Disabled women to pay £13k in compo

Just because she is disabled doesn't absolve her responsibility for hurting someone else because she's too incompetent to work the breaks on her stupid bloody scooter.

She wants to live a normal life? Then she is treated the same as any one of us if we acting incompetently resulting in the injury of another person.
 
This is taking away the rights and the human rights of disabled people to live as near a normal life as possible and to be independent
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I wasn't aware non disabled people could smash other other peoples knees with impunity?
 
You can't escape responsibility for damage you cause with your scooter just because you're disabled, stop playing the victim. However; you can escape liability with this thing called "insurance". What would it be? £30?
 
These things should have insurance! I have seen them dart out from the pavement onto the road because a banana skin was in the way or something.

Otherwise it is £100 a month for the next 12 odd years.
 
BigglesPiP said:
You can't escape responsibility for damage you cause with your scooter just because you're disabled, stop playing the victim. However; you can escape liability with this thing called "insurance". What would it be? £30?
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I think my mum's cover costs her about £60-90 a year and is fully comp with something like a million pounds worth of cover (I'm serious).

I do think that there should be mandatory insurance for all users of mobility scooters (possibly tied to the person on any scooter up to a certain speed, say 4mph and 8mph), as it's not expensive and you can cause serious injury with them.

I also think there should be some test to make sure people know how to use them, it's worrying seeing how many people don't know how to use them, or assume they are safe to use on busy roads
It's nearly impossible to lose control of them mechanically as they are designed to generally stop when there is any problem (even the main brakes require user input/power to keep them disengaged, any problems release the control bar or turn the key and it'll stop in a couple of feet max)
 
Aedus said:
I highly doubt any mobility scooter will cause permanent damage to someones knee.
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50-100kg+ of metal, plastic, and batteries (plus the weight of the user), often with a metal bumper or basket, moving at 4mph is more than enough to cause serious damage to someone under the right circumstances.
 
Aedus said:
I highly doubt any mobility scooter will cause permanent damage to someones knee.
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Nope but a shopping trolley would. Assuming it strikes on or around the kneecap it's a lot of soft tissue and a reasonably complex joint with plenty of tendons & nerves running through it.
 
Aedus said:
I highly doubt any mobility scooter will cause permanent damage to someones knee.
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You've never seen one move then, they are heavier than you can lift, 2 fit men are required for shunting those things about, they can get up to 20mph, there are no crumple zones, or pedestrain safe areas.

There was a bill being brought to suggest people using them on public highways should have training and insurance. I know in NI training is provided for anyone receiving such a scooter, same for the advanced wheelchairs, it is essential, as they have variable throttle controls and can be difficult to control by able bodies people let alone those with arthrtis in joints.

She had no insurance, and fighting the case has lead to a large legal bill, she is liable for an accident which seh caused which lead to personal injury, in the US the payout would have been 100's of K no doubt :/.
 
Disabled really **** me off how they just run into you. But £13000 odd is just wrong, I wouldn't pay it and protest.
 
Hikari Kisugi said:
You've never seen one move then, they are heavier than you can lift, 2 fit men are required for shunting those things about, they can get up to 20mph, there are no crumple zones, or pedestrain safe areas.
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I must admit i've never seen a 20mph one, I think the maximum you can legally use on the road without a licence is 8mph, and 4mph on the pavement thanks to fairly specific exemptions for them.

You're certainly right about the weight, it's a selling point of the one that my mum has that the heaviest single part weighs just 20kg from memory (it breaks down into about 6 parts), and that's for a smallish 4 wheeler.
 
They can do 4 or 8mph depending what mode they are on and are stupidly heavy.

Theres a guy that comes into the shop i work at and he can never control it he just launches forward rather than edging forward, he took out quite an old lady a few months ago in the shop while he was trying to force his way into the front of the queue.

She was ok but i thought she was going to end up with a broken leg lol

Hes a manaic anyway though.. mom said the same guy pulled up while she was on hers and asked her for a race..

She should either not hit people or get insurance i cant see the issue here.
 
In my experience a lot of the drivers of these things treat them like tanks that you've to get out of the way of, driven as fast as they'll go with the get out of my way - I'm bigger than you attitude.
If I rode my mountain bike down pavements like they do someone would soon have a word.
 
Werewolf said:
I think my mum's cover costs her about £60-90 a year and is fully comp with something like a million pounds worth of cover (I'm serious)
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I don't doubt, BMFA membership though the local flying club comes with insurance with a pay-out cap of - I think 5 million, membership only costs a matter of tens of pounds.
 
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