Ruckus over mobility scooter drivers' antics

Mobility scooters today can go up to 18km/h. Photo / Thinkstock

A concerned police officer has called for mobility scooters to be equipped with registration plates as tension grows between their mainly elderly drivers and pedestrians.

Community constable Karren Bye says she has been receiving complaints for some time from pedestrians in Mosgiel, south of Dunedin.

She said yesterday that she would approach the NZ Transport Agency to request registration plates for scooters to help to address the problem.

"Part of the problem is identification," Ms Bye said. "We get complaints and a lot of the time it's a random person on a mobility scooter and we have no way of finding them."

A meeting yesterday at the Mosgiel Returned and Services Association clubrooms was attended by both pedestrians and mobility scooter users, as well as Ms Bye and Mobility Scooters Otago owner-operator Tony McCarthy.

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Mr McCarthy said mobility scooters had got bigger and faster over time and were subsequently more dangerous.

"When they were first designed, they were to get people to the letter box. Now they're going further and faster.

"The top speed used to be 10km/h, but now some of the newer ones can go up to 15km/h or 18km/h."

Mr McCarthy said some elderly people were given mobility scooters by family and often did not know how to use them properly, or were not given a suitable scooter.

The main complaints of pedestrians were of mobility scooter drivers going too fast, not looking, and thinking they had the right of way.

Mobility scooter drivers complained of space issues including how cars were parked, and hedges encroaching on to footpaths.

Mr McCarthy was at a loss to comprehend why the problem had become so big.

"I can't see why pedestrians and people on mobility scooters can't get along - I just can't understand it."

Mosgiel resident and pedestrian Karen Ferguson said it was unacceptable that mobility scooter drivers were able to use the vehicles without any testing.

"Drivers [of cars] who are older have to go through regular testing; why don't these people need to be monitored as to their capability?"

There is no warrant of fitness required for mobility scooters or their drivers.

There are 12 offences a mobility scooter driver can commit while using the vehicle and the fines range from $50 to $3,000.