Immediate ask
Invite EUC riders into a 90-day micromobility safety pilot before adopting broad restrictions. Use the pilot to test operating rules, incident reporting, route-risk mapping, and accountability tools.
San Francisco EUC Policy Memo
A short civic brief for supervisors, staff, and advocates who need a reasonable answer to electric unicycle confusion: protect pedestrians, regulate unsafe conduct, and create a lawful path for responsible riders.
One-page position
Good regulation beats legal confusion.
San Francisco does not need to choose between sidewalk chaos and blanket bans. The practical path is to define EUCs as personal electric vehicles, set context-based speed rules, enforce pedestrian-first behavior, and collect device-specific data before making permanent restrictions.
What good regulation looks like
Name the device class
Treat EUCs as personal electric vehicles or micromobility devices, not motorcycles by default and not unclassifiable illegal objects.
Sidewalks stay pedestrian-first
Require walking pace in pedestrian zones, strict yielding, safe passing, dismount zones where needed, and serious penalties for hit-and-run or reckless operation.
Speed depends on place
Slow near pedestrians and crossings; prefer bike lanes and low-speed streets; treat traffic-speed behavior differently from shared-path behavior.
Make riders visible
Require lights after dark, rear visibility, audible warning capability where appropriate, and practical signaling expectations.
Create compliance paths
Explore liability coverage, visible ID, rider pledge, and registration pilots where practical instead of leaving responsible riders with no way to comply.
Track actual facts
Record device type, location, injury severity, alleged speed, infrastructure, citation status, and whether existing rules were enforced.
San Francisco pilot proposal
Temporary safety guidance
- No high-speed sidewalks or crowded promenades.
- Walking pace in pedestrian-heavy spaces.
- Yield at crossings and around vulnerable pedestrians.
- Lights and rear visibility after dark.
- Stop, identify, and report after any collision.
Micromobility working pilot
- Voluntary rider registry and visible-ID test.
- Route-risk map for corridors like Great Highway and shared paths.
- Incident intake separated by actual device class.
- Insurance-interest survey and compliance research.
- Working group with riders, city staff, pedestrians, and safety advocates.
Message for a supervisor or staffer
I am not asking San Francisco to ignore unsafe riding. I am asking the city to regulate electric unicycles clearly instead of leaving riders, pedestrians, police, and city staff in a confusing gray area. EUCs should have pedestrian-first sidewalk rules, route and speed expectations, lighting standards, accountability for reckless riding, and device-specific incident data. Before any blanket restriction, please consider a 90-day personal electric vehicle pilot that gives responsible riders a lawful way to comply while protecting pedestrians.
Why this is politically stronger
It validates safety concerns
Officials and neighbors are more likely to listen when the rider community starts with pedestrian trust instead of pretending every concern is anti-EUC bias.
It gives staff something usable
A supervisor can forward a concrete memo, ask staff to review a pilot, and request legal clarification. That is easier than defending a vague rider-rights slogan.