scooter rage. Am I the only person who suffers from it?

[noobydoo]

Seriously, I see scooters everywhere: busy roads where children could easily have an accident; playgrounds where there are mixed ability walkers (as in toddlers); high streets; supermarkets and even cafes - I was in a cafe yesterday afternoon and was nearly ran into with a bloody scooter.

Do people not realise that there is only one place scooters should be and that is in a park on a path?

This has been brewing for a while and my rage is coming out after seeing a friend whom I usually highly respect run after her child shouting "not in the road" and another woman who I am also friendly with allow her children run into the heels of little old ladies in the high street with their b*** scooters.

I had to walk along Victoria Street at school chucking out time the other month and had to take my life in my hands! Every other small person had one of the blinking things. Not to mention every adult with a wheelie case.

Can't win sometimes!! Do you also judge parents who take their reception age children to school in pushchairs? I don't know how we would get anywhere without a scooter, mine are too big for buggies and too little to walk long distances. Perhaps I should just drive them everywhere?

yeah exactly letsblow maybe if we did drive everywhere we could be judgemental too.

was furious when my son was three having this horrible lecture from this woman who went on about how you just didn't teach children anything by continuing to use the pram at that stage, and how she'd ditched her pushcair when her son was two etc etc made me feel really awful.

We'd all spent the whole day at a park, and at the endof the day both my child and hers had tiredness tantrums. Never mind she could pick her child up and throw him in the car she had parked right near the entrance! I had a bus to catch home, and a ten minute walk at the other end and SHE had talked down to ME for using a sodding pushchair with a three year old!

It's not the scooters, though, is it? It's the parents who let them ride the scooters in inappropriate places - like a busy pavement, a cafe, a shopping centre or a supermarket; or who don't make their children scoot safely.

I HATE them.

Today my hatred was renewed as some kid scootered, yes scootered around Cafe Nero. This kid then took a juice box from the display, chucked it on the ground and it burst. Yummy Mummy just kept saying "Luca..." totally ineffectually.

Exactly SDTG!

Like all things like this it is only the bad examples you notice.

However I witnessed a 4 year old on a micro scooter smash straight into a lady's terrier, from my perspective it was on purpose as he obviously expected the dog to somehow move

When his mother arrived she gave the poor old dog owner a mouthful of abuse for telling off her son.

Terrier was on a lead walking to heel btw

Yeah, it is the parents. Gives the responsible scooter users a bad name by letting little Timmy ride into who the hell he likes.

DS scoots to school but knows that he carries it across the road and stops to wait for me to confirm it is safe. He also wears a helmet and knows if he hit anyone he wouldn't be scooting for a while. Wouldn't consider letting him take it to a shopping centre or shop.

The helmet is important. A good friend of mine damaged his head so badly riding a micro scooter he had to be stitched up under GA.

That was the DS of a good friend of mine. My friends are a bit big for micro scooters

when i was riding supersportsbikes (kawasaki ninja, honda blackbird, ducati 748) i found scooters terribly annoying and a danger to be around.

I hate the bloody things after a 3 year old crashed into my newly, post miscarriage pregnant stomach cos his mother was too busy talking to her friend

This morning two older boys who were racing each other almost crashed into DSs pushchair while their father watched on from his bike.

I know I am mean but if it didn't mean risking injury to DS I wouldn't mind out the way of reckless kids on their scooters, let them crash and fall over the pushchair. I am sick of having to swerve to avoid them

Well, nobody else has bitten but I feel the need. Are you fucking serious amothersplaceisinthewrong?

Person with limited mobility, don't you dare ride your mobility scooter near amothersplaceisinthewrong in case you inconvenience her with your pesky lack of mobility.

I was thinking of this thread today.

As I thought it would, the accident waiting to happen, actually did happen.

I was walking through the park with the pushchair and a kid on a scooter came from nowhere and fell splat on my sleeping baby. I was NOT impressed! But according to the mum it was ok as he was young and didn't know any better

Wow, glad I've found this thread. My DD must be one of a few that doesn't 'scoot' or ride a stabilised bike to preschool. It's only like a 10/15 min walk but some of it past a busy road on a narrow pavement. She's 3yrs10 and quite silly and mischievous so I just don't trust her. Not to mention I'm pushing her baby brother in his. I see lots of parents having to run after their kids on scooters, even seen my BF run like the clappers after her 4yr old DD who nearly went into the road when she forgot how to use the brakes on her bike. I thought I was being overprotective but in reality, I'm not.

She does plenty of tiredness tantrums but well, it's tough, we have legs for walking...therefore she just has to get used to it!

YANBU im blardy sick of it on the school run,make the kids walk like everybody else

im sick of dodging the things s they come from behind then dodge or run into the kids that are walking

pavements are for legs not kids to wreck havoc with peoples ankles

i hate them

and i have yet to witness a reception child being pushed in a buggy to school 120 kids in that year,,im sure it happens but i havent seen it

and leave 5-10 mins earlier then you wont need a scooter,i say this as a non car driver so yes i do walk loads,their a pain in the arse as well as the ankle

I have to run the gauntlet past two primary schools to get to work, this drives me mad. The children seem incapable of go

Going in a straight line and the parents just ignore the fact that people are diving all over the place to avoid them. And smile indulgently as you pass.

The stupidest place I have ever seen a child riding a scooter was on a walkway over the enclosures at a safari park - it was very crowded and he was free-wheeling down the sloped walkway so people had to dive out of his way. He was a fairly big boy too, probably about 9yo. I could just picture him scooting right off the edge and landing in the tiger enclosure (not that I was secretly willing it to happen, oh no...)

I do not understand people who let kids ride their scooters indoors either - you wouldn't let them ride a bike round Tesco!

I have seen a child scoot up and down the platform in a tube station. I kid you not. Terrifying. His mother just stood there chatting to her friend.

So really scooters aren't the problem. Lack of manners and awareness of others are the true issue.
Small children don't know and parents, usually mothers, aren't teaching them or don't see the problem themselves.

There have been a couple of threads about near misses recently.

I think that children under the age of 7ish should not be scooting ahead on pavements (for it takes only seconds for something to go badly wrong) and no-one should be scooting on busy pavements (especially outside schools, where the distractions are just too many). It wouldn't ruin the school run to dismount say 25m from the school, and would save collisions or children on foot jumping the wrong way out of the way (ie off the kerb).

Indeed. When the kid crashed SPLAT!!! on to my sleeping one year old yesterday the mother slowly came over and just said 'he's 2, he doesn't know any better' so I with no short shrift politely told her that this was a good time to teach him. She looked shocked, but to me, you guide and teach them from the beginning. Oh and no concern from her about my baby who her litte darling had landed on. She should know better

/rant over. Did I mention kids on scooters are one of my totally, hugest, biggest, supersized peeves?