Mobility scooters are designed to be used in larger shops and shopping centres, and it is an encouraging sight to see people using them to make day-to-day living easier.
However, one shopping centre in Nottinghamshire has ignited a debate by placing reminder signs of the 4 mph speed limit mobility scooters are legally allowed to travel on pavements and by extension in public buildings, as reported by the BBC.
Whilst the headline and stand first seem to imply that the signs are “new” and the limit is something that scooter riders will have to “face”, in reality, the signs in Idlewells Shopping Centre in Sutton-in-Ashfield are simply a reiteration of government guidance.
The signs, which primarily affect road-legal mobility scooters capable of 8 mph, have generated some discussions about the benefits, downsides and whether the signs should be displayed in more public areas.
The Case For
According to the manager of Idlewells, the goal has been to provide a reminder of the regulations surrounding mobility scooters, and it can be very beneficial for people who have both road-legal and pavement-based scooters to be reminded of the speed limit on pavements.
Mobility scooters can cause injury at 8 mph, so it would be beneficial to provide a helpful reminder to reduce the speed and be mindful of pedestrians, wheelchair users and other mobility scooters.
Some residents of Sutton-in-Ashfield noted that they felt they needed to be careful of mobility scooters that were travelling too quickly in the shopping centre, meaning that they needed to look both ways as if they were crossing the road or quickly react to get out of the way.
Local businesses who commented on the change noted that the signs were a common-sense solution that was good for safety and invited pedestrians and scooter users alike to be considerate of each other whilst travelling.
Taken in the spirit that it is a helpful reminder of the rules that already exist and the more general advice to look out and give way to pedestrians, the initiative is relatively cheap to set up and provides reassurance that pedestrians and mobility scooters will coexist harmoniously, as is already the case throughout Britain.
The Case Against
Most people who use a mobility scooter are aware of the speed limit and how to drive safely, so there is a risk that adding additional signs would not provide any help but instead imply a larger problem surrounding mobility scooters than currently exists.
Whilst the shopping centre themselves stated that they were not going to enforce the rules or utilise radar guns to check the speed, it does create an unnecessary chilling effect, as the overwhelming majority of mobility scooter drivers follow the rules and are extremely mindful of other pedestrians around them.
The other issue is that they use the same red circles as road speed limit signs. This can be confusing and suggest to those who are not aware of the wider context that there could be potential criminal prosecution or enforcement, something that is unlikely to be the case unless an accident is caused.
Will More Public Spaces Have Mobility Scooter Speed Limit Signs?
Ultimately, as Idlewells Shopping Centre is a privately owned and managed space, the addition of speed limit signs was of their own initiative and no plans for a county-wide scheme have been planned, let alone a country-wide one.
The scheme has been welcomed, although some have called it “quite funny” and “strange”, the centre manager noted that people riding mobility scooters have adhered to the limits.
Whilst the UK has more mobility scooters than the rest of Europe, Idlewells conceded that there are more of them travelling through their shopping centre than normal, suggesting that this is a local solution to a specifically local concern.
It is only likely to be more widely used if Idlewells notes a significant change in how people ride mobility scooters through the shopping centre, or following a major consultation if there are calls to implement mobility scooter signs more widely through the local council.
In other towns and cities, one-to-one training and tutoring sessions are offered instead to help riders understand how to safely operate a mobility scooter, practice their skills and address any hazards whilst riding on the pavement.
There are also several courses that provide more substantial training in riding a mobility scooter, something that is particularly essential when driving it on the road safely, given that the scooter will be sharing the road with significantly faster vehicles.
