Scooter Magoo!
Forgive my rant today, but while I was running some errands this morning, I witnessed something that was frightening, or hilarious, depending on your sense of humour.
I have a pretty warped sense of humour, I laugh when someone falls, I just can't help it, like I said, I'm warped. That being said, I did not consider today's experience in the same way. In fact, I held my breath as I watched this horror show unfold before my eyes.
After exiting the grocery store, I watched an eldery gentleman drive out in front of me. He was driving a scooter, which in and of itself is okay, except the way this man was driving it.
This gentleman, drove his scooter through the parking lot, not around the perimeter, but through empty parking spots. He was going quite fast. I shook my head as I watched him, but that changed to gasping as he drove out of the parking lot, without looking, right in front of two lanes of oncoming traffic. Thankfully for him, the traffic light was red, so the cars were slowing down. A transport was stopped at the light, waiting to turn right, this man on the scooter, was driving up between the transport and the curb. I watched the transport begin to turn and the man on the scooter was continuing to drive straight ahead. Because this man was under the height of the transports mirrors, and sandwiched between it and the curb, the driver didn't see him.
I was not the only one watching, I could hear car horns honking and people yelling at the man on the scooter to stop. He didn't. My heart was beating rapidly, and I was totally paralyzed as I stood there watching. By this time, the transport was halfway around the corner, and this man driving the scooter was still hell bent on driving toward his death!
I wondered what he could possibly be thinking as he was about to drive his scooter into the side of a fifty three foot long transport trailer. As I was wondering, and watching, another man who had been witnessing this madness was quickly running toward the man. There was only about five more feet before a catastrophic impact was sure to happen, as well as death. The running man, dove onto the scooter man, and pulled his hand off of the throttle, and steered the scooter over to the curb. The running man, saved the scooter man's life!
The older man, looked startled as his scooter stopped. He started yelling, confused about what had happened. A small group of people had gathered around the scooter man, and running man. The transport had made it around the corner, never knowing the tragedy that was mere feet away.
A woman who was part of the group, had persuaded the scooter man to get off his scooter, as the running man jumped onto the scooter and drove it up on the sidewalk, to get it off the road. As the lady was trying to discern if the scooter man was hurt, he just continued to ask why he was accosted on his scooter. People were explaining, or trying to explain to him that he wold have hit that transport trailer if he hadn't been stopped. This poor old soul said "What transport trailer?" He hadn't even seen it as he was driving!
He said he had bad arthritis, a bad neck so he can hardly turn it back and forth, and he has macular degenerative eye disease. Whoa!
So, my question is, who bought this gentleman a scooter when he can't turn his neck or even see peripherally? Who sold it to him? Is someone not accountable for this? Why are these scooters allowed on the streets? They are motorized vehicles. Anyone driving a motorized vehicle, requires a driver's license, insurance, and they need to follow the rules of the road.
This is not the first time I have seen a near scooter accident, whether from driver error on the part of the scooter driver, or not following the rules of the road. We wouldn't allow children to drive one of these, so why give a motorized scooter to an elderly person who has lost their car license?
Everything worked out well today, thankfully, but it could have gone very bad, very quickly.
Beware when you are on the road, watch for these scooters, even if you have the right of way, watch, and be aware.
I have a pretty warped sense of humour, I laugh when someone falls, I just can't help it, like I said, I'm warped. That being said, I did not consider today's experience in the same way. In fact, I held my breath as I watched this horror show unfold before my eyes.
After exiting the grocery store, I watched an eldery gentleman drive out in front of me. He was driving a scooter, which in and of itself is okay, except the way this man was driving it.
This gentleman, drove his scooter through the parking lot, not around the perimeter, but through empty parking spots. He was going quite fast. I shook my head as I watched him, but that changed to gasping as he drove out of the parking lot, without looking, right in front of two lanes of oncoming traffic. Thankfully for him, the traffic light was red, so the cars were slowing down. A transport was stopped at the light, waiting to turn right, this man on the scooter, was driving up between the transport and the curb. I watched the transport begin to turn and the man on the scooter was continuing to drive straight ahead. Because this man was under the height of the transports mirrors, and sandwiched between it and the curb, the driver didn't see him.
I was not the only one watching, I could hear car horns honking and people yelling at the man on the scooter to stop. He didn't. My heart was beating rapidly, and I was totally paralyzed as I stood there watching. By this time, the transport was halfway around the corner, and this man driving the scooter was still hell bent on driving toward his death!
I wondered what he could possibly be thinking as he was about to drive his scooter into the side of a fifty three foot long transport trailer. As I was wondering, and watching, another man who had been witnessing this madness was quickly running toward the man. There was only about five more feet before a catastrophic impact was sure to happen, as well as death. The running man, dove onto the scooter man, and pulled his hand off of the throttle, and steered the scooter over to the curb. The running man, saved the scooter man's life!
The older man, looked startled as his scooter stopped. He started yelling, confused about what had happened. A small group of people had gathered around the scooter man, and running man. The transport had made it around the corner, never knowing the tragedy that was mere feet away.
A woman who was part of the group, had persuaded the scooter man to get off his scooter, as the running man jumped onto the scooter and drove it up on the sidewalk, to get it off the road. As the lady was trying to discern if the scooter man was hurt, he just continued to ask why he was accosted on his scooter. People were explaining, or trying to explain to him that he wold have hit that transport trailer if he hadn't been stopped. This poor old soul said "What transport trailer?" He hadn't even seen it as he was driving!
He said he had bad arthritis, a bad neck so he can hardly turn it back and forth, and he has macular degenerative eye disease. Whoa!
So, my question is, who bought this gentleman a scooter when he can't turn his neck or even see peripherally? Who sold it to him? Is someone not accountable for this? Why are these scooters allowed on the streets? They are motorized vehicles. Anyone driving a motorized vehicle, requires a driver's license, insurance, and they need to follow the rules of the road.
This is not the first time I have seen a near scooter accident, whether from driver error on the part of the scooter driver, or not following the rules of the road. We wouldn't allow children to drive one of these, so why give a motorized scooter to an elderly person who has lost their car license?
Everything worked out well today, thankfully, but it could have gone very bad, very quickly.
Beware when you are on the road, watch for these scooters, even if you have the right of way, watch, and be aware.
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