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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be so angry at a mobility scooter

29 replies

B2Bananamum · 24/01/2011 15:49

Okay so i've been ill all weekend and today my MIL took my eldest son (3) for a few hours this morning so i could get a break.
They were walking along a pavement and my son walked ahead to put something in the bin and speeding around the corner came a guy on a scooter that knocked my son flying!
He has a huge graze on his head, both knees and elbows The nasty old B just told my MIL to keep a closer eye on the child! ( she was about 3 ft away) AIBU to be so angry about this? Surely there is something to say the shouldn't be going so fast on pavements?! Or take a eyesight test or... something!
All i can say is he was lucky it happened with nanny who was a lot nicer than i would or been.

OP posts:

MrsMellowDrummer · 24/01/2011 15:51

I would suggest being angry with the man, not the scooter...

curlymama · 24/01/2011 15:53

YANBU. Just because someone has a mobility issue, does not mean that they can't be a twat.

littleducks · 24/01/2011 15:54

There are rules, though it does seem that they aren't always obeyed. Same like cyclists on pavement, they don't feel safe in road so go on pavement, which whilst understable is wrong.

Kendodd · 24/01/2011 15:57

I know, some people race about on them and feel they have overriding priority to the pavement. Something really should be done such as speed limiting them.

Kendodd · 24/01/2011 15:58

Are there rules?

Kendodd · 24/01/2011 16:01

If so they are not being followed so the speed should be limited my the manufactures.

slightlymad72 · 24/01/2011 16:04

Mobility Scooters that are allowed on the pavement have to go at 4mph or below (walking speed) 8mph on the road, if road legal.

The problem is that anyone can get one and they aren't educated on how and where to use them so they believe they can go as fast as they want on the pavement.

PhishFoodAddiction · 24/01/2011 16:07

I thought that mobility scooters had to go on the road?

Sorry that your DS has ended up being hurt. I'd be cross with the man in question too. YANBU.

Mercedes519 · 24/01/2011 16:07

Same as car drivers/cyclists etc some are responsible, some aren't.

Unfortunately a lot of them are driven by old people with poor eyesight and even poorer reaction times. They are a lifeline for many people but I think there should be training and mandatory insurance.

alemci · 24/01/2011 16:09

YANBU I think it is absolutely disgusting. What if your child had been seriously injured. he is entitled to walk along the pavement and this guy should have been taking more care.

I expect your poor mum was very shocked. fancy the o g having a go at your little boy. He should be ashamed of himself. wonder what he was like when he drove a car. shocking

Kendodd · 24/01/2011 16:09

Thing is, I think 4mph is quite a brisk walking speed and people (who are a lot smaller and more agile so can avoid bumping into each other) don't walk that fast down a crowded pavement.

Original poster

B2Bananamum · 24/01/2011 16:10

I just googled it and yes i think there are rules 8mph on roads and 4mph on pavements.
I still think it should be lower considering the damage they could do.

Curly, true it doesn't give them the right to be a twat.
Mrsmellow LOL! i should of put scooter driver

OP posts:

glammanana · 24/01/2011 16:10

These scooters are the most dangerous form of transport if not used properly by people
the speed some people go is plain stupid
but are they wrong ? never ! my eldest son had his legs near taken from under him at a shopping centre and the response was to look
where he was going no apology or anything.
The people who use them should be insured
the same as road users and people should not be affraid to sue them for damages.Hoping your little boy feeling better poor love
must have been a shock for the little man.

MrsBananaGrabber · 24/01/2011 16:10

I would have tipped him over and run away.

MadamDeathstare · 24/01/2011 16:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TandB · 24/01/2011 16:21

I do think there should be a basic competence test before you can use one of these. My grandad had one for a few months before he died and my gran and I wouldn't let him go out on it unless one of us walked beside him. He had to stop driving a car after he left the merchant navy as he couldn't get his head round the idea that, unlike a ship, a car doesn't drift slowly to a halt.

I was nearly hit by one. I was walking on a pavement past a bus-stop and I heard someone shout behind me and then a crash and an old man on a mobility scooter had smashed into the bus-stop. He started shouting at me that I had been in the way, but another pedestrian stopped and told me that he had come up behind me fast and made no attempt to slow down before apparently losing control and swerving into the bus-stop. I asked him why he hadn't braked when he realised there wasn't room to pass but he just kept shouting that I was in his way.

If someone can't operate the brakes on a scooter then they really shouldn't be using one, for their own safety as well as others.

olderandwider · 24/01/2011 16:24

The speed limits are dangerous imo.

The combined weight of a large adult and a mobility scooter could easily exceed 100kg (a typical scooter weighs 35kg, an adult, say, 70kg plus). A little boy of, say, 13kg, being hit by a 100kg object at 4mph (which is very brisk walking pace. Most people average 3mph or less on a very crowded pavement) is potentially lethal.

A child is a foreseeable hazard. The driver was imo reckless and should have been given a very brisk talking to at least.

The limit should be lowered to 3mph or less for pavements.

MoonGirl1981 · 24/01/2011 17:25

I've been detesting mobility scooters for years.

I was deputy manager of a shop back in 2002, bloke on one of them scooter thingies reversed at high speed (NOT looking behind him) and smashed our security alarm thing buy the door. Very annoying, but it was insured. That wasn't why I was annoyed though. I was working in a toy shop. If the alarm thing had been a child then that child would have been seriously, seriously injured. I still get angry now when I think about it.

Loads of people drive them without looking where they're going - it's shocking.

Another guy in my town drives around on the pavements and beeps at people to get out of his way, despite being close enough to say excuse me. I don't move. I long for him to drive into me. (Wishes there was a smiley with horns).

zipzap · 24/01/2011 17:35

I'd be tempted to report it to the local community police so they know that there is a reckless mobility scooter driver out there - did your mil manage to get any details from him that would help?

I'd also be tempted to write a letter to the local paper and see if they would do a reminder article on the dangers of mobility scooters on pavements...

immortalbeloved · 24/01/2011 17:42

YANBU

But the problem is not with the scooters as such but the people using them. They are/can be a godsend, I use one and without it I wouldn't be able to go out with my children, and I am always very careful (and slow!) while using it

However I was very shocked to be able to just get one and use it with no training/guidelines, yes they are quite simple to work- but they can be such a hazard. I really think there should be at least a simple test/ liscence before you are able to use one.

On the flip side though I have been subject to some horrible abuse whilst using one, including being pushed out of the way if I'm looking at something in a shop, I hate having to use one

mincenmash · 24/01/2011 17:49

YANBU - but agree it's the person to blame not the scooter. I would be extremely hacked off if that ahppened to my child. And the cheek to tell you to keep a closer eye. You weren't expecting him to come flying round the corner were you. There's a woman in my town flies past me and my children on pavement and each time she insists on taking over the whole pavement so that we have to end up perched on the edge next to the road. I always smile at her but not once has she ever thanked me or returned my smile. I really hope she runs out of batteries one day and she won't be getting a push from me that's for sure.

chasingrainbows · 24/01/2011 18:58

YANBU. Mobility scooter driving lady in local tescos is want to charge up and down the aisles telling folk to get out her way or she will run them down. Even kids. It's not done in a lighthearted manner and you don't need to be in her way to feel the wrath. Horrible old bag. Can't wait for her to get her comeuppance.

FrostyBaubles · 24/01/2011 19:09

A lady i used to work with came into work one day utterly ashamed & furious,her Gran had knocked someone over in her scooter broke both their legs,all whilst she was pissed too!

The police banned her from using one again & i believe she had to go to court too.

PinkCanary · 24/01/2011 19:17

YANBU. A couple of years ago an elderly woman on a mobility scooter pinned my 3 yr old DD between the scooter and my pram. It was very lucky that there was no serious harm to my DD. She never apologised, or asked if my DD was ok. Just casually commented that she had arthritis in her hand and had difficulty breaking in time.

RunawayFishWife · 24/01/2011 19:29

I hate these bloody things I think they should be made to use the road not the pavements.

When DS2 was smaller we had a nasty old cow who was always about at school run time and would come up behind people and yell at them to "get out of her way" she ran in to the back of DS2s legs and I threatened to slap her!

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