Report: E-scooter rider killed after being struck by transit bus

There has been a second deadly collision involving an electric scooter rider in Atlanta.
According to police reports, William Alexander, 37, was struck and killed by a Cobb County transit bus on West Peachtree Street in Midtown on Wednesday night, July 17.
Atlanta Police investigators believe the bus was turning onto 15th Street when it struck Alexander, who was wearing an Atlanta United jersey and was on his way home from a match at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Investigators said there is surveillance video that shows Alexander on the e-scooter, but not the accident itself.
Atlanta City Council members Amir Farokhi and Andre Dickens issued statements following the death of Alexander. The city council recently passed legislation to wrangle the more than 10,000 e-scooters and bikes on Atlanta’s streets.
Farokhi said in part: “I’m deeply saddened by the incident in Midtown last night that resulted in the death of William Alexander as he rode a scooter home from the Atlanta United game. As we await full details of the incident, my deepest condolences go out to Mr. Alexander’s family and all involved. Our city aches whenever a life is lost.  In addition to a time of mourning, it’s also a call to act. We need to invest more in complete streets that accommodate cyclists, scooters, and pedestrians as much as they do cars. It’s in our power to ensure these sorts of tragedies are absent from our city.  While I am working aggressively with the City’s Office of Mobility to solve the problems created for pedestrians by e-scooters, the vast majority of which occur in District 2, we must solve the bigger problem of streets and sidewalks that are not safe enough for all modes of mobility.”
Dickens indicated in his statement that he has asked Atlanta’s Chief Operating Officer,  Commissioners of Public Works and City Planning to conduct evaluations with regards to how the city’s transportation and construction management practices could be improved and aligned to prevent further injury and loss of life.
“In the six months since City Council passed new laws impacting the operation of e-scooters and other mobility devices in the city, we have learned a lot about ridership trends, rider behavior, and how to manage these devices,” Dickens said. “In that same period, a cyclist in a bicycle lane was severely injured just last week, and another scooter rider was killed near West Lake station in May, on top of multiple fatal vehicle accidents and pedestrian deaths. These events and others indicate that we need a critical review of our light transportation infrastructure, our police practices around enforcement, and our overall safety around all forms of transportation. As we acknowledged when discussing the scooter legislation, we must constantly evaluate and improve upon the usage and regulation of shareable vehicles to ensure that we limit the frequency and reduce the severity of incidences like we saw Wednesday evening.”