mobility scooters

[Black Sheep]

just ridden home over a shared use bridge (cycle lane and footpath) which has a steep slope up to it

as i'm riding up in the cycle lane a lady on a mobility scooter appears in my sight in the cycle lane coming towards me. taking full width of the cycle lane and smiling at me

me? i'm puffing and panting up this slope because my gears have started slipping again, the pavement is the same width as the cycle lane, and the white line can be quite slippy, she obviously expected me to move out of the cycle lane for her

anyone else had this?
should i move from the cycle lane onto the foot path (which to me is the same as riding on the pavement)?
should she be in the cycle lane?

 

[Arch]

Tricky.

I'm not sure of the legal argument - since they are allowed on pavements, I'd assume they are allowed on the ped side, she may have been oblivious, or she may have thought she was doing the better thing, being out of ped's way. If it was no bother to switch sides (IE no kerb between, or no ped walking there) then it's probably easiest just to dodge round her and get on with it, annoying though it might be.

I'm all for the people who have these things having some compulsory training, but then there are plenty of cyclists who could do with it as well.

(I do have a slight horror of the things - when I worked in a supermarket, an old guy who was shoplifting nearly ran me down in his as he made his getaway....)

 

[Black Sheep]

she may have thought she was out of the peds way, but a suicide bomber would have been showing the same consideration save for myself and the scooter rider, ie, no one anywhere near.

that white line has caused me a couple of incidents in the wet and i don't like crossing it

she's possibly the same one i nearly crashed into as she'd stopped half way round a slightly blind corner (one that i shout out on) and that nearly had me off

cycle lane - 1 meter wide, pavement 4 meters wide at that point.

 

[sheddy]

I am often amazed at the way they wiz round on a blind path and expect peds to scatter (just like some POBs)

 

[marinyork]

Yes, I have had it. You cannot move over for her, you're not allowed to use the other side but in reality you would. It's not especially serious unless the hell's granny is breaking the speed limit, which unfortunately does happen very often.

P.S. It is a cycle path, if it were a cycle lane, the lady on the mobility scooter would unequivocally be in the wrong. It's not though.

 

[Jake]

they should use motorways like some of their other old friends

 

[mordecai84]

From what I understand, mobility scooters are exempt from provisions of the road traffic act.

 

[marinyork]

From what I understand, mobility scooters are exempt from provisions of the road traffic act.

Mobility scooters are covered by their own laws. Those built after 1989 are limited to 4mph in the circumstances described, by law. Furthermore they are regarded as following road traffic laws when on the roads and act as peds whilst on pavements. Just like cyclists should give way to peds, mobility scooters are told to behave like peds but that they are to give way to peds and other users - just like cyclists. The lady in the mobility scooter is clearly advised in the highway code as to what shared use paths are.

The issue with mobility scooters is pretty much entirely that (a) they refuse to give way to any other users ( they break the law by speeding.

 

[djb1971]

They're alright unless you meet one coming around the booze aisle on two wheels in Sainburys

4mph can become 12mph when there's a bogof offer

 

[Jim_Noir]

You know the little old dear probably didn't mean any malice in her actions. After all, what training and/or licence do they have to get for one of these? So in her head she probably thinks the able bodied person on the bike can get past with no problem at all. This is like when we get in the way of folks driving, they don’t rationally think that we have unintentionally got in their way. Folks, it’s a big bad world out there and if you let these things get to you it looks even worse... peace out

 

[Black Sheep]

big bad world indeed,

had the side of a punto put infront of me while doing 30mph, had a civic stop for a green light right in front of me

had someone just sit their car sideways in the road cos they wanted to turn round at a junction

i'm not getting out of bed tomorrow, i can tell you that

actually, not getting out of the flat might be the better plan