Somebody is going to get hurt....

[PetePanMan]

Just back from 4 night stay labour day weekend. Great trip but man, somebody is going to get hurt with the way people are operating the motorized scooters. Many people talking about it as it was quite noticeable. There were so many that were going way too fast for crowd levels. I saw a # of situations with young kids on laps steering (or should I say attempting to steer). I saw case at GCH where a family of three adults on scooters (two of which had kids on laps) were racing, including going around corners, on outside walkwalks. A few near misses and a few unpleasant word exchanges etc. I would be shocked if there have not been injuries.

 

[NWT]

It seems like more and more people are using them. We were at the CMA fest in Nashville and a woman ran over my DH's foot and did not even stop and apologize. I realize that some people really need these, but I wish there was some consideration taken on their part, too.

 

[mydisneyfix]

IMHO there will never be a way to change the problem. It's just like bad drivers...there always have been some, always will be. My advice from a terrifying experience is to be watchful of your surroundings. Especially with little kids. My story..my then 3 yr old was at Marine world with her little nose on the glass watching penguins swim. A lady in a scooter was behind her just a few feet also watching. The lady went to leave and went forward instead of reverse. Almost squashed my kid btw her scooter and a glass wall. I will never let a scooter get that close to my kid again regardless of the driver or the speed.

 

[Escape2Disney]

Stories like this make me sad because it gives those of us on scooters a bad name. There are many of us who are very careful and use these machines out of necessity; it's sad that a few bad apples ruin it for the whole bunch.

:-(

 

[mydisneyfix]

Stories like this make me sad because it gives those of us on scooters a bad name. There are many of us who are very careful and use these machines out of necessity; it's sad that a few bad apples ruin it for the whole bunch.

:-(

I don't mean to make anyone feel sad. You just never know if the person behind the wheel is a good driver. Same with cars. My statement was said just to tell people to be careful with the little kids regardless. We don't want kids running out in front of moving vehicles either right? But you are right, some people abuse scooters and make it worse for those that need them.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

where was the disney police?????

 

[pharmama]

I had the opposite problem this morning... Woman had her MAYBE 3yr old granddaughter on her lap 'driving the scooter' and they were going SO SLOW they were holding up the whole bag inspection line at the GCH entrance to DCA for EMH. Was very annoying.

 

[Gracedis1]

My mom had to use a scooter on our last trip due to needing a double knee replacement. She had never operated one before so she needed a lot of practice before safely operating it in crowded conditions. She was very careful but over 4 days we had a couple of mishaps. She is older and hit forward instead of reverse and ran over my DH! I was happy it was him and not a kid. She was pretty stressed out about it, but she would not have been able to go without it. I have a love/hate relationship with those things. As we get older, there are going to be more of them in the parks!

 

[kelmac284]

It seems like maybe people who may need them so go to a rental place or somewhere before their trip if possible and figure out how to use them. I agree I think a lot of it is people not knowing how to operate them properly. For those that use them all the time they are not the issue it is those that just use them for the trip and don't take them time to learn how to use them.

When we were in Epcot a few years ago a lady came into the china theater and was trying to back up in the back and instead went forward and hit my mom REALLY hard who was sitting in the seat. She then did it AGAIN and never even said a word. It really hurt my mom who is almost 70 herself.

My mom is getting to where she probably needs one so I am def sympathetic to those who use them but I agree perhaps taking a little more time to get to know how they work?

 

[julieheyer]

It seems like maybe people who may need them so go to a rental place or somewhere before their trip if possible and figure out how to use them. I agree I think a lot of it is people not knowing how to operate them properly. For those that use them all the time they are not the issue it is those that just use them for the trip and don't take them time to learn how to use them.

When we were in Epcot a few years ago a lady came into the china theater and was trying to back up in the back and instead went forward and hit my mom REALLY hard who was sitting in the seat. She then did it AGAIN and never even said a word. It really hurt my mom who is almost 70 herself.

My mom is getting to where she probably needs one so I am def sympathetic to those who use them but I agree perhaps taking a little more time to get to know how they work?

Yes!! ^ this!! People go to the parks and are not really wheelchair bound. They just can't (or don't want to) walk around the parks, and the scooters are certainly easier on them. Definitely a dramatic increase in their use. It would be easy and very nice if people at least practiced before heading into the throng.

Walmart and most grocery stores have them (for free!!) and it would be a great place for people to "practice" before getting to the parks. They rent them in the park and off the people go w.o. even a tutorial!

My dad was an amputee and drove one around WDW many times (after several trips where we pushed him in a wheelchair). For him, it was necessary and nice to be independent and he was a good driver. But in crowded areas where the drivers are bad, distracted, irresponsible, or careless it really is a danger. The slow drivers in the crowded areas are frustrating too! :

 

[MrsMears]

I think we will be seeing less and less 'need' for these scooters as it seems the insurance companies and medicare are going to stop authorizing these machines. Somehow, people will have to figure out how to get around before these scooters became so common place.

 

[TheZue]

The other problematic thing with these is that often the people who need them have a disability that leads to difficulty driving. My mom was a terror on hers, it was awful but she needed it.

 

[Princess Row]

I have had my foot run over TWICE before.
I am not sure there is any way to solve this problem.

 

[doris1976]

The fights are coming, so grab your popcorn and have a seat.

 

[Princess Row]

The fights are coming, so grab your popcorn and have a seat.

I really hope this isn't the case.
I truly respect those that need it, there are many that do for many reasons, and I am glad they were made to help people out.

Maybe they should just have a test track before hand that you have to use, with like dummy people on the road, and if you hit one then take 2 more laps. It could be actually a little fun!

 

[MrsMears]

The fights are coming, so grab your popcorn and have a seat.

Well, sure.. when you choose to have the perspective.

 

[momrek06]

We were at DCA the other evening … and a Mom in her 40's was driving with her like maybe 8yo on her lap.

They were in front of us. They started to really go fast and BY MISTAKE they FLEW off the sidewalk and the whole scooter ALMOST fell completely over BUT for some miracle the scooter righted itself.

OMG. DH & I about panicked and ran to them but like I said the scooter completely righted itself AND they just continued along at a good clip. I would have had to stop and catch my breath at least UNLESS of course this has happened to them before.

 

[Showpony]

I have been traveling to the park for some time now with someone who uses the scooters. One person is diabetic and has neuropathy and the other is a hip replacement recipient. Always, always, both are very careful when traveling in the parks and I am usually the one who runs lead to help stop anyone else from getting hurt. Sometimes people are just not too keen on looking at their surroundings and I will have to do the 'stop quick' so they won't get run over. Now my other big pet peeve is people who can not cut the cord from their phones!! Arrrggghhhh!! Put your phones down people and watch where you're walking!!!

 

[sonjaandsue]

Hopefully, to prevent some misunderstandings, I'd like to point out that there are people with disabilities that need scooters who are not wheelchair bound. DP has MS - she can still walk, but not for more than a block or two so she could not do a theme park without something to help her get around. If scooters didn't exist, she would have to do a wheelchair. Scooters feel more independent than wheelchairs - at least that's why DP accepts a scooter but fights me on using a wheelchair.

She has never run into anyone and no one has jumped in front of her. She goes slower than my normal walking pace, as fast as she can and still avoid the crowds around her. Last year we got "stuck" in Tomorrowland during MHP - we got in the treat line and it was so crowded that she couldn't turn around to get out. That was awkward and we had to ask people to make room - thankfully everyone was polite about it. We have decided to avoid Tomorrowland during MPH this year!

 

[pixiewings71]

I have zero issues with scooters or people who use them, but I think people who use them should have to take a class of some kind and get a "license" or "degree" to show they've taken the class and know how to safely use one. I've been run over, run into, and pushed into people using them, not always that persons fault, rarely my fault but the one time that still really makes me crazy was the time we in the tiny pin shop in NOS, we were at the counter but sort of off to the side, a lady on a scooter came in and wanted to go past me standing at the counter, I moved in as far as I could (I mean seriously, I was practically sitting ON the counter, I was leaned up, on my hands bracing myself on the counter, my feet on my tippy toes), this lady said to me in a rude tone "I need to go over there" So I squeezed in to let her go by, as she passed me she snorted and then ran over my heel as I started to slip and dropped one foot to catch myself, then instead of saying "Oops" or anything like that she said "I told you where I needed to go, it serves you right". It was ridiculous, there was NO where for me to go, the doors to the shop on that side were closed, if they had been open I guess I could have out them and come back in the other doors but really? There was another time a lady started to chew me out because we were in a crush of people and someone behind me pushed me, I had to grab her scooter seat arm so I didn't land in her lap, I started to apologize and she started to go off, someone with her said "she didn't do that on purpose, someone pushed her" and the lady stopped yelling and apologized, I said it wasn't our fault so she didn't need to apologize but the person who pushed me should. lol
But those were 2 incidents in many many trips so really it isn't normally an issue. And I will continue to say that I think those who use them should take a class, I know I would.