Finally, it seems, the Government has plucked up the courage to crack down on the mobility scooter maniacs making a misery of our lives.
New plans from the DfT will require mobi-riders to take a driving test and purchase compulsory motor insurance, like the rest of us.
They could also face criminal persecution for dangerous driving if they drive dangerously.
In fact, The Daily Telegraph this week claimed, causing injury “by ‘wanton and furious driving’ with a mobility scooter could incur a two-year prison sentence with hard labour under an 1861 law.”
The new plans come in response to mounting alarm over the threat posed by an army of 330,000 mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs running amok across the UK.
Police are currently powerless to act unless they can catch mobi-riders over the drink-drive limit or using a hand-held device while ‘driving.’
Invalid carriages (as these fiendish contraptions are officially known) are supposed to travel no faster than 4mph on the pavement or 8mph on the road.
But with some machines tuned up to reach speeds of 40mph or more, the law is widely flouted.
Make no mistake: these people are a menace. They don’t have licenses, so they can’t be disqualified. They don’t have insurance, so their victims have no redress.
Implicated in countless low-speed hit and runs, in routine disregard for the safety of other road and pavement users, and even in drug-running, it’s time these people were taught a lesson.
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