Silly Scooters!

[Zed]

Scooters, Nifties, Vespas, etc...why don't the people who ride these "bikes" wear any protection apart from the helmets on their heads???

Do they think they won't get hurt falling off at 50kmph?
Are they all Uni students?
Is it willful ignorance?

Does anyone know?


Zed

[Ms Piggy]

Hey Zed,
Why don't you ask the riders?

[DebK]

I admit to being one of these silly scooter riders Zed but am getting all my gear together.

Now have an armoured Alpinestars jacket - elbows, shoulders and spine. Wear bike gloves and am about to buy some Draggin' Jeans kevlar gloves to wear under my other gloves (good for the Winter too). Next on the list is some armoured/padded pants. Last on my list when I can afford them is some boots, though unsure of make or model yet.

So we don't all wear fishtail parkas... though I've been stoopid enough over what was Summer to wear a skirt. That won't happen again though as realise the error of my ways, luckily without falling off though.

[Hitcher]

And I presume that ACC and others lump "scooter injuries" in with motorcycles...

On my way home up the Ngaio gorge on Friday night I passed a nerd without a helmet riding a Honda scooter. Not the first time I've seen said offender in action. The previous time neither he nor his pillion was helmeted. He was lucky he wasn't doing it the previous Friday when Joe Law and his mates were "mining" the gorge road.

[darren]

I have met some of these guys at work who ride these things,
there main excuse is they dont have the money

my reply, get a life before you loose it

darren

[Zed]

I have met some of these guys at work who ride these things,
there main excuse is they dont have the money

my reply, get a life before you loose it

darren

Yeah, I work with a young lady who sometimes rides a scooter- she has no protection whatsoever and her helmet resembles a glorified bicycle helmet! She thinks it's a joke.

There seems to be a different mindset with them...it's like they havn't even given a thought to falling off?


Zed

[Zed]

I admit to being one of these silly scooter riders Zed but am getting all my gear together.

Now have an armoured Alpinestars jacket - elbows, shoulders and spine. Wear bike gloves and am about to buy some Draggin' Jeans kevlar gloves to wear under my other gloves (good for the Winter too). Next on the list is some armoured/padded pants. Last on my list when I can afford them is some boots, though unsure of make or model yet.

So we don't all wear fishtail parkas... though I've been stoopid enough over what was Summer to wear a skirt. That won't happen again though as realise the error of my ways, luckily without falling off though.

You're an exception to the general rule DebK!


Zed

[marty]

well i ride a push bike reasonably often, and over a 25km ride to work I can AVERAGE 35km/h. my top speed is often 70k, sometimes 85, depending on which way i go. i wear lycra, gloves and a skid lid, and I often draught scooters at 40-50k. yes it hurts when I fall off, but i ain't wearin full armour and helmet for no one

[wkid_one]

i wear lycra

An image I think most of us coulda done without

[Firefight]

Scooters, Nifties, Vespas, etc...why don't the people who ride these "bikes" wear any protection apart from the helmets on their heads???

Do they think they won't get hurt falling off at 50kmph?
Are they all Uni students?
Is it willful ignorance?

Does anyone know?


Zed

While I agree with you Zed re Scooters ,and I know it has been discussed on this site many times before, I still can,t get my head round sportsbike riders
on motorway/open road, no gloves, tee shirt, and shorts. I used to think perhaps some time sitting in ICU would help, or maybe a section of graphic
pics on the site, but no, I don,t think that would make a difference.

I passed a guy on the way to work this evening, Nth bound on the southern M/way near Takanini, wearing Sand shoes, shorts, teeshirt , no gloves, on a
Red and black kawa of some kind, looked like a 600. made me

His right some may claim, Buggered if I know, Just thinkin of the folks who have to clean it up.

Firefight :disapint:

[wkid_one]

There is an argument to support appropriate safety clothing to be worn while riding.....but then, how many times have the police asked to make sure your helmet meets the minimum requirements.

[Firefight]

There is an argument to support appropriate safety clothing to be worn while riding.....but then, how many times have the police asked to make sure your helmet meets the minimum requirements.

yeah good point Dan, I have never heard of that being checked, can they do that ? What are the min requirments ?

F/F

[wkid_one]

They are supposedly written up in the LTSA standards somewhere.

If the ACC was serious about reducing accidents - the smart option would be the legislate a minimum standard of biking attire. Make riding in T'Shirts/Jandels etc illegal - or reckless and ticket accordingly. At the end of the day - we pay thru ACC for these accidents. Whilst I have no problem paying for someone who was at the very least wearing all the right gear - fucked if I want to pay for someone who was stupid enuf to ride in a tshirt w/o gloves.

[Motoracer]

Why did people look at me funny when I had my race leathers, gloves, helmet and boots on while I was riding my 50 cc scooter?

[MikeL]

To be fair, the vast majority of bike riders, and most scooter riders, seem to be reasonably well protected. On the way to and from Paeroa today I saw very few not wearing appropriate gear. A small number in jeans and sneakers, but almost everyone had leather or synthetic jacket and proper boots. Over the last few weeks in town however I have seen proportionally more scooter riders in shirt sleeves and shorts. Maybe a calculated risk, maybe blissful ignorance, but a targeted education campaign would be useful.