NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A blind woman says she struggles to navigate Nashville's streets because of the many scooters littered along sidewalks.
Sheila Hansen works downtown but has a hard time walking around the scooters.
Often times, she comes upon them laying the sidewalk or blocking the entrance to an intersection.
Hansen is legally blind. She can see objects that are very close, but has little depth perception. She uses her cane to scan the ground for cracks, but the scooters are even more unpredictable.
"When I'm walking down a sidewalk, I'm already trying to pay attention to those obstacles," said Hansen.
However, sometimes, it's not the scooters that are parked that scare her.
"Last week, somebody came flying at me with one and I was tapping my cane like this and he came by and came this close to the end of my cane. He could've gone flying. He could've clipped the cane and gone flying. So, I was startled so I yelled at him, and he cussed me out," she said.
Hansen is able to navigate the scooter better than others with visual impairments. She's also worried about people in wheelchairs who may have to find a different route if scooters are blocking the path.
She said she appreciates Mayor David Briley's letter to scooters threatening to ban the eletric vehicles if something doesn't change in 30 days.
A scooter rider was recently killed in a scooter crash. His parents are demanding a ban be placed on scooters in Nashville.
