A mobility scooter is not a car

[Lace Neil Singer]

Not something I saw myself, but a mate told me about this one. Apparently, down the main road a few days ago, there was a massive queue all the way down cuz an idiotic woman on a mobility scooter was trundling down the middle of the lane. The police had to be called to get her off the road and on to the pavement.

[notalwaysright]

I've seen this many times, in my home town, the difference being the guy was kinda in the bike lane. Of course, most people are too afraid to pass him, and he's going super fast I'd say nearly the speed limit of 25 mph. So there wasn't a big traffic jam, or at least no more than usual. Tourists regularly creep around at 15-20 mph while they rubberneck and say "ooh, pretty sailboats!"

[RealUnimportant]

Depending on the scooter, it may not just have been legal to ride it in the road so but a legal necessity; scooters capable of going over 4mph are registered as road-going vehicles and should not be used on the pavement. Of course, that doesn't mean that it was necessary to sit in the middle of the lane like an asshole...

[wolfie]

Depending on the scooter, it may not just have been legal to ride it in the road so but a legal necessity; scooters capable of going over 4mph are registered as road-going vehicles and should not be used on the pavement.

This might seem contradictory to people in North America, where "Pavement" refers to the hard surface of the road. To Brits, however, "Pavement" refers to what we call a "Sidewalk".

[Lace Neil Singer]

According to my mate, who was, luckily for him, on foot and walking down the pavement, this woman was completely oblivious to the large queue of angry motorists stuck behind her and expressed bewilderment when the police told her to get off the road. Yes, he stood there and watched, as most people do when free entertainment comes their way. XD

While I don't know the specifics of mobility scooters regarding whether they are allowed to go in the road, I don't think that the main road is a good idea regardless of whether that is correct or not. O_o She was lucky that there wasn't any arseholes driving their cars behind her who would have just barged past her and probably knocked her flying.

[eltf177]

Sidewalk yes, road HELL NO!!!

[greek_jester]

While I don't know the specifics of mobility scooters regarding whether they are allowed to go in the road...

IIRC the ones that are road legal have to have number plates. If they don't have number plates they're only allowed on the road in cases where any other pedestrian would use it i.e. crossing them or insufficient pavement to be able to fit on them.

[eltf177]

So in the UK some are road legal? Here in the US AFAIK they are never allowed in the street - just sidewalks and parking lots...

[BlaqueKatt]

So in the UK some are road legal? Here in the US AFAIK they are never allowed in the street - just sidewalks and parking lots...

depends on the state motor vehicle codes, it's perfectly legal in wisconsin, especially in areas where sidewalks are in bad repair or totally nonexistant.

Keep in mind driver's manuals generally don't cover laws for anything but cars, you have to seek out bicycle, motorcycle, and mobility device laws. So it's one of those things "everyone knows to be true", but is actually not based on anything factual.

[protege]

While I don't know the specifics of mobility scooters regarding whether they are allowed to go in the road, I don't think that the main road is a good idea regardless of whether that is correct or not.

Here, those scooters can be used on sidewalks...or the street if no sidewalk is available. However, they're supposed to stay to the right and allow traffic to pass. So it sounds like the rider was just being an ass, holding up traffic for no good reason.

The scooter riders (by that I mean, the Vespa idiots) I have an issue with, are the jagoffs who insist on taking them out on the highway, and cause traffic to back up for miles. The speed limit--which is usually ignored on the parkway--is 55mph. Riding around on your shitty Vespa, which maxes out at about 40mph, tends to annoy the hell out of the rest of us. There's a reason that everyone (myself included) is giving you the "Pittsburgh Salute" when we finally get the chance to pass.

[RealUnimportant]

IIRC the ones that are road legal have to have number plates.

They're like tractors. They need to have the number displayed/visible *somewhere* but not necessarily on a proper plate; my dad's tractor had the number painted on the axle, and when his health declined and it got traded for a scooter, that had it on a tag on the steering column. Some folks do fit regular plates on the rear though just for simplicity when dealing with the gendarmes. The roadgoing ones also need proper turn signals IIRC, which also helps them stand out.

Thanks for the vocab lesson Wolfie, I'd forgotten to allow for that.