Old people riding their mobility scooters on the road

Cougie, I think they only go about 4mph, theyre also a lot wider than a cycle and im guessing are more likely driven by those with less situation awareness / reactions / eyesight? 

I certainly wouldnt fancy coming up against one at 70mph on a duel carriageway.

cougie - they're not banned from roads or pavements: Highway Code. They're also permitted for use on dual carriageways.  The trouble with them is that they're often driven by crazy old people who have no idea what's going on around them.

Or they're driven by people who have mobility problems but are otherwise no different to anyone else... and have every right to travel from one place to other, even if their legs, etc. don't work properly.

And, I should add, the same safety reposibilities as any other person using pedestrian/road ways.

My OH had to rescue a lady who's scooter went mental and she wedged it under a road sign!  Turned out she'd had a new battery and hadn't altered the settings!

4mph is about walking speed?  Some seem to go a bit faster than that. 

How many pavements are wide enough to accommodate a mobility scooter?

It is every road users responsibility for safety regardless of who they are and what they are driving or riding

I would say a cyclist is less visible than a mobility scooter for the majority of times

I think the legal limit on speed is 8mph. If the person using it is sensible, they'll have the speed down when on the pavement, and increase it if on the road.

Max speed is set at 8mph but they must reduce that to 4mph if they are on a pavement which is the preferred option
They can be used on a dual carriageway but not one that is derestricted ie: they can ony be used on a D/C way that is a 50mph limit

M...eldy wrote (see)

How many pavements are wide enough to accommodate a mobility scooter?

It is every road users responsibility for safety regardless of who they are and what they are driving or riding

I would say a cyclist is less visible than a mobility scooter for the majority of times

Pavements - almost all of them, and all new pavements (since the 90s) must be wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair.

Responsibility - yes.

Visibility of cyclists - really?

On a dual carriageway? Really? Oh dear.

Last year, I was stopped, on my way home from my son's sports day,  by an elderly and very distressed lady who had stopped her buggy in the middle of a road and flagged me down as I drove past - crying please help me please help me - not one to look the other way, I stopped thinking she had been taken ill or soemthing wors,  turned out there was a spider on the handle  which I had to remove for her - she then went off on her way.

I've not heard the news report on this so I dont know the circumstances - but it seems a bit harsh given the focus on the upcoming Paralympics. 

I know driving a scooter on the pavements where I run would be a nightmare.  Garden bushes overgrown crowding the pavement. Cars parking on the pavement so you have to run on the road. Wheelie bins left out for or after collections. Bumping up and down driveways and roads.  

If you have to cross a dual carriage way - how do you do it in a mobility scooter ? 

I'd think the blame probably lies almost entirely with the car driver ? 

@Sussex Runner (NLR) - was in th elevator at work the other day when a bloke in his 30s got in with his skateboard.  When he'd got out the rest of us (all strangers) agreed that the maximum age at which you can have a skateboard and not look like a tool is 13.

Did you see the athletes at the closing ceremony with those mini scooters ? Lazy !

I can't find anything in Google News about an accident today, but it looks like there's been one motobility-related death overy few days this month, including a 91 who drove off a pavement in to traffic, and a bloke who drove his off Beachy Head.  There's also the case of an alcoholic being banned for DUI while on his scooter - seems reasonable.

if they are legally allowed then whose to blame depends on what happened in the individual case.same as all accidents..............

Inter...............not many of the pavements around here would be wide enough........and getting up and down the edges for each lane would be a pain..............also with all the wheelie bins out on the pavements then it is difficult to get a pushchair around let alone a mobility scooter

cougie wrote (see)

I've not heard the news report on this so I dont know the circumstances - but it seems a bit harsh given the focus on the upcoming Paralympics. 

I know driving a scooter on the pavements where I run would be a nightmare.  Garden bushes overgrown crowding the pavement. Cars parking on the pavement so you have to run on the road. Wheelie bins left out for or after collections. Bumping up and down driveways and roads.  

If you have to cross a dual carriage way - how do you do it in a mobility scooter ? 

I'd think the blame probably lies almost entirely with the car driver ? 

How did you come to that conclusion? Let me try...

Someone up the road just got divorced, I dont know the circumstances but I'd think the blame probably lies almost entirely with the woman... Nope. Randomly assigning blame doesn't work.

If they are legally allowed there (which they appear to be), and an accident has occured (which it seems to have) it should be treated and investiagted the same way as if it was any other road using vehicle.