> San Francisco supports transportation innovation, but it cannot come at the price of public safety,” Herrera said. “This permit program represents a thoughtful, coordinated and effective approach to ensure that San Francisco strikes the right balance. We can have innovation, but it must keep our sidewalks safe and accessible for all pedestrians.

This. Exactly. In the past week alone, I've been witness to, or victim in, 3 pedestrian safety incidents. In the first one, a dude and a lady companioned were riding the "Bird"s and turned into the sidewalk I was walking on (Fillmore Street) and crashed into me. They awkwardly apologized and were gone, didn't even bother to see if I was injured. In another incident on Market and 1st (going towards the bay bridge) a scooter "Parked" on the sidewalk was blown from the wind and had falled on the sidewalk ramp. Saw an old black lady in a wheel chair struggling to get around it to get on the sidewalk. The 3rd was a Muni driver honking at 2 riders who were bank in the middle of the road on Howard St going towards the Ferry Building. He almost crashed the bus into them.

While I'm all for innovation, it cannot come at the cost of pedestrian safety. Even if these startups meant for their scooters to be riden on the road, and not the sidewalk (It's ILLEGAL to ride a motorized vehicle on the sidewalk of San Francisco[1] ) only a small minority of the riders seem to be following it. I've seen so many riding it on the sidewalks.

[1] Source: Reminder: It Is Illegal to Ride Scooters On City Sidewalks => https://sf.curbed.com/2016/6/1/11831080/scooters-sidewalks-i...