Woman slows down traffic riding motorized scooter on I-5

Marysville, WA. – Drivers were slowed down by something many don’t see on I-5 that often: a woman in her 20s riding a motorized scooter on the shoulder heading southbound.

The Washington State Patrol says this woman hopped on I-5.

“She had entered I-5 and was just riding down the shoulder. Trying to get where she needed to go. Thinking that it was a safe way to get there,” Sgt. Chasity Van Auken said.

State Patrol tells us a commercial unit nearby tailed the woman around mile marker 205 until a state trooper arrived. Once there, the trooper loaded the woman and her scooter into his vehicle. WSP then tells KIRO7 the woman was taken to her destination and was not written a citation in this instance, although it is illegal in Washington to walk or ride bikes and scooters on the shoulder of the interstate.

“It’s better to just get her off the road. Technically it is trespassing. You’ll see the no trespassing signs on the ramps,” Van Auken said.

While no driver was hurt nor an accident caused, Van Auken says Washington drivers have become more reckless over the years.

“They’re speeding. They’re texting or changing the radio stations. So, all of these are distractions in the car. And it only takes a second off the roadway and strike somebody,” Van Auken said.

“Because any of those things that distract you for one second can make it either where you are in a collision or you’re running over somebody who has entered the highway illegally, but still, they entered the highway and you don’t want that,” Van Auken said.

KIRO 7 showed the video to several drivers in the Marysville area. Some off-camera say this truly could have turned into a dangerous situation. A truck driver says if she had veered into the road while a semi was nearby, it could’ve turned disastrous.

“If they’re on the fog line, and we’re really close, and if that back trailer gets whipping, then they’re history,” Larry of Vancouver, WA, said.

WSP hopes this incident will be a strong learning lesson for the woman and everyone else on the road.

“But we don’t prosecute those. We just try to educate so people understand the dangers of coming on the freeway and not being in a vehicle,” Van Auken said.

WSP says if anyone is walking or riding a scooter or bike along the shoulder of the interstate, people should call 911 immediately; that way, police can help that person and get them out of danger.

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