OAKLAND -- Nancy Rieser said she never saw the scooter racing along the Grand Avenue sidewalk where she was walking. But she heard its loud motor, which gave her just enough time to jump out of the way.

"It swept by me, going about 20, 25 miles per hour," said Rieser, who lives near Grand Avenue. "Had I been an elder, I would have been knocked off my pins and probably broken my hip. It passed me so quickly that my hair got all messed up and my skirt swished. It was very, very close."

The use of motorized scooters -- equipped with either a small but noisy two-cycle gasoline engine or a silent electric motor and battery -- has increased significantly in Oakland since August, said Oakland police Lt. David Kozicki at a press conference Tuesday announcing a new citywide crackdown on scooter use.

This month, the Police Department and Oakland City Council members will present to the council a three-part strategy combining education, enforcement and legislation in response to complaints about noisy motors, unsafe use and reports that scooters have been used to transport drugs and snatch purses.

"There's been a real increase in (motorized scooter) use, particularly by young people," Kozicki said. "Oakland has not banned these devices and I think banning will be the last resort, but it will be a resort if they cannot be operated safely."

Motorized scooters, such as the ones being sold at Grand Lake Scooters on Grand Avenue, cost about $200 to $1,300. Grand Lake Scooters owner Robert Reed said he sells the devices to teenagers and adults, ranging from students to officers with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department.

The gas-powered scooters can drive for about 150 miles per 1 gallon of gas, Reed said, which makes then an alluring transportation option for children and adults alike.

"I can envision using this in a lot of places," real estate developer Steve Reinlib said as he loaded a scooter into the trunk of his luxury car.

Namely, he said, he can avoid parking nightmares in the Montclair Village shopping district near his home.

"They are fun to use and I can get places faster," 15-year-old David Lee said as he checked out the newest scooter models at the shop.

Reed said young people visit his shop from all over the city.

The ones from East and West Oakland said they enjoy riding near Lake Merritt, in the Oakland hills and in Piedmont -- because it's safer than their neighborhoods.

"Everyone feels a little safer here," Reed said.

Yet many Oakland residents said the scooters are giving them a headache not easily cured with aspirin.

"It is really unbelievable," Grand Avenue resident Robijin Can Giesen said. "I can sit here in my kitchen and hear them coming and going constantly. I can't believe there is not some violation of the noise ordinance."

Carolyn Vallerga said she can't carry on dinner conversations without constant interruptions from a pack of scooters passing her window.

She misses television punch lines and interrupts living room conversations to wait for the scooters to pass, she said.

Vallerga, a nurse at Highland Hospital Oakland, worries the younger scooter riders will be seriously injured, particularly the ones in her neighborhood who ignore stop signs, ride on the wrong side of the street and at top speeds of 30 to 40 mph.

"It is a motor vehicle and you just can't go berserk with 16-year-olds on them," Vallerga said.

Wear a helmet Kozicki said many scooter injuries could have been prevented by the riders buying helmets, as required by law.

Last month, a 33-year-old Oakland man was killed on a motorized scooter after being hit by a pickup truck.

That, and complaints about scooter noise, is why Oakland police and city officials announced the crackdown on scooter use starting this month.

The first step involves giving students handouts in school detailing the law and how to ride safely this summer, said Councilmember Jean Quan (Montclair-Laurel).

By law, motorized scooter riders must be at least 16, and wear a helmet while riding and reflective gear if they drive at night.

They must travel 15 mph or less, and avoid streets with speed limits above 25 mph, unless there is a bike lane.

Issuing citations

The second step in the crackdown is stepping up enforcement, from issuing citations ranging from $151 to $271, to impounding scooters, which will cost an initial fee of $100 and $30 per day storage cost.

The third step is for City Council members to request state legislators enact stricter laws regarding scooter use.

"We are going to be looking at actually asking our state legislators to introduce legislation to ban this type of vehicle statewide, not just in the Oakland," said Council President Ignacio De La Fuente (San Antonio-Fruitvale).

Dimond district resident Tim Chapman, who said the scooters make the whine of whistle-tip car mufflers seem like a minor irritant, said further city discussion about the issue may help scooter aficionados and quiet-loving residents find a compromise.

"Maybe the idea would be to make those gas ones illegal and the electric ones an option for people who want them as transportation," he said. "This is a discussion we are going to have to have."