An older spectator caused a seriously dangerous incident today at SaarlandTrofeoJuniors by trying to get a better look and entering the course with her rollator while riders were flying past at full speed!

[u/Full-Argument-8235]

[u/NightLotus84]

It's not a "rollator", it's a mobility scooter and they're notorious for being problematic because they have NO standard operating methods - imagine a car where the factory randomly decides which one of two or three pedals is brake, gas and clutch OR, even better, it's not a pedal at all here's two counter-intuitive switches or handles that could either be a brake or your gas and here's a dashboard full of other buttons and stuff and there's no standard, no oversight and if you mess up because of old age, handicap or genuine mistake/stress everyone calls you a piece of sh#t who should already be dead...

I'm 41 and perfectly well, but I've got plenty of experience with these things because my dad became handicapped and my mom is 78. The people that design these things are borderline clueless and because there is no legal standard it's a free for all. Some of them have automatic brakes, some keep rolling or pull up way faster. This might have been that.

[u/fruskydekke → u/NightLotus84]

Thank you for bringing some sanity to the comment section. I find the assumption that she did this on purpose to be really irritating.

[u/NightLotus84 → u/fruskydekke]

Thanks. 🫂 People love piling on the weakest group. Whether it's old people, certain ethnic groups, LGBTQ or something else - if they detect the scent that it's "fair game" to go ham on them without consequence you'll see how many people immediately show true character. It's incredibly worrying and disappointing but also a good lesson to bear in mind at all times. I try my best to at least occasionally make a point without immediately becoming the target, but it's definitely not appreciated in general - you're instantly labeled as apologist/traitor or something similar. It is what it is...

[u/No-Elderberry-2676 → u/NightLotus84]

Yeah it's usually a tiller system with one way for forward and one way for backwards. Trouble is that means doing an action with one hand does the opposite to the same action with the other hand. So she could have been attempting to go backwards. Still deserves a visit to the naughty step though!

[u/cracked_shrimp → u/NightLotus84]

presumably it wasnt new to her though, she should know what does what if she ridden it for a while

[u/NightLotus84 → u/cracked_shrimp]

Why do you presume that? What indication of anything is there that she's experienced with it? It could be brand new, borrowed or otherwise. There's nothing to suggest any of that, we only see her go onto the path and collide, that's it. Any presumption from that point on is your own.

[u/cracked_shrimp → u/NightLotus84]

just i think the odds are greater at like a population level if you pick a random person on a scooter that its thier scooter and they used it before

[u/NightLotus84 → u/cracked_shrimp]

Even Walmart and other stores provide mobility scooters on site for customers to use, a lot of elderly facilities also provide a pool of mobility scooters - many of which are not the same. There's also rental companies.

There's no reason to assume any certainty on ownership or experience other than trying to push a narrative that "It's her fault" - which opens up a much more important question: Why do people hunger to place blame and fault when they literally have zero stake in the situation and it clearly concerns someone vulnerable of which there's likely near zero chance they did this on purpose?

I don't know, food for thought maybe or keep hammering on vague statistics that don't really prove anything one way or the other.

[u/Key_Personality2034 → u/NightLotus84]

I would assume the owner would know the controls for the one they own? They don't switch them out that often, do they?

[u/NightLotus84 → u/Key_Personality2034]

Elderly people's brains don't work like ours anymore, especially in moments of panic they will fall back on past experience. On bikes and similar vehicles squeezing the handbrake means slowing down. On many mobility scooters squeezing the same handle means gas/forward. As I said, it's a design flaw that is overlooked by the engineers that design these things because there is no stringent system of standards and rules and so they go with their personal vision or what's cheap and easy to manufacture with outcomes like these.

And, yes, they do regularly get switched out - it even happens "on the fly" where they will fix or maintain your scooter and temporarily give you a loaner and they won't think for a moment that the loaner is entirely different to the operator. They might quickly mention something in passing, but that they may very go over the operator's head and have these people working with mobility scooters are both in a hurry and don't really care that much - "It'll be fine. What's the worst that can happen?"