Police in Brookings OR stopped a woman riding a scooter and told her that it was not allowed (a powered mobility device prescribed by her doctor) on the sidewalk. Words were exchanged. There was a chase. It could have been worse.
That’s a tricky one, because although it appears she has a clear-cut legal case and should win on that basis (esp WRT the helmet violation - she’s not riding a motorbike and the chances of falling off a mobility scooter while it’s in motion are teeny tiny), I’m not at all sure that someone whose main disability is impaired vision is safe to be riding a mobility scooter on a public street.
We might need new laws about those scooters - riding them while drunk would be dangerous too. I don’t know of any laws in my region (the UK) that applies to them in any sense that would stand up in a court of law unless, possibly, they actually killed somebody.
(I’m very much not anti-mobility scooters, FWIW. They can change people’s lives. But they’re not without risks to pedestrians and road users).
True. I was once hit by one in the ankle while I was standing still on a downtown San Francisco street. I said “Ow!” Not so much as a murmur of apology. I let it, and the offender, go.
The irony is that the people they’re most likely to cause serious injury to are other people with disabilities.
Macular degeneration is common and doesn’t necessarily mean you’re unsafe to ride a mobility scooter, but if it’s so bad that it’s part of your disability claim then you are probably unsafe to even ride a bike - pedal cycle.
Not as bad as the many drivers who continue to drive cars when they are definitely not safe to due to medical problems, of course. Maybe in that area this is the least-bad option.
The main road through Brookings is US 101, the pacific coast highway. It is a 4-lane street that is pretty busy most of the year (though probably not what it is like in Malibu or Santa Barbara). If they were citing her for riding on the 101 sidewalk, that is just outright ridiculous.
