scooters

[oramar]

I am expecting to see an increase in road accidents involving seniors on those scooters crossing paths with larger motorized vehicles. "What" you say, "they are not supposed to be taken on a road that is used by cars and trucks". Guess what, it is happening. I didn't know my partially blind, 89 year old auntie had one until I found her motoring down the middle of the street. She is not the first older person or disabled person I have seen using them improperly. Do the people that sell them take any responsibility for checking to see if the person is competent to operate?

[sharpeimom]

i hate scooters, plain and simple. the bruises on my ankles are testimony to the rudeness and sense of entitlement of the new breed of motoring grannies in my grocery store. with a few exceptions, they all seem to be overweight with lots of junk food (or alcohol) in their carts. i know, i know, be kind and don't generalize.

i just seem to live in a place where the myth is the reality.

i'm not anyone's granny, i don't weigh 300 pounds, we buy organic or natural mostly, we are teetotalers, and to the very best of my knowledge and belief (one of my lawyer parent's phrases,)

i have never ever bruised anyone's shins or ankles, and i know i have never ever run someone down.

but, if i'm honest, i have considered it a time or two. ya know, some of us have hidden medical problems. i had a stroke when i was in my early fifties as the result of an earlier aneurysm rupture.

i look like my old self when i'm seated. my cousin with ms looks "normal" but is too weak some days

to walk around the supermarket. another cousin has advanced severe ra and she appears "normal" too.

we all have a handicapped placard for our cars.

i realize some people who use the scooters do have an entitlement mentality and some are too heavy, while some of us look like there is nothing wrong with us. i also know some people drive like bats out of hades, but not all of us. many of us have conditions that don't show at first glance. i've had lots of pt and my pt suggested that when i/we grocery shop, i walk some of the length of an aisle (as much as i am able) three or four times while there. it never fails!! some righteous soul takes me to task loudly because i dared to use a scooter when i didn't need it!

i guess the message buried in all this verbiage is: don't assume! also, only about half the scooters in a store are charged enough to work effectively. if the power is low, they go in spurts and run jerkily and come to a sudden unexpected stop. my own scooter has a blue light that warns me when i only have an hour of power left, but store carts don't. being in a position of having to become dependent on others when you weren't before can be galling. much of it can depend on how people treat you. we aren't all fat, lazy, entitled, booze-guzzling junk food consuming wierdos. try just looking beyond why we use a scooter. and, yes, shake your mental fist at the others because before they drove scooters in the street or the grocery store, they were probably lousy drivers who parked down the center of two parking spaces and ran their shopping carts up the backs of your heels.

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Kathy- I know you aren't one of the people we're complaining about. You can roll that scooter anywhere you like, so long as you miss my toes.

I do get very nervous when I see scooters on the street. Once you've seen one pop out into traffic without looking you'll never look at them the same. I get the same feeling about scooters as I had about kids when I lived across from the school. If I have to drive when the kids are on their way home from school I CRAWL because they forget the cars are going by a few feet away. At least once a year a child would walk out, or be pushed by teasing friends and land right in front of me. I'd feel like slime if I ever hit someone, including those scooter crazy seniors.

[CrazierThanYou]

No, there are no competency tests or any kind of licensing. Not in my state, anyway. Round here, you get a DUI and lose your license? Get a scooter. Years ago I was working at McDonalds and a lady came through the drive thru on a riding lawn mower. You would see her driving that same lawn mower up the highway. She had lost her license so she drove her lawn mower. It was actually pretty comical.

[psychonaut]

Are they worth more points than nailing a pedestrian?

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[BluegrassRN]

Okay, people, the OP is talking about scooter like the little rascal, not mopeds.

For the few of you who are confused.

[sharpeimom]

kathy- i know you aren't one of the people we're complaining about. you can roll that scooter anywhere you like, so long as you miss my toes.

do i really have to miss your toes? oh cr*p!!

seriously, while i do realize there are lousy car drivers, poor scooter drivers, 12 year-old boys who think they're invincible, grumpy people who feel entitlement for one reason or another, motorcycle riders who think they own the whole road, and big rig drivers who disregard cars, not every driver in

each category is that way.

i do worry about the elderly who are out buzzing around in their scooters. i really do.

a big advantage of a scooter is how others perceive you. in my wheelchair, people talk to my husband almost exclusively or ask him something wonderful like, "would she like a balloon?":mad: or in an upscale

restaurant, "can she read enough to order from the children's menu?":devil: (yes, she can...)

in my scooter, people talk to me and not only treat me like a human being but like an adult!!

when strangers in walmart treat me as though i were either six or dd, that's when i'm tempted

to run into them...hard! i don't, but it is tempting!! and please don't deliberately ram me with your shopping cart as you tell me "to get the....out of your way.

outside, most of us ride on sidewalks and not in the street because that keeps us safer. that's why it's so vital that drivers not park in front of the curb cuts. not even if you're "just going to be a minute."

i've strayed from the intent of the op, but this is a subject, near and dear to my heart and i've just tried to present some of the collateral issues as well.

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

[TDCHIM]

a big advantage of a scooter is how others perceive you. in my wheelchair, people talk to my husband almost exclusively or ask him something wonderful like, "would she like a balloon?":mad: or in an upscale

restaurant, "can she read enough to order from the children's menu?":devil: (yes, she can...)

in my scooter, people talk to me and not only treat me like a human being but like an adult!!

when strangers in walmart treat me as though i were either six or dd, that's when i'm tempted

to run into them...hard! i don't, but it is tempting!! and please don't deliberately ram me with your shopping cart as you tell me "to get the....out of your way.

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

i'm so with you - i've had people in stores assume i'm dd with the iq of a five-year-old because i'm walking on forearm crutches (the best one was when a sales associate asked the person shopping with me in a department store whether there was any chance my behavior could "become unsafe for other customers" like i was some sort of ticking time bomb. i suppose after that i was, given how infuriated i was by the remark!). i always figured the problem would be even worse while in a scooter.

safety is an issue for scooter-users and those around them, and i strongly believe we as a country are going to have to formalize competency regulations through legislation as the population ages. but kathy's perfectly right - no one should assume or make generalizations to the effect of those who ride scooters being fat and/or lazy jerks or oblivious, disaster-causing elderly folks. there are a lot of reasons one might need a scooter in a store or out in public areas and many of them aren't necessarily obvious. there are several people in my neighborhood who use scooters properly and it's sad to see them given a bad name by those who knowingly misuse scooters or are simply incapable of adhering to proper safety measures.

[oramar]

i can only walk about 200 feet before i get really really pooped. i use a cane in fall, spring and summer and a hemi walker in winter. around the house, i just walk and hold on prn. for long hauls, i have a wheelchair and an electric cart. it's very similar to the ones in walmarts, except it is bright red.

we went into a medical supply house, i tried several, picked a style and the color. we paid and they delivered it. the man gave my husband and me a quick refresher on how it worked and that was it. we had already had a heavy duty outlet installed and it lives outside year round,covered in bad weather.

it gives me back my freedom (to a degree) and makes travel easier. i just go out the back door, unplug it, and off i go! usually to the library. i ride on the sidewalk, as i was requested to do. i obey the very same traffic laws i did when i drove. if you don't think "people like me" should be driving anything, get the ^&*% outta my way, because i am as safe a scooter driver whether i'm in my fire engine red scooter or the generic walmart scooter.

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

i am sure they are a big help to a lot of people. i am glad you have yours. however, just think of some of the people you know that are very aged and have cognitive problems. would you really want to see them on the highway? my aunt almost claimed her first victim, me when i nearly had a heart attack when i saw her out there.

[sharpeimom]

my husband had foot surgery wednesday afternoon and has been hobbling around since then, using my cane prn. today he made a quick run to the grocery store and i suggested he use a scooter. he came

back steaming mad!

now, he knows first hand how people sometimes treat me. he's been with me when i go out, but despite my telling him that he hasn't been fully aware of people's attitudes and actions, he disagreed. now he finally admits he really had almost no idea.

he was taunted, ignored, laughed at, told he didn't really need the cart, was just being lazy. not by everyone. not by most. but by just enough to make him feel devalued. enough to prove my point.

sometimes i wish i weren't right. but i was.