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?

roneik

You know that a lot of people ignore rules, don't you mumu They are not supposed to go above 4mph, but they do. They are also driving very heavy machines, imagine one of these smashing into you at 8pmh (or faster if it's been tinkered with). It's too late to enforce it after, poor Granny Mabel who used to walk up mountains is already in hospital with a shattered pelvis. What's she going to do? She's now disabled because of the actions of someone driving a mobility scooter.

Happy

The reason you don't see bikes in Boots or the centre of the town is that those people have a CHOICE to get off their bikes and walk. Mobility is an issue for people who use scooters - their name is a big give away.
And as I said earlier they shouldn't be doing 8mph.
Having lived in London for a long time I have nearly been run over by cyclists bombing through pedestrian crossings/pedestrianised areas on many an occasion.

If ever I am in need of a scooter I intend having a turbo on it, I was a mod in the sixties and intend having gas horns fitted too, just the same decibel setting as the queen mary fog horns

When us lot are dead you will be plucked we are the last civilized generation to walk the planet
You will all be so obese and the litter will be so deep you will unable to ride yours

lady I know if only everyone was as law abiding as me

I have no intention of driving. In my older years I'll be found sitting in a chair in a small village in Italy with a glass of pinot in one hand and olives in the other. Watch out, because I'll be the sod spitting the pips at you as you pass.

I'm off to bed! Peace and love to all scooters and non-scooters a like.
Stay safe out there folks

earlier this years the doctors told my mother she wasn't allowed to drive any more and tbh it was a huge relief as I had been worried for a long time. She thought she was fine, because she only drove locally - there is a primary school in her street and one in mine... And I tried to get her to give up her car and succeeded once, only for my sister to pay a very rare visit and take her out to buy another one. At the age of 80.

DM is not able to get a scooter, primarily because of access issues but although it could be a huge boon to her she simply does not have the concentration or reflexes to drive one safely, whether on the road or on the pavement. She wouldn't be safe and other people wouldn't be safe. That isn't disablist - it is a fact.

At the moment there is no system in place to ensure that elderly people are still capable of driving their cars safely far less scooters. that's very worrying, for the elderly driver and for other people. Scooters can be a huge boon - but they can also cause big problems when the drivers are either not capable or are careless and inconsiderate. Just like cars in fact, which leads me back to DM being told she wasn't capable of diving any more and wondering why there aren't more safeguards in place. It was only because Mum fell out of bed and got hypothermia resulting in a long stay in hospital that the doctors were able to observe her properly and make that decision.

Good night, I don't go to bed until late as life's short.and I wanna get my moneys worth.

I know we're not supposed to say this and I'll probably be deleted (although, judging by some of the appalling stuff on this thread that's been allowed to stand maybe not!) but ... some of these posts have surely got to be bullshit?!?

I've barely ever seen a mobility scooter in use (well, I probably have seen quite a few in my lifetime but they haven't registered with me). Maybe it's because I live in a rural area but they just don't seem to be common things to me and some people are talking as if they are a permanent presence on every street.

I've certainly never noticed a mobility scooter being used in a dangerous way. But the number of people on this thread who have witnessed or know someone who's suffered serious injury or death seems to outnumber the total number of serious injuries and deaths in the whole country. Surely, some of these must be made up!

Alternatively, comments like 'you're more likely to be hit by lightning' and the statistics posted must be erroneous.

The two sides cannot both be right.

"Maybe it's because I live in a rural area but they just don't seem to be common things to me and some people are talking as if they are a permanent presence on every street."

Maybe you need to come and spend some time in a city or a busy town? You're in a peaceful, rural area, so there's not a great deal of people around you.

I haven't always lived in the country and I travel into the city most evenings. Maybe there are more scooters out during the day. Or maybe I just don't notice them because they are almost never an issue!

There's a lot here, which is great as it gets people out of their houses. I have seen a few fast ones in the city centre though.

I live in a small to medium sized town and there is a shop selling mobility scooters on the high street. It's been there about 10 years so presumably is doing decent business?

Having had mobility issues all my life I think scooters are great if they are used with due care and attention, with proper regard for the rules of the road and consideration for others, whether pedestrians or road users. I don't think that is disablist. I don't drive because I don't have the necessary control of my feet to do so safely. The info about how scooters don't have brakes on this thread was enlightening and it's easy to see how some people could get very confused

Someone on my fb had posted a link to an old lady who was barred from using the mcdonalds drive through, she had gone to a local paper by sounds of it.

I agree some (not all) of the people using these are a pest they are a wonderful invention but yes I do think there should be a few more regulations

Some people have more than one disability. Particularly as pedestrians get older, they're likely to have some cognitive issues, unreliable judgement and perhaps suffer temper outbreaks from dementia. This is true of people across the board, whether they get about on the legs they were born with or on a scooter.

Are you seriously saying that people with cognitive issues, temper problems and dementia should drive scooters? Your argument has completely jumped the shark, there.

I still can't believe posters are telling me it doesn't matter that a child bashed my head into a glass!

Hear, hear, KatieKaye.

The stats are Dept of Transport so should be reliable.

When I go running (at more than 8mph) I stay on the pavement, I don't switch to the road when I hit 4mph AIBU?

Do you weigh the same as a mobility scooter though, Handsoff?

Sorry, can you see my point though? Something weighing 1lb going at 4mph is going to cause a lot less damage then something weighing 44kg.

Yesmanic I agree, there's a lot of made up bullshit on this thread. Lots of fatal accidents and missing limbs as a result of all the mobility scooter accidents the posters have witnessed.

Tbf if anyone is going drinking at the pub they should be getting a taxi home rather than using a car/cycle/scooter etc

ds has just calculated that being hit by a 50kg scooter (taking into account the driver's weight) which is going at 3.3m/s, you'd be hit by...

E(k) = 0.5mv^2
= 0.5 50 10.89 = 272.25J = 0.27kJ of energy. That's if you're standing still. If both parties involved are moving towards each other, the energy output increases exponentially.

He says that's absolutely enough to kill.

Ps if you are not safe to drive it then it makes no difference you should not be driving it - IMO it should be regulated as for example a dementia sufferer may not have the capacity to make that decision themselves.

I doubt the dude who blocks the path outside the pub gets a taxi home, maddening.

Ds says 0.1kJ = kinetic energy behind a .22LR bullet. At 3.3m/s (max speed for a mobility scooter), E(k) = 0.27kJ.

So, in English, a mobility scooter hits with three times the force of a small bullet. That's why a scooter shatters legs. Do you really want to let someone who can barely see/non compus mentus/whatever lose with something which has more force than a bullet?