aibu about mobility scooter 'speeding'?

[mrsfuzzy]

i know they are a god send to a lot of people and i don't have a problem with that, but recently having seen a scooter nearly run into some mums with young children the other day, i'm not sure the 'riders' always consider other pavement users. this guy swore loudly at one mum and made several kids cry as they were in his 'fucking way' but then he was doing a bit of speed, considering it was a mobility scooter. most users are sensible but others are a pain in the arse or is it just me b u ?

[tomatodizzymum]

YANBU, unfortunatly it's only a matter of time before there's a fatality and the law steps up to make changes. I know there's been a few injuries.

[tomatodizzymum]

and on another note, which genius moron came up with the idea to build them to go at speeds that exceed human walking ability? What a stupid idea. Let's build a car for the pavement, that's wider than the average pavement and is cabable of speeds of up to 15mph. That will solve everyone's problems

[mrsfuzzy]

some of the riders whizz around as if walkers are in the wrong, they even harass elderly people on my road, quite often you do not realise they are there until they nearly bump into you.

[LurkingHusband]

There are several classes of scooter. Most go no faster than 4mph - suitable for pavement use only.

However, there are some (which can look identical to the 4mph ones) which can go 8mph - they can be used on roads. However they all come with a control which switches between the 8mph maximum speed, and 4mph maximum speed (bit like low and high gear).

So if you see a scooter on the pavement doing clearly more than 4mph, you can draw your own conclusions as to the social responsibility of the driver. This is a family forum, so I won't say what I think of them ....

The other tragedy, waiting to happen, is for one of these super-scooter riders to piss off the wrong group of people, and discover that whilst 8mph is fast when you're crashing into mothers and babies, it's not quite as fast as a group of delinquents who are more than capable of tipping you - and your scooter - over. Or worse.

[mrsfuzzy]

lurking that is such a horrible thought, but some riders do 'encourage' verbal abuse as they can be so rude, not that any rider deserves to be hurt, it needs to be a mutual respect for the pavement.

[LurkingHusband]

Of course taking horrible thoughts further .... there could be an incident where someone is hurt by a scooter, they mention it to someone close who then decides to tour the area to "teach the a lesson". Invariably, they will target an innocent scooter user - already a vulnerable person by dint of their disability.

To balance things a bit, kids on heelies and scooters are just as much a menace - especially whizzing up and down the aisles in supermarkets.

[tomatodizzymum]

Hypothesizing about what other things can happen by some idiot driving a mobility scooter dangerously is probably infinite. Most likely outcome though is still that they hit someone!
A mobility scooter probably weighs over 100kg, add to that the weight of the rider and the speed and you have a pretty lethal weapon in the hands of a dangerous driver. Children on scooters are dangerous but to be fair they weigh a heck of a lot less, have a smaller impact area and are probably a great deal more agile and have quicker reflexes than your average mobility scooting joy rider!

[tomatodizzymum]

Just because I'm hoping this is the same man as the one I know, are you by any chance in South London mrsfuzzy? At least then we can hope there's only one nutter with a mobility scooter and all other users are using them properly.

[MagelanicClouds]

There are inconsiderate mobility scooter users who give the rest a bad name, just like there are inconsiderate cyclists and other examples.

Having nearly been run down by one myself I do think some sort of test/licence is a good idea. Apparently the near miss was all my fault (I was standing stationary at the time?!?) as it was the first time she'd ever used one. Nothing to do with the fact that she'd got it on the faster speed setting in a busy pedestrianised area.....

[TheSecretCervix]

My electric wheelchair does 4mph. It probably weighs more than a pavement scooter.
Would you feel as comfortable discussing wheelchair speeding?

[Reddragon116]

Yes - if you are using it inconsiderately - disablity or frailty are not a get out clause for other peoples safety are they ?

[TheSecretCervix]

I am conscientious to others, of course. I just find the views on mobility scooters interesting. In my experience I don't think most people would feel comfortable discussing wheelchair users in the same way as they do those who use scooters.

[VelvetSpoon]

I know of several instances of small children and elderly people being hit by mobility scooters and suffering quite serious injuries.

Insurance should be a requirement.

Also I think shopping centres and supermarkets should be more careful about who they permit to use their scooters, as most of the above actually related to people who were using 'borrowed' scooters and didn't know how to use them properly. Or didn't care.

[RB68]

My conclusion is that just because you are disabled doesn't mean that you are automatically a nice person, in fact there are a few that feel entitled not to be a nice person - just like none disabled people...

[hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman]

4mph is quite some walking pace though, most people walking around shopping areas won't be walking at that pace and don't have the bulk that a mobility scooter does.