Mandatory license and insurance for mobility scooters

[Auburngal]

The thread of elderly people and driving has spurred this thread.

Mobility scooters have provided freedom for those who can’t walk far.

But I think based on my experiences of seeing mobility scooter users in my work, other shops and where I live, there should be a license and insurance.

I believe many didn’t drive a car prior so I have no concept of control and speed. Either their disability/health conditions or with women, their late husband did the driving and she never drove at all.

Some drive at the max speed in shops - it’s only 4mph is max speed inside and in busy areas. My colleague got run over by a mobility scooter user. She was caught by her work fleece which was fully unzipped as she was crouching to fill a shelf. She was dragged about 5m and shouting by at least 5 people didn’t do anything as the guy was deaf. She had massive bruises on her legs.

A few months ago I was topping up the bananas and a lady crashed into the back of my legs. No apologies.

About 7 years ago a man on his mobility scooter missed the corner and collided into the end of the aisle where we had promotional bottles of wine. About 30 bottles were smashed and he carried on.

There is an issue with many mobility scooters users oblivious to their actions and attitude problems.

I believe that sanctions of dangerous use of mobility scooters should be the same as using a car. Mobility scooters are not classed as vehicles in law.

There have been people who have died after being hit by mobility scooters like here www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-65383596.amp

It's very easy to have a motor that has the power for higher acceleration (which you need for the hills) combined with a speedometer that reduces the throttle/applies brakes if the speed reaches a limit. It's cheap and lazy technology that skips the speedometer and tries to achieve a speed limit by just having a low power motor.

I didn’t know that. Even so, it seemed massively dangerous and unnecessary given there are wider pavements on both sides of the road.

Solid reliable taxi service...........lol loads of them quit round here due to the lockdowns. So dont expect disabled people to use what isnt there now that society has finished using this same group as a tool to emotionally blackmail others into obeying lockdown rules. This same group were oh so vulnerable then oh yes and we must wear masks to protect them oh yes. the fact that society has gone back to the default setting proves that people were really worried about themselves and were using the disabled and vulnerable to cloak their own fear

@WiddlinDiddlin Agree with you btw That rant wasnt aimed at you

Husband has a mobility scooter. When bought you have to tell the shop why its needed and its taxed. Without it he's housebound. But he's very respectful of others when out. The reason some are on the road is lack of drop down kerbs, but they should stay close to pavement and get back on as soon as possible

There are currently three teenagers sitting on top of DHs scooter shed

This. 100%.

My elderly DH (mobility issues, dementia and visually impaired) cannot drive a car any longer, but has a mobility scooter to get about when we go out together. I totally agree that they should be speed regulated and have a compulsory insurance requirement.

When we are out together I make sure he doesn't "drive" any faster than I can walk, but can see the point of the OP. In my local town, which has a pedestrianised main shopping street, there are a number of regular users who dash about in them and there have been a number of close scrapes with pedestrians.

Better cycling infrastructure is the answer to that. And with better I mean what countries like the Netherlands and Denmark have.

So, MN thinks:
Most mobility scooter users have never driven a car and so no idea of how to use the roads.
They are using scooters because they are too fat to walk, clearly their own fault.
They are lucky because unlike car users they don’t have to pay road tax even when they are claiming PIP funded by hard working tax payers.
They regularly mow down children then speed off without a second glance. If they do this it is quite right to steal the keys and drop them down a drain leaving the disabled person stranded.
Mobility scooters are fun vehicles so everybody should be able to use them.
Scooter owners don’t bother to get insurance.
There should only be very slow lightweight scooters available so that able bodied people aren’t injured.
Scooter owners cause lots of damage in shops and drive off without paying.
Nice. Just a shame that this is a load of bollocks.
Just remember that the infamous karma so many mumsnetters seem to believe exists might come for you and your ableist views one day if you become disabled and then you can try life from the other side. Good luck with that.

Just to point this out. Friend's mum was walking down a narrow pavement. Woman in mobility scooter coming in opposite direction - pavement not wide enough for the two of them. So she steps onto the road - hardly any cars.

On doing this act, she broke her ankle. It didn't heal correctly and had developed sepsis (I think) and had foot ampullated and she has to use a mobility scooter after all.

She was thinking she was doing a good deed but no.

@Auburngal Obviously, thats a very unfortunate situation... but it was caused by her stepping into the road, not by the scooter user.

It could have happened if she'd stepped into the road to make room for someone pushing a double buggy or some other contrivance that took up the whole of the pavement. There are certainly pavements around here people would have to back up or move out of the way for me, and I am using an NHS supplied indoor/outdoor power chair.

What was the alternative? Expect the scooter user to reverse along a narrow pavement, or just drive off the edge and tip themselves out?

She also had the choice to turn and walk back the way they came to a safer passing place, but didn't go for that option for some reason.

Not really sure what the point you're trying to make is there.

Did she expects the person on the scooter to bounce the scooter down onto the road. Or should people with mobility problems just stay at home?

That is nothing to do with mobility scooters though. She could well have been stepping in the road to make way for a larger person, someone with a dog, someone with a child, a pushchair, a wheelchair etc etc.

You're supposed to yield to more vulnerable pavement users anyway though. (Not sure what happens if two MSs meet each other on a very narrow pavement..... I guess one MS user would have to try and get down onto the road or go backwards, eek). Sorry about your friend's injury, but if she is able bodied, she should tried to have stepped a little more carefully!

Ideally the UK would have broader pavements in some of these narrow streets, or quieter less-trafficky roads in residential areas. But the UK made the decision, in the post-war period, to build its society around car-usage AND to maintain all those lovely old-fashioned narrow streets full of "charming" Victorian terraces and the like. So all road users (pedestrians, wheelers, MS users, motorists, cyclists) are all crammed in there, fighting for territory and there is not a lot of space.

You're supposed to yield to more vulnerable pavement users anyway though. (Not sure what happens if two MSs meet each other on a very narrow pavement..... I guess one MS user would have to try and get down onto the road or go backwards, eek).

We have a rap battle to decide who has to reverse.

Yup, thats what we do, rap battle.