Are those Rascal scooters (electric mobility devices used by disabled, overweight, and elderly people) street legal in any state?
Yesterday, I was driving along a 4 lane road (2 lanes each way, with a middle turn lane) that is 45 mph. Traffic in the direction I was traveling came to a standstill, backed up for a quarter mile, with people merging into the left lane. When I finally got close to the bottleneck, the culprit was a middle aged woman about 450 pounds driving her scooter in the right lane about 5 mph. There was no sidewalk on either side of the road during this stretch, which is where I normally see people operate these types of vehicles. I saw no vehicle license plate on her scooter, so I doubt it was registered as a street legal vehicle, but I wandered if these things were street legal in any state.
They’re as street legal as feet or a person pushing a baby stroller or wheelchair. That is to say, no, you can’t operate one on a roadway as a motor vehicle, but if there is no sidewalk, then they’re entitled to be operated as safely as possible just as a pedestrian walking would be.
And really, does it matter how much the woman using the scooter weighed? That was just obnoxious.
It was my understanding that when there is no sidewalk available that pedestrians are supposed to walk on the shoulder of the road facing traffic, not in the roadway moving the same direction as vehicular traffic, as the person I encountered yesterday.
Sorry that my factual description of the person I encountered offends you. :rolleyes:
But that recommendation is for the safety of the pedestrian foremost, right? It’s so you can see in time on-coming cars and get out of the way onto the shoulder, while the cars driving in the same direction are farther away on the right-hand side of the road.
By contrast, what you describe as a “rascal scooter” *, even if not occupied by an obese person, takes up a lot of space, so driving on the opposite side wouldn’t be safe and wouldn’t solve the problem of blocking traffic, either.
If it’s a four-way street, was there no other smaller street available for that person, or is it the only road in that area? A small country road for example can be blocked by a tractor doing 5 km/h, too, but people accept this because country roads are only small distance, for long distances and fast speeds you use other roadways where slow vehicles are forbidden.
So either this person was clueless; your laws are written with loopholes; or your street system is inadequate that there was no alternative to a four lane road.
why is a scooter mainly used by elderly and handicapped people called after misbehaving little children?
I’m voting clueless in my situation. There are other roads with sidewalks that could have been utilized, but maybe not as direct of a route this person may have wanted.
WRT the name “rascal” it is a common brand name here in the US for these types of scooters. Who knows why the company chose that name.
Driving one of those things in 45 mph traffic is not a good choice either.
I know that people that drive golf carts or lawn mowers that are not street legal on the roadways can be ticketed, I’ve even seen it. I would assume that this would fall into the same category. Or is there some sort of disposition for the old, obese or handicapped?
I remember when I was in NYC there was a case where a woman in one of those scooters got a ticket. The thing was the sidewalks were closed for repairs. She was just riding it in the street like the other pedestrians were walking along with her, also in the street.
Why did she get the ticket but not the pedestrians? It caused a big stink, but no one followed up on the outcome of it.
I don’t know if it’s legal or not. I would have been tempted to call 911, in the interests of her safety (even if all they said was “there’s nothing we can do,” I’d still want to call and make sure). Yes, tractors travel that slowly, but they’re usually easy to see from a distance as they’re larger than cars, and the driver is more likely to survive a collision. The scooter lady would likely be dead on any impact.
Even if it IS legal, that doesn’t make it safe or a good idea to ride your scooter (or even walk) ON a busy street during rush. Was there no shoulder or police lane for her to ride in?
No police lanes in our town. This is a curbed street, so there was about a 2-3 foot shoulder between the curb and right side lane marking of the right lane. She was riding along the right side of the right hand lane staring straight ahead and ignoring all of the cars passing her. It appeared she was heading towards the McDonald’s at the upcoming corner. There are sidewalks along the next cross street.
