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SALT LAKE CITY — University of Utah police say they plan to better enforce a 10 mph speed limit for people riding bicycles, scooters and skateboards and other nonmotorized vehicles after a crash that sent two students to the hospital at the start of the semester.
The university's Department of Public Safety sent out a notice on Thursday about a new speed limit for nonmotorized vehicles; however, University of Utah police operations Capt. Brian Lohrke clarified Tuesday that the limit had been in place for "quite a while."
"I believe it comes from just trying to be safe on the walkways," he explained, appearing on KSL NewsRadio's "Dave and Dujanovic." "Our campus is very crowded — we've got a lot of people walking around. ... You've probably got to go a lot slower than (10 mph) weaving in and out between people."
There have been "many close calls" reported to the department involving bikes, scooters and skateboards and people walking around the campus over the years, he added. However, the department began to review safety protocols again after a serious crash between a bicyclist and skateboarder in August.
Both students were traveling "well above" 10 mph when they collided on the plaza outside of the J. Willard Marriott Library, Lohrke said. Neither student was wearing a helmet at the time and they both were taken to a hospital with injuries before they were released later that day. The incident was caught on surveillance video and department officials were relieved that it didn't result in a worse outcome.
"Frankly, the injuries could have been a lot worse, so we want to make sure that we provide a safe environment for all our students, staff and faculty," he said.
The department is now encouraging bicycle, scooter and skateboard riders to use its speedometer if it has one, or use an app that tracks speed to ensure that they are within the speed limit. University police may also add new speed limit signs that show people how fast they are going and possibly also enforce the limit via radar guns if the problem persists, Lohrke said.
Violations could result in a citation, though he said it would be the department's "last resort." There's also a 5 mph speed limit for motorized golf carts. The university released several tips for road users to consider on Tuesday.
The notice has since sparked plenty of online conversation among students and faculty, including over how it relates to the speed of cars.
"I look forward to a 10 mph speed limit for cars, too. Being hit by a car is much worse than being hit by a small mobility device," wrote Alessandro Rigolon, an associate professor of planning at the university, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Several others agreed about car speed limits on campus in response, while others sided with the university's policy.
Lohrke acknowledges that 10 mph is fairly slow for a bike or other nonmotorized vehicle, but he says the vehicles can travel fairly fast on campus especially if riders are moving downhill. He says the point of the measure is to avoid collisions with the people walking about campus.
"It's a slow speed, but we need to have slow speeds on our campus," he said.
