Mobility scotters

Pedestrians are not always protected these days even on public footpaths, because of cyclists and disabled scooter's.

But  I like many other people, think the laws need to be changed to take on the number of people using bicycles and  mobility scooters on public footpaths

I get annoyed when cyclists ride along public footpaths, these days in total disregard to pedestrians.

I was told last year that its illegal to ride a bicycle on a footpath if you don't have a bell, to fitted to warn others using  the footpath, but many simply ignore this law.
What is more, if you try to say something to these people you get a mouthful of abuse.

However I do think that disability scooters need to have bells or horns fitted when used on public footpaths

During the last few days I have seen two mobility scotters travelling  along busy footpaths, dodging other people walking along looking in shops.

I think this sort of thing is now getting worse because these  scooters can travel at high speeds, and when you have problems with stability,  these things are very dangerous, as they don't give you much of a chance to get out of the way.

A few Years ago I wrote to Durham county council about these mobility scooters and was told it was up to the Government to do something.

So I wrote to the "Government department mentioned" and was told that it was up to local government to control these things.

So does anyone care, especially when people are being run over and injured by high speed scotters on footpaths.  The problem with these things is that many of the users are not insured for accidents

I think that they should be regulated, especially on footpaths and even some users agree, because they get fed up of abuse from pedestrians.

I understand that some able bodied people use them, to save them walking everywhere which seems rather odd, especially in this day and age when we hear about people being unhealthy or obese

As one disabled person said the other day, you can always tell if someone really needs these things,  because they usually have walking sticks or cruutches strapped on behind the seat

I have no objection to people using them, but I honestly think they need regulating, and they should be insured for any accidents they cause.