At last the Government is doing something worthwhile. According to Rosie Winterton, the Department of Transport is looking into "future registration, training and fitness to drive requirements of mobility scooter users" with the "possible introduction of compulsory training".There is nothing worse that a mad old granny on one of these lethal bloody things racing on the pavement and/or road (depending on their mood) utterly oblivious to the world around them. Forcing them to take a test and prove they can actually capable seems a sensible move.
Frankly, they're worse than cyclists at ignoring the rules of the road. They already do this sort of training in Australia as far as I can tell. See.... I don't always slag off the Government.
13 comments:
Oh dear God, is there nothing that this nanny state can not leave alone.
I give it another few months and they will be road taxing the damn things.
Surely making sure Nannies don;t run us over with their maddness is what the nanny stste is all about.
The dam things should be banned outside the home. They are a hazard to navigation and endanger all other pavement and road users. At the very least there use on the road should be outlawed. Many years ago when I was living in Deal in Kent there were reports of serious congestion, road ‘accidents’ and near fatalities caused by old codgers using those infernal contraptions on the highway.
Hmmmm.... has there ever been a proper accident due to one of these things, though?
Yes Alex- someone ran over my toes (no damage done mind you).
Can this be expanded to people incapable of using shopping trollies do you think?
"...has there ever been a proper accident due to one of these things, though?"
Yes, a lady knocked down by one of these things a few months ago in Barking town centre actually died.
Of course, the hospital 'treatment' and free lethal MRSA infection didn't help, but still...
They never caught the driver.
Well, if all these comments about accidents and the like are true, then I guess I support some kind of license/ban/mass burning of pensioners.
There you go: I've actually changed my opinion on something and it's all because of this blog. Isn't that amazing?
It will be pedestrian licenses next - and having to wear flourescent jackets to walk your kids to school.....hold on.......
Clearly David @ 10:53 is not disabled and reliant on one of "those infernal contraptions" to actually have a decent standard of life.
Consideration is needed from all road users and, having had lots of experience of "those infernal contraptions", I've noticed that a lot of drivers are really quite rude about them, making it quite difficult for the person trying to get around.
The people trying to get around don't o themselves any favours, however, and, believe it or not, there is actually a load of scooter users that are careful who do not speak kindly of the grannies that run over people's toes.
Training is a good idea and I agree with Dizzy, but I would ask that instead of the mentality being that the disabled person should be more considerate that perhaps we should all be more considerate. Have you ever been stuck behind a group of people standing and talking on the pavement and refusing to move out of the way whilst pretending they can't see you? How about when you're on your scooter in a busy town centre and people just walk right across the front of you meaning your whole journey is stop and start, making what should be an hour's trip into town two or so hours because of all the obstructions and rudeness from others. It's quite easy to see how these experiences would piss off the scooter-user right to the point where they are so pissed off they accidentally go over somebody's toes or fail to stop in time for that person that cut in front of them. All of a sudden it's their fault.
I'm not saying they're blameless, often far from it, but if we're dishing out training for people driving these things we should perhaps consider delivering training for the able-bodied pedestrians that don't give a shit about the disabled person in their way.
Damn you Mr Rouse oppressing my right to be a grumpy git
Nobody could ever suppress your grumpiness, Dizzy. It's too damn strong.
Beat you to it, Diz! http://hunterandshooter.blogspot.com/2007/03/never-mind-kids-on-scooters.html#links
Training, what would that comprise of? A 3 point turn and emergency stop in Tesco?
We've already got a nanny state, let's not progress to a Granny society.
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