This new policy comes after the university’s Department of Transportation Services announced that students living in residence halls, university-owned fraternity and sorority houses, or South Campus Commons apartments could not bring their personal electric mobility vehicles to campus this year.
The university announced that the new policy went into effect Aug. 1, citing the danger of these vehicles’ lithium-ion batteries and the lack of charging stations on campus to support a large number of privately owned electric micromobility vehicles.
DOTS is providing discounted helmets at its office in Regents Drive Garage.
