Saturday, September 5, 2009
A moan about mobility scooters!...
"TonbridgeBlog really should have a moan about mobility scooters" said one recent comment. I'm not sure about this as the Courier are doing it to death already in their usual way. You know the picture on the disgruntled mother who's child has had a near death experience on the streets of downtown Tonbridge. She has a serious looking glum face and the photograher, who's seen it all a million times, knows he can extract every ounce out of a feeble story if the little toddler who has cheated death is also in the frame looking equally glum. Sorry if that sounds a little cynical for a moderately serious topic but actually I think this is a storm in a tea cup. There's a very nice, if a little grumpy, old chap who stops by my shop parking his disabled mobile outside; he comes in to buy books on stamps and I honestly can't see him being a menace on the pavement. Look at it from their point of view they mostly can't walk more than a few yards without serious difficulty so to many these electric scooters are a lifeline, they allow them to go shopping or out and about to visit friends when they might otherwise be house-bound. The pavements are busy in the town centre, but no where else; the roads are too dangerous for them to go very far on. These scooters only travel at a top speed of 4 mph, which is only fast walking pace afterall and they mostly go at 2mph. Yes maybe there is a problem with some of the latest models which are capable of up to 8 mph, although even this is slower than a teenager's bike or even a skateboarder. How many accidents have there actually been; I've only heard about this one and maybe it was an accident waiting to happen. One thing is for sure though, for the Courier newspaper it was a story waiting to happen! One letter to the paper, which they printed, asked if their was training available for "these people..." I'm not sure that referring to disabled people as these people will win this letter writer many votes of support but maybe she had a point about the training. I'm sure that the vast majority of the drivers/riders are safe and sensible, just like most cyclists and pedestrians are, so can you impose laws and regulations just for the careless few. I would wager that most have driven a car for many years, so will quickly be able to grasp the hang of a slow moving scooter, maybe those who haven't ever driven should be given a test rather like the Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) test for motor bikes and scooters which teach the rider the basics in around three hours. Should they be made compulsory though? Have your say by commenting below....
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3 comments:
I feel the need to have a moan (sorry guys and girls!) about the litter in this town. It's just everywhere and i'm sick of it! I complain to the council and the areas are allegedly 'cleansed' and then before you know it there are bottles, cans, crisp and sweet packets, takeaway boxes etc in the streets, on the pavements, in the river and across the park. I feel embarrassed taking friends around sometimes as we have to walk through it. I used to pick it up, but there's so much sometimes i'd never get home from work!
I've lived in other towns before moving here, but Tonbridge does appear to suffer from a litter problem. When do you see anyone picking up the litter? I see the the street sweeping vehicle every so often, but that goes around parked cars and doesn’t pick up half the litter in the gutter or from the pavements!
Only last week I read about the good work of the River Medway Countryside group (forgotten their official title) picking up litter from the river and warnings from the Environment Agency that if it doesn't improve it will worsen any flooding in the town. The next day I walk back from town over the bridge near the war memorial and see a new trolley in the river! Argh!!!!
Part of the problem is that most people seem to want to blame the council for the litter problem. Actually I'm not sure whether the problem is any better or worse in Tonbridge than in other towns across Britain but I'm pretty sure of one thing: the problem (litter) is basically down to pure laziness. When kebab wrappers and other food cartons, plastic bottles, fag ends, chewing gum and a multitude of other bits of rubbish are habitually and wantonly thrown on the pavement or out of car windows onto the road and curb side, we can't blame the council for that. We can only blame the lazy idiots who do it. It really shouldn't be that difficult to put garbage in bins or carry it until you can find a bin, but it seems to completely pass some people by. Is it lack of education? were they taught any civic pride at school? are they rebelling against the authorities? are they just total air heads? Search me!...
Going back to the mobility scooter debate. Obviously these scootrs offer freedom to people who would otherwise be prisoners within their own homes, but with this freedom comes a certain degree of responsibility. Several weeks ago I personally witnessed one crazed old woman making a mad dash for the Pelican Crossing on one of these scooters. With the look of someone possessed she was heard to cry "Out of the way", as she sped onto the crossing just as the lights were about to change to flashing amber. A woman pedestrian had a lucky escape as her husband/partner, in the nick of time, just managed to pull her out of the way of this speeding maniac.
I have witnessed this same speed junky and her husband whizzing along the River Walk on Sunday mornings, and I would say they are definitely riding at more than 4mph!
I am by no means a health and safety fanatic, and more rules and regulations are the last thing anyone needs. However, a little more old fashioned courtesy towards other pavement users would not go amiss from a small minority of mobility scooter riders.
ps. Agree with your comments about the Courier, Tonbridge Blogger. Wasn't August always known as the "silly season" in the newspapere industry?
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