One day, the sidewalks were empty. The next day, they were everywhere. The scooters. Dockless electric scooters, to be exact. They had suddenly appeared on the sidewalks of the DC metro area, where I live and work. They were scattered haphazardly: some on front lawns, some in driveways, some blocking wheelchair ramps. Some were standing upright, some lying on their sides like roadkill. And those were just the dormant ones. When in use, they were ridden in the streets, in and out of bike lanes, and on the sidewalk. Often, I saw children who were obviously below the minimum age for riders (18 years) riding two at a time. It was absolute chaos, and it made me livid.