Practice using an ECV before your trip

[Goddesstree]

If you have a family member who will be using an ECV on an upcoming trip, and isn't a regular user of such, please have him or her practice using one before the trip. You don't want a beloved family member to do what some poor woman did yesterday at MK.

I was walking over to get FPs for Buzz, and there was a commotion by the FP machines. Seems a larger sized woman (her body size is important here, or I would not be mentioning it) drove herself on her ECV into one of the chains by the FP machines. It was a little section chained off between the queue and the FP machines.

She got stuck with the chain wedged in her chest (as explicit as I am going to get) and the chain was so tight that it couldn't be unclipped. She was really wedged in under the chain. Somehow some guy got enough play in the chain to unclip it, finally. The woman was gasping and sobbing at this point. I'm guessing she has one heck of a bruise line going across her chest.

To me, it looked like she must have gone full throttle into the chain to get it so far stuck up her body. These are stationary posts, over to the side of Buzz. Not a normal place to be going fast. Why no one backed up the machine is beyond me, unless they tried and it hurt her chest even more.

CMs did come over and speak to her - the incident occurred out of their line of sight due to those support posts that are in the area and the crowds.

 

[GadgetTheInventor]

Unfortunately, I think most of the people who need to improve their ECV driving skills are not going to be reading through this forum seeking advice.

It would be nice if Disney put out a short educational video on how to use/interact with ECVs and other wheels on Disney property. The one I saw on the ME ride about cruise ship safety was cute and entertaining...and hopefully at least slightly effective.

I think the best we can do for now is model healthy driving habits and hope that others will pick up on them. There are a lot of crazy and dangerous drivers out there (one time parked inside and rear-ended at high speed in a hit and run), but my DM tries to be a good ambassador to keep the bipedal tourists from raging every time they see wheels coming their direction.

Accidents are going to happen though too. I saw a kid at Disney once who got his leg stuck in the fence. There was no reason for his knee to be anywhere near that fence, but you know how kids are. It all adds to the amusement of people watching!

 

[brekin67]

Mom others used an ECV on her last trip. We did not realize how difficult of a time she would have maneuvering through the crowds and loading on to the bus. When the paths were too crowded, my sister would have to drive the ECV because my mother was very close to hitting people, hitting curbs, running into the back of people's strollers. It was more of a hindrance, I think. She said she would just walk and take lots of breaks next time. We know she still needs it, so we suggested using one at home for practice.

 

[jdb in AZ]

When the ECV drivers get tired from a long day at the parks, their reflexes get slower, and can even forget to let go of the throttle! That would be a good time for the family to be extra vigilant, perhaps "run interference" for the ECV to prevent the driver from causing an accident.

 

[bidnow5]

Unfortunately a lot of ECV accidents are not caused by the ECV but by the pedestrian there is so much to see that people walking don't notice the ECV they also don't realize that ECVs don't stop on a dime so they step in front of moving ECVs