Have you heard or see a Lime scooter or e-scooter around the community??
Since this morning in the public community disability forum, there was a debate over e-scooter/lime scooter in Hamilton City, New Zealand.
Many disabled people and most ordinary people hated it because they don’t feel safe when walking/riding on their mobility scooter along the footpath. Other people and children love it and get the thrill of freedom to ride without traffic jams, free car parking, able to get on and off the bus for a long distance trips such as from Morrinsville to Hamilton.
What is the difference between these people? Many blind people and Deaf/Hard of Hearing people including elderly people can not hear the noise from the e-scooter behind their back even their side from either left or right. The speed of the e-scooter is around 30kmh on the footpaht and around 27kmh on the road according to the newspaper – stuff.co.nz https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/108032332/escooter-injury-claims-and-near-misses-spark-safety-fears
What about the safety issues for our riders on the e-scooter along the footpath or on the road? So I am wondering what if people and children should wear a bike helmet if they were riding a bike on the road. Currently, in New Zealand, people and children can ride on e-scooter without a helmet. Horror!! It is a total disaster if anyone does not wear a helmet, then it will increase accident and injury plus costing more health insurance to pay for the damage. Som accident or injuries for a day is around 7-9 ACC claims. Have another look at the photo below – is that guy acceptable to use his luggage with wheels while riding the e-scooter on the road or not?
Well, not for all Blind, Deaf, Hard of Hearing even elderly people. What about a young mother with a baby in a pram or a young child walking on the footpath? A blind man said he was nearly knocked over when walking down the pavement near the lake this morning. Here is another article which recently in Auckland, New Zealand. This story was about one child who is disabled with spinal bifida walking with the grandmother and another child riding on the e-scooter. The child who rode on the e-scooter knocked the disabled child over. Who is to blame? Therefore the child on the e-scooter who knocked over the disabled child was responsible for this accident. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12197560
For the Deaf/Hard of Hearing people, we would NOT hear the noise behind our back or from either right or left side, whooshy pass us. This will give us a fright or a bit of shock. We know there are many young students and businesses people using a mobile phone by texting or listening to music or having a phone conference while they are walking. So we are not sorry for these kinds of people because they are hearing and can hear the sounds without using texting or using one earpiece in one ear while walking.
Perhaps there are many options such as – Need more education on how to ride e-scooter, raise more safety awareness such as wear a helmet. Where is the best place to ride e-scooter, how to control the e-scooter on the road or the pavement, should the council footpath department increases the width of a walkway, is it okay for all children to ride on e-scooter if they are well behaving or know how to use it and the list goes on…….
Sigh! A new technology makes everyone crazes today!
Life in Eureka 