Police Give Disability Scooter Drivers Road Safety Lessons
31.12.69
One sweetie suffered a bruised face and cut lip after she was mown down by one.
Police have since organised a ’Chest Scoot’ session in the retirement town that attracted 20 pensioners and their buggies.
They weaved in and out of above cones and negotiated an obstacle course.
They also practised on makeshift stroller crossings and traffic lights in a bid to make their driving safer.
The taste was co-organised by Mike Ruddick, who owns a mobility scooter shop in Christchurch.
Mike said: “We do see a lot of people mis-using scooters.
“The domain was predominantly for road safety, we had a traffic light, a crossing, and cones to spin in between.
“We also spoke about controls before putting them onto the little track to vim around.
“There are two different types of scooter. One scooter is a pavement one restricted to 4mph and then there is a second grouping of scooter which goes up to 8mph and can be ridden on the road.
“You are breaking the law if you are driving an eight miles an hour scooter at that despatch on the pavement and it can be dangerous.
“The majority of scooter drivers are reckless because they don’t have knowledge of there are laws in place, but then there are hundreds of thousands of scooter owners who are absolutely blameless.
“The people who tend to speed are the men who traditionally go for the bigger scooters. It’s like car drivers, men are more disputatious.
“The biggest problem we have is that there is no need for anybody to have a licence, and also a lot of people who have scooters are using them without erudition of the rules of the road.”
PC Dave Williams, of Christchurch Monitor, said: “There were complaints from local residents about the manner in which the scooters were driven.
“This is of course not all scooter drivers but some have caused concern amongst people.”
Source: Police Oracle