Saw a scooter break in half today

[klingon]

The rider was fine (surprisingly!) he stayed upright and just had a bruised knee!

I was riding home along Great North Road, coming up to the Avondale roundabout. A car ahead stopped suddenly (they spotted the driveway they wanted to turn into on the right), the scooter stopped behind the car, the next car stopped, and the last car slammed into the back of car #2 and shunted it into the scooter.

At which point the scooter just snapped in half through the area where you put your feet.

Sorry I can't remember the brand name of the scooter, but the guy had bought it brand new in May for about $1000. Of course it was a 50cc Chinese-assembled one, made mostly of plastic.

I sat with the rider (who was obviously very shaken!) until the ambos had been and checked him out, and the police had taken his statement, and the towies had taken his scooter, and his Mum came to pick him up.

But it just reinforced to me that those plastic scooters are not reinforced! They really seem to have no structural strength at all. They are toys, not proper vehicles!

And I also want to point out that this is not an anti-scooter rant. At the time when this happened I was riding my partner's 180cc Piaggio - and I can pretty much guarantee that if I had been hit by a car, the Piaggio would not have snapped in half! It's just the (lack of) quality of those cheap plastic scoots that scares me.

Please, please if you know people who ride those plastic toy scooters, ask them to be super-careful, wear all the gear, and ideally upgrade to something a little more structurally sound!

[Headbanger]

They must have forgotten to install the frame.....Though Scooters aren't designed to be hit by cars.


Back when I was a teen I tried to show a young lass I was really keen on giving her a bounce by stealing her nifty fifty and riding it all around the school carpark doing wheelies and going up and down gutters.

Somehow the plastic bodywork broke, she showed her dad, he removed the plastic, frame was snapped, he came around home, gave me a thick ear, told me to stay away from his daughter.

LMFAO.


Thats alright, Saw her the other day for the first time in 20 years, fuckin ugly.

[PrincessBandit]

What a shocking thing to see, and how good it was that you were there to help. Being on the end of a multi car shunt would be bad enough, but then to see your ride break like that....!!!

Glad to hear the rider wasn't too badly hurt. Bet he really appreciated, too, having someone to sit with him while in shock and waiting for further assistance.
Hmm just realised that I assumed he wasn't too badly hurt, as you said he was pretty shaken. Hope that there are no injuries. What kind of gear was he wearing? (and no, that's not a trolling question)

[klingon]

What a shocking thing to see, and how good it was that you were there to help. Being on the end of a multi car shunt would be bad enough, but then to see your ride break like that....!!!

Glad to hear the rider wasn't too badly hurt. Bet he really appreciated, too, having someone to sit with him while in shock and waiting for further assistance.

Actually the really funny thing (if there could be a funny thing) was that the first people on the scene were a carload of motorbike riding instructors! Complete with a trailer full of bikes with L-plates, first aid kits, and of course all wearing fluoro vests and fully trained in first aid!

Then I (riding a scooter) was second to arrive, and then third were the residents of the house outside which the accident happened. They are traffic management people, and all came out with their fluoro vests and carrying road cones, and started directing traffic around the scene while the motorbike instructors checked out everyone for injuries!*

You really couldn't have asked for a more highly-trained squad of folks to show up at the scene of a crash.

All I had to do was sit next to the young lad, talk to him calmly, and lend him my phone to call his Mum.

*Turned out the only injured party was the old guy in car #3, who was at fault. His airbag went off and whacked his hand really hard - he suffered a suspected broken thumb. I know it was his fault but I still felt sorry for the poor old guy.

[FROSTY:Me]

Klingon sorry to um disollusion ya but under all that plastic there is a frame.Trouble is that without the upper frame rails they do tend to fold in half at the foot well.

[FROSTY:Me]

Actually Klingon you reminded me of the nationals going back er(oh god am I really that old) 20 years ago.
it was midweek between meetings for the south island nationals so there wwre a bunch of us all jazzed up and a bit bored. so a bunch of us rented 50cc scooters. yamaha jogs or honda melodies as I recall.
all was going great we were having a great time terrorizing a small town.
UNTIL some bright spark spotted the local BMX track.
You can imagine 15 or so racers hardout on scooters round a BMX track. Alll great fun untill one guy did a rather spectacular double. On landing the poor little scooter gave up and folded in half.
There were instantly scooters scattering to the four corners of the town leaving one poor sod with an imobile scooter.
Rumour hasit that some kindly person picked him up in a race van and use of a car jack and a lick of paint had the scooter back looking pretty much its battered self.
The rental guy I'mtold was suspicious but couldn't be sure what happened.

[Squiggles]

There's an awesome amount of flex in the chasis of Danae's Yamaha Vino, so much that you can see the front panels getting closer and further from you as you ride. Real confidence inspiring when you know its spent a long time outside in the elements

[CookMySock]

*Turned out the only injured party was the old guy in car #3, who was at fault. His airbag went off and whacked his hand really hard - he suffered a suspected broken thumb. I know it was his fault but I still felt sorry for the poor old guy.

Fooken dangerous things these cars! Ironic innit..

Steve

[phred]

Is there a standard that these vehicles must satisfy before being allowed on the road as vehicles?
If not what is ACC doing about it.
If so what is ACC doing about removing these unsafe vehicles from our roads.

Make em work for their money!

[Mully]

Is there a standard that these vehicles must satisfy before being allowed on the road as vehicles?
If not what is ACC doing about it.
If so what is ACC doing about removing these unsafe vehicles from our roads.

Make em work for their money!

AFAIK, scooters (or mopeds) are an area that has slipped through the net.

Under 50(?) CC, they don't require a WOF.

Doesn't matter though, if they collapse, ACC will pay up......

[imdying]

To be fair, a scooter isn't designed to be the filling in a car sandwich!

[FROSTY:Me]

Scooters do not require ANY certification to be allowed on the road.I do agree some really frigging dangerous bits of cack have been allowed on the road as "scooters"

[CookMySock]

Scooters do not require ANY certification to be allowed on the road.I do agree some really frigging dangerous bits of cack have been allowed on the road as "scooters"

Thats half the fun of them. I'm really tempted to slap some junk together and put a scooter rego on it..

What would be fully mad, is a yearly competition to see who can make the maddest and baddest moped - must be fully street legal.

Steve

[Spyke]

get a named brand suzuki,yamaha, honda and you will find thay are strong and can take abuse. if you are using a scooter for anymore than commuting eg take off road lol the light components will break.

My scooter is a pgo comet made taiwan I give it alot of shit. motard style racing, racing around off road, jumping curbs and the only thing that really lets it down is suspension, maybe if i was 30kg.

now ive heard of chineese scooters that handlebars have fallen off and frames snap.

Buy good scooters and yes they are more fun than motorbikes in tight city riding.

anything else and you need a bike.