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AIBU?

Am I being unreasonable to suggest that scooters should be banned on pavements?

277 replies

Morgause · 07/09/2013 14:36

An hour ago I went up the lane to pay the papers. The pavement isn't particularly wide but not very narrow either. A little girl aged 3 -4 scooted past me quite quickly which made me jump a bit as I hadn't heard her coming. I looked round to see her mother with a buggy quite a way back down the lane. She shouted the little girl's name and told her to wait.

I walked past her and into the shop round the corner and paid the bill. As I came back around the corner the mother had caught up with the little girl and she had begun to scoot on again. Unfortunately she scooted straight into an elderly lady just leaving her gate and they both went flying. I called an ambulance and other neighbours came out to see what could be done to help. It looks like the little girl has broken her arm and the old lady may have broken her hip or her leg - maybe both.

The ambulance man said that scooters are a "bloody nuisance" and if kids aren't falling off them they are ploughing into people on them. He thinks they should be banned anywhere but gardens and parks. The local bobby, also present, agreed.

I think the same after what I saw today. M (the old lady) is the sole carer for her elderly husband who is very disabled following a stroke. Goodness knows what will happen to him now. A neighbour is with him for now and is hoping to contact someone from social services for some emergency care.

OP posts:

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JerseySpud · 07/09/2013 14:38

I'm on the fence with this.

Scooters can be a pain in the ass, but in this situation the child shouldn't have been going on so far ahead and out of sight.

Also and age 3-4 they aren't old enough to be watching out for other people.

GlobalWarning · 07/09/2013 14:39

Grown ups cycling on pavements are far more dangerous. Yabu but parents need to step in. My children are very responsible on scooters and get off and walk passed people rather than scoot. Your example is an extreme of an accident and doesn't happen daily. Should we stop using cars given that they kill people?

DTisMYdoctor · 07/09/2013 14:46

What a shame for the lady who was injured, but I think YABU. The same outcome could have come from a child (or adult) running down the street.

DS is pretty considerate on his scooter, but at age 3-4 I wouldn't have let him go that far ahead. We've really drummed it into him to watch out for people coming out of gates/driveways etc for safety reasons.

DrinkFromMyFountain · 07/09/2013 14:48

YANBU. If kids want to scoot they can scoot in the bloody park

Morgause · 07/09/2013 14:53

Global it's already illegal to cycle on pavements. The child wasn't out of sight, she'd just begun to scoot after waiting for her mum who was 5 feet away at most. She was so small the M just didn't see her behind the fence as she came out of her gate. If she'd been walking or running I don't think there would have been the injuries there seem to have been.

We don't expect anything to be moving at more than walking pace on the pavements, which are made for walking on. Cars go along the roads, so we expect them to go faster. Not the same at all.

DH was wondering if M could sue the mother.

OP posts:

TempusFuckit · 07/09/2013 14:53

I'll be interested to see how this thread goes as DS has just started scooting. There was a thread about an old lady in the park who told a mum of scooting kids she was intending on pushing any kids who scooted close to her into the road with her stick, and I was a bit shocked at how many people said good on her.

On the other hand, scooting seems to be being promoted as a Good Thing - Micro scooters use scooting the school run it as a healthy selling point and even the NHS Change4Life ad featured it.

TidyDancer · 07/09/2013 14:57

I agree. I never let the DCs scoot on the pavement. They go to the park, or PIL's drive (it's a big space).

How did the mother react?

DarrellRivers · 07/09/2013 14:57

Yes, let's suggest the scooters use the roads with the cars

Consideration and respect is what is needed from all pavement users rather than blanket banning of groups

TempusFuckit · 07/09/2013 14:57

GlobalWarming - "should we stop using cars as they kill people?"

I'm not actually suggesting we should ban them, but it does sadden me that car-related fatalities are seen as such a reasonable price to pay for the convenience of private car culture.

HoneyDragon · 07/09/2013 14:57

I'm another one who I insists they scoot beside me, and get off and push with approaching people.

If its in a play area or wide open space than I let them go ahead.

However, I read the riot act to 5 boys bombing down the height street on bikes and scooters just expecting people to jump out the way. And then when the women who were in theory supervising them rolled up to say I had no right to discipline their children I bollocked them too.

pomdereplay · 07/09/2013 14:57

What Drink said. They're dangerous and even the most attentive parent will find it hard to keep up with a child whizzing ahead.

Worst is parents who let their kids scoot around shopping centres on incredibly busy Saturdays...

MrTumblesBavarianFanbase · 07/09/2013 15:00

Tempus wow! People approved of an adult threatening to push small children into the road!!!!

WaitMonkey · 07/09/2013 15:02

YANBU.

TempusFuckit · 07/09/2013 15:05

MrTumble - yes, it was one of those baying for blood threads. OP was accused of all sorts for having not prostrated herself in abject apology. Weird.

GlobalWarning · 07/09/2013 15:08

My point is that cycling may be illegal on pavements, doesn't stop grown ups doing it. I don't think you will ever get kids to stop scooting on pavements

MrTumblesBavarianFanbase · 07/09/2013 15:09

Tempus The Mad MumsNet that emerges occasionally then. But still - that's extreme even for MMN!

Morgause · 07/09/2013 15:13

TidyDancer the mum was just stunned to start with, I think. I didn't realise the lg was badly hurt because she stood up quickly and cried, as you'd expect. M was on the floor so it was her I went to.

After the ambulance arrived one of the medics checked out the lg and that's when he said he thought her arm might be broken. Mum burst into tears then, I think the shock was wearing off. She didn't say she was sorry but, naturally, was comforting her daughter so didn't say much at all to anyone else. She phoned her husband to come and take them to hospital because M was going to be needing the ambulance. The PC had suggested she get a taxi to hospital, rather than wait for a non-emergency ambulance.

OP posts:

scaevola · 07/09/2013 15:14

I think we are too talerant of what is actually very dangerous for both the scooting child and other pavement users.

If scooting is necessary for transport reasons, it should be right next to the responsible adult (tall enough to be seen, as that poor child wasn't) and travelling at normal walking pace. If it is for recreation, then it should be in a park.

And cyclists shouldn't be on pavements either. Just because it's hard to stop it from happening, doesn't make it OK for even more fast, wheeled hazards to be there as well.

BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability · 07/09/2013 15:14

Tempus, you are ever so slightly misrepresenting the OP of that thread

MrTumblesBavarianFanbase · 07/09/2013 15:15

Morgause where we live (Germany) the culture is less litigous than in the uk (no win no fee doesn't exist) but most household insurance policies pay out if a child injures somebody or damages property. Some states exist on add on insurance for pets to cover the same thing. That would make more.sense than a ban which has down side of encouraging car use or older children scooting in the road!

solarbright · 07/09/2013 15:15

My DC love to scoot. And YANBU, they should be banned from pavements. They are a bloody nuisance and I've yet to see a parent (myself included) in absolute and total control of a 5-year-old on a scooter. They inevitably scoot ahead, and they inevitably don't look where they're going. Mine are allowed to scoot in the park, where frankly I expect that even old ladies with sticks should be expecting things to move at faster than walking pace.

TempusFuckit · 07/09/2013 15:17

Am I? That's how I remember it. Happy to be proved wrong though

solarbright · 07/09/2013 15:18

I think Tempus summed up that thread pretty well!

HeySoulSister · 07/09/2013 15:19

they are a total pain.....parents on the schoolrun are the worst for it. once they are in sight of the school gates its a free for all....and even if kids DO get off and walk with the scooter...they tend to let them drag all over peoples feet and hook onto clothing

Nanny0gg · 07/09/2013 15:20

YANBU.
Scooters are a menace. Very small children can't control them or themselves and are an accident waiting to happen. The mum should not have let the child get so far ahead.

I hope the old lady is alright - broken hips can have very serious consequences in the elderly.

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