Scooter toll prompts call for tests of elderly riders

• Karen Collier     From:Herald Sun July 29, 2010 7:21PM.  Original article here.

HEALTH checks are being urged before the elderly are let loose on scooters around shopping centres, retirement villages, roads and parks.

The consumer watchdog wants drivers screened before they hit the streets to curb mounting injuries and deaths.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has ordered an investigation into the main causes of scooter accidents amid concerns over hundreds of users suffering serious falls and smashes each year.

More than 70 people, mainly aged from their 70s to 90s, have died in the past decade.

The growing toll, including the death of a Mornington man at the weekend after a collision with a car, has prompted calls for thorough strength, sight, hearing and judgment tests before scooters are bought.

The ACCC also recommends scooter owners get training before setting wheels on footpaths, shopping centres and parks – and to use roads as a last resort.

In Victoria scooter users do not have to be registered or licensed.

“While mobility scooters offer many older people freedom and independence, it is alarming to see that an average of 500 people a year suffer serious head and limb injuries after experiencing a mobility scooter accident,” ACCC deputy chair Peter Kell said.

“The ACCC recommends older people have a physical check-up before buying a mobility scooter.”

Other tips include keeping as close as possible to the kerb and facing oncoming traffic if road use is unavoidable, installing a flag, lights and reflectors, wearing bright clothes, wearing a helmet, and not drinking and driving.

Drink-drive blood alcohol content limits did not apply to mobility scooters, but intoxicated drivers faced other charges such as being drunk in a public place.

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