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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

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

786 replies

JellyDiamond · 22/09/2014 12:14

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?

OP posts:
ArcheryAnnie · 23/09/2014 09:03

Maybe a first step would be to limit the speed to a crawl - at the moment it's 8 mph on the road, 4 mph on the pavement for a class three. Maybe that 4 mph should be a 1 mph. Then people who use mobility scooters could still get out, but stopping distances when amongst pedestrians would be shorter and there would be that much more time for other people to get out of the way. And, of course, an impact at 1 mph should be somewhat less destructive than one of 4 mph.

BigglesFliesUndone · 23/09/2014 09:10

Sorry. It's a bit emotional still!

ArcheryAnnie · 23/09/2014 09:13

Biggles, that's awful. I'm so sorry.

GarlicSeptimus · 23/09/2014 09:15

One mile an hour? That's a whole hour to get the distance you walk in twenty minutes! It's disabling the disabled Grin

I don't understand why it's not 3 mph, though.

Original poster
JellyDiamond · 23/09/2014 09:21

Biggles that's awful, and I sincerely hope that the arrogant and entitled posters who think that having a disability gives them a right to do whatever they like without concern for the safety of others have read that post.

And of course using a scooter is a choice! You don't have to use one, my Nan was disabled from a very young age and managed perfectly well without one. She was actually offered one and turned it down.

OP posts:
mumukahoney · 23/09/2014 09:21

Just out of interest do people think this applies to powered chairs too? They can often be heavier than scooters and do some speed too.

mumukahoney · 23/09/2014 09:26

jelly

I pleased your Nan had the choice but it's ludicrous to suggest people have a choice when it comes to their disability.
Do you feel the same about people who use wheelchairs, guide dogs, canes, hearing aids?!!

They have a CHOICE too but the alternative is a pretty grim life.

GarlicSeptimus · 23/09/2014 09:27

You don't have to use one

Eh? I can't walk more than half a mile in one go. I get exhausted, start staggering after a while and eventually collapse. I'm pleased to hear your Nan got around okay, but your Nan didn't have every disability.

mumukahoney · 23/09/2014 09:28

And she wouldn't have been 'offered' a scooter. She may have been able to buy one with DLA higher rate but she wouldn't have been offered one. Unfortunately that's not how the system works.

GarlicSeptimus · 23/09/2014 09:32

I don't even qualify for DLA/PIP. I'm not "disabled enough". Now and again, I want to be able to do more than walk to the shop and walk back home again. In order to do more stuff, I'm going to need a powered device.

I can't accept that I shouldn't have the option to spend some of my very limited funds on hiring a mobility aid so I can have a little bit more of a life.

ArcheryAnnie · 23/09/2014 09:35

One mile an hour? That's a whole hour to get the distance you walk in twenty minutes!

No, because you could do the 8 mph on the roads to get wherever you are going, then when you reach there and go onto the pavements/into the shops, then you'd go to 1 mph.

mumukahoney · 23/09/2014 09:37

Archie

I only have a 4mph scooter as I like to 'walk' alongside DH and DS. I don't want to be in the road, I can use my car for that.
However I do always use my scooter at a low speed - I'm a good driver, honest.

Original poster
JellyDiamond · 23/09/2014 09:38

But no one is saying you shouldn't have access to a scooter Garlic. We want regulations in place to prevent them being a danger to other members of the public, which they are if they are given to someone who doesn't know how to use them properly. They are powerful and heavy, and numerous examples have been given on this thread of injuries caused to children, adults and the elderly by these devices.

Why is having to do a course before being allowed access to one such an issue for you?

OP posts:
ddubsgirl77 · 23/09/2014 09:41

Garlic havr a look on local selling sites ive seen a few for sale on my local facebook selling pages.
Few years a go on the ebay forum a posters young child was run over members of the public had to stop the woman as she tried to drive off didnt even stop when everyone was shouting at her that shr had a child stuck under her scooter!

mumukahoney · 23/09/2014 09:42

Jelly

I don't think anyone is arguing against safety. It's the comments you made about choice that shows you have no real understanding of why people use them that got my back up. The idea people can choose their disability is laughable and just because your Nan didn't need one doesn't mean others won't.

Missunreasonable · 23/09/2014 09:43

Garlic if you have great difficulty walking why are you not eligible for mobility allowance? I am aware of the rules being very strict because my own son gets mobility allowance but if you really cannot walk without discomfort or difficulty then you should be eligible (at least for the lower rate). Have you challenged the decision? How far can you walk? The distance criteria was made quite ridiculously strict in a previous round of cuts but I would hope that somebody who can't get around without a wheelchair or powered device is still eligible.

GarlicSeptimus · 23/09/2014 09:44

It's not, Jelly. I'll be hiring mine, and won't be let out of the shop until I've had training on both a scooter and a chair. Also, I won't be getting an 8mph scooter as I'm not planning to go any serious distances - can't afford the electricity, for one thing. But if I lived in one of the villages that have no bus, I'd need to travel 3-5 miles on an A road - which has no pavements - to get to any shops, pubs, doctors, or anything! Doing that on a scooter would be a worrying prospect, but some folks round here have to do it.

mumukahoney · 23/09/2014 09:45

And I think we should stop with the anecdotes, no one is arguing against safe use. Even with tests etc there will still be people who break the rules same with bikes, cars etc. I'm sure we could write a whole thread on injuries caused by cars but they are not banned or sneared at.

GarlicSeptimus · 23/09/2014 09:48

I can walk 200 metres, Miss.

GarlicSeptimus · 23/09/2014 09:49

Even with tests etc there will still be people who break the rules same with bikes, cars etc

Yes.

mumukahoney · 23/09/2014 09:50

miss as a claimer of PIP I unfortunately know the system well. The criteria is hard to meet if your condition fluctuates.

GarlicSeptimus · 23/09/2014 09:57

"Can stand and then move more than 200 metres, either aided or unaided." - Zero points for mobility.

This may have been reduced to 100 metres (!) I lost track of the dispute over that one.

Missunreasonable · 23/09/2014 09:57

However I do always use my scooter at a low speed - I'm a good driver, honest.

I think the vast majority of scooter users are good honest drivers who use their scooters in a sensible manner, like yourself. I still think that some training should be provided when a scooter is purchased because not everyone is able to manage scooters properly. Unfortunately it does seem that the good drivers such as yourself will be penalised by having to attend training that they could manage well without but others will benefit from it both for themselves as well as others.
The bbc programme that somebody mentioned upthread had a woman on it who had an expensive looking scooter but she didn't use it because by her own admission she found it too difficult to use and she couldn't steer it. She couldn't even manage to reverse it out of her hallway and out of the house. They sent her on a training course in a mock village but she crashed into lots of things and accepted that she couldn't manage the scooter. She has paid a lot of money for something that is no use to her.
We need a common sense approach. Perhaps something like: you buy a scooter and go along to a training centre, if you prove within 15 minutes that you can steer it well and are aware of potential hazards then off you go with no questions asked to enjoy your scooter and the freedom that it provides. If you have difficulty steering it and controlling it then you have a few more sessions to make sure that you are confident and competently using it. After all I don't want to see scooter users steering off kerbs or tipping scooters up due to riding down kerbs that are too big etc.
If somebody really can't manage a scooter then we do have to have a cut off point somewhere. For example: my son has a very severe learning disability and could not use a scooter safely (for his or anyone else's safety).

mumukahoney · 23/09/2014 10:00

Still 200 meters Garlic.

And miss I think your idea is a very sensible one.
I think it should be introduced for bike use too.

Missunreasonable · 23/09/2014 10:02

I can walk 200 metres, Miss.

See that really isn't very far at all. The rules have become ridiculously strict. Has there been any legal challenge on this criteria? Is it 200m for low rate mobility and even less for high rate mobility? I should know this due to making my sons claim but he cannot walk safely unaided at all so I haven't studied the distance criteria.