The Barrington Shopping Center is off-limits to electric scooters and electric bicycles. 

Barrington Police Chief Michael Correia said new signs have been posted throughout the center, each stating “No riding of e-scooters or e-bikes allowed on property. Trespassers will be prosecuted.”

“We’re trying to curb behavior that could end up in a serious injury,” Chief Correia said during an interview on Monday, July 20. “I think the facts indicate that we need to do that.”

Chief Correia said he reached out to the owner of the shopping center property regarding safety concerns posed by electric scooters and electric bicycles. Police have responded to the shopping center for incidents related to the vehicles. 

Most recently, on June 30, Barrington Police responded to the shopping center after a 15-year-old Barrington boy riding an electric scooter collided with a mini-van. Police said the boy was wearing a helmet — he was also traveling the wrong way when he drove his e-scooter into the right rear quarter of a vehicle driven by a 21-year-old Barrington woman. EMTs responded to the scene of the accident and later transported the boy to a hospital. 

Chief Correia said the police will take a measured approach with enforcement of the new shopping center ban. He said violators will be issued a warning for a first time offense. Subsequent violations could yield tickets. 

Chief Correia shared a reminder for a warning issued last summer specific to the use of e-scooters by young residents: While there is currently no state law or local ordinance governing electric scooters, he strongly suggests that parents apply the common-sense safety measures applied with e-bikes to e-scooters.

The e-scooter and e-bike ban in the Barrington Shopping Center will be handled as a trespassing issue, Chief Correia said.

“We’re going to give people plenty of notice,” he said. 

Chief Correia said the department has already received some calls regarding the new restriction in the shopping center. 

Other rules to remember:

• State law prohibits a juvenile under 16 years of age to operate any class of electric motorized bicycles; 

• State law requires all operators of and passengers on (under 21) an electric motorized bicycles to wear a certified helmet; 

• State law prohibits the operation of ‘Recreational Vehicles” (ATV and unclassified electric dirt bikes) on roads; 

• State law requires helmets to be worn by anyone age 15 and younger who is an operator or a passenger on a bicycle, or using or operating a skateboard, roller skates, inline skates, or scooter, whether electric or otherwise.