Letter: E-Scooters Injuries: A New Epidemic

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To the Editor:

With the advent of the Bird e-scooters in Pittsfield, available to anyone with a license, a few cents, and a cell phone, I hope that Berkshire Medical Center's emergency room is ready for the traumatic brain injuries coming down the road.

The rentals don't include helmets and I've seen plenty of people having a blast — laughing and zipping along next to traffic — some riding double and no one wearing a helmet. They feel like a toy but they aren't toys: E-scooters are one of the most dangerous vehicles on the road with double the head injuries of cyclists — the injury rate is comparable to motorcycle riding. This includes the pedestrians who are struck by scooters.

The title of a 2021 medical article says it all: "Electric Scooter-Related Injuries: A New Epidemic in Orthopedics." Richmond, Va., has a longer history of Bird scooters, and thriving personal injury legal practices dedicated to defending scooter accident victims. How is this a good thing for Pittsfield?

Sarah Gardner
Williamstown, Mass.

 

 


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School Budget, Environment, Recreation Highlight Williamstown Town Meeting

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — This month's annual town meeting returns to a familiar venue.
 
What goes on in that building the rest of the year could be a major topic of discussion at the Tuesday, May 19, gathering.
 
After two years (2020 and '21) on Williams College's football field and four years ('22 through '25) at Mount Greylock Regional School, the town's legislative body will be back at Williamstown Elementary School for a 7 p.m. meeting to decide on municipal spending and other town business.
 
The largest segment of the municipal budget goes to the public schools, and the spending plan for PreK-12 education likely will see a floor amendment intended to add an additional $120,000 to fund a math interventionist at Williamstown Elementary School.
 
The elected seven-member School Committee that governs the Mount Greylock Regional School District has proposed a $30.9 million operating budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1. The local share of that budget is meted out in assessments to the member towns of Lanesborough and Williamstown, which each vote whether to approve its assessment at town meeting.
 
Williamstown's share of the operating and capital expenditures for the regional school district is $16.8 million under the budget approved by the School Committee, an increase of a little more than $2 million, or 13.65 percent, from the budget for the current fiscal/school year.
 
A group of WES parents concerned about the mathematics instruction at the Grade prekindergarten-6 school plans to bring an amendment to town meeting to add the additional $120,000 — about 0.7 percent of the proposed assessment — to fund the interventionist position.
 
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