To think that mobility scooters are bloody dangerous and there should be more regulation of their use?

[JellyDiamond]

I've just nearly run over a man on a disability scooter. I was driving along at 30mph, when he pulled off the kerb right in front of me. He didn't look anyway but when he realised I was coming towards him he didn't seem to know how to stop it and carried on. Had I been going any faster I would have hit him, had another car been behind me they'd have crashed into me...

I appreciate elderly and disabled people need to get about, but many of them don't seem to know how to use these scooters. There's an old chap near me who uses and one and drives along in the middle of the road, holding up traffic and refusing to pull over to let anyone pass. I've nearly been run over myself by them on pavements, in shops, in supermarkets and I've heard of people who have actually been bit and injured by them.

Surely there should be some kind of course and test for users before allowing them lose on the public? Maybe even an assessment to see who actually needs them rather than just giving them out willy billy to any OAP over the age of 70 wants one?

I agree with you OP, but I suspect many won't.

Your post is very ignorant. Mobility scooters are expensive and either paid for or rented via the mobility scheme. There are not given out!
Your experience if two
People using a mobility scooter is hardly many.

It's not the scooters that are dangerous, but some of the people who drive them.

I totally agree. There is a man who uses one near where my parents live and he drives on a main road! I also shake my head when I see them parked outside pubs... are these people just going to batter along on the pavement on the scooter after necking a few pints?

YANBU.

There's a guy near us drives one up a busy A road to the pub, every Sunday.

Nobody without a driving licence should be allowed to use one and those who have should undergo regular testing if eyes, ears and reactions. It sounds harsh but these things are used on the pavement and are a bloody menace in unfit hands.

And third party insurance should be compulsory.

We once saw someone going the wrong way down a duel carriageway in one, he'd just been stopped by a police patrol car. So I think you might have a point about ability testing.

However I don't think they give them out 'willy billy' as you put it. People can buy them privately and I think the Government are generally pretty stingy when it comes to mobility devices.

Perhaps they should be restricted to pavements only?

To be fair a lot of accidents are caused by pedestrians on foot who are being careless too. Perhaps mobility scooter incidents stand out in our minds more because they are rarer?

I think there are laws around who mobility shops can and can't sell them too. I've told this story before but there was once in our local paper a story about a man who had been convicted of drink driving whilst driving a mobility scooter so beware!!!

than just giving them out willy billy to any OAP over the age of 70 wants one?

They don't 'give them out'.........you have to buy them and they are expensive.

You don't have to be over the age of 70 - you can buy one at any age.

Cars are also dangerous. Everything in this world can be dangerous.

Kids scooters are dangerous on the pavements, too. And balance bikes. And pushchairs.

Just saying

Iconfuseus No, they should be banned from the pavement!

In my job I've dealt with a couple of people who have had their feet run over by mobility scooters.
I've also used them myself and some of them can really go! I was surprised at how fast and how heavy they are.
A lesson on the safe use of them wouldnt go a miss

As a minimum you ought to sit a mobility scooter test and have to take out third party insurance. They can go at ten miles an hour, which is bloody dangerous on a busy pavement.

I don't want them on the pavements! Have you seen how fast they go? I'm regularly nearly barrelled off my feet by these things, I live near 2 care homes and its like mad max with pensioners razzing about. I agree wholeheartedly with the need for testing and insurance too.

YANBU, there was a whole program on the BBC not so long ago about this. The dangerous behaviour highlighted by some mobility scooter riders varied from just plain stupid to anti-social in the extreme. Where I live in regularly see a small group of mobility scooter drivers getting on their scooters under the influence of quite a lot of alcohol. It really is disgusting and the time has long overdue for some thing to be done about regulating these things and holding them accountable to set out rules and regulations, and enforcing those regulations.

I agree OP.

There was a program on a few months ago about mobility scooters - I forget what it was called - I was surprised to find out that it's perfectly legal for people to buy these and drive them without having to undergo any kind of assessment (as to the individual's capacity to use them safely) or training.

One part of the show featured a police force that ran a voluntary training program, and a man with severe visual problems taking part in the scooter training. He clearly wasn't safe to drive them as he could barely see, but all the police could do was advise him not to use one and hope that he listened. They said that legally they couldn't stop him using a mobility scooter if he wanted to.

YANBU.

I'm sure some years ago when my aunty qualified for an electric wheelchair, she didn't get her own until she'd proved she could operate it properly and safely.

Yes yes yes. There is a woman near us who walks her two dogs either side of the scooter, thereby pushing anyone else off the pavement into the road. She just beeps if anyone is in her way.

My dh grandmother used to think it hilarious to drive up tight behind people to make them speed up
She was a bloody nuisance on hers to be quite honest.

YANBU, although it's not the scooters, it is the operators. I was hit by one a few years ago and it broke my leg. They don't have insurance, so I was off work for several weeks, and had to pay someone to come and exercise my dogs every day, not to mention the cost of taxis for over two months. They should be licensed, insured and have their speed limited to no faster than brisk walking speed.

SoonToBeSix my post is not ignorant all. These scooters are clearly powerful and heavy, it's probably only a matter of time before someone is killed by one. There should be a mandatory course and test before allowing them to be used on public highways, and they certainly shouldn't be allowed on pavements!

When i went to hospital, i was in a lift with a guy on mobility scooter. He bragged that he upgraded it to run as fast as a car.

YANBU ,I nearly ran someone on a mobility scooter over outside my mums doctors she literally just drove off the pavement in front of me ,its lucky I was only just moving . I've seen her several times in the town and she is a complete liability . They should definitely have to have insurance . There was a youngish chap who used to take his children to school on a scooter near where my DS went to school ,he used to speed along the pavement with one child hanging on the back and one sitting down by his feet ,complete madness!

There has been a horrific accident locally where a man was knocked off his ladder by a woman on a mobility scooter. He is now in hospital with a serious head injury and may not recover.

Also my nan has been hit in the leg.

My uncle uses one and I understand how useful they can be.

However I think there needs to be some regulation and testing of the drivers.

I do think they should be limited to a slowish walking pace if they're on the pavement. 3mph? There's a lady near me who is terrifying on hers, really bombs it up the road on the pavement!