First off, I apologize to the folks who read this and are disappointed/think I somehow fooled them.
Today I walked into a bookstore and noticed a few feet in front of me was a person in a motorized chair (it looked like a small ATV). Not wanting to trail this person through the store, I started down a parallel aisle at my usual stride until I got to the end of that aisle. Unfortunately, this person managed to go slightly faster than I did (in other words...FASTER than normal walking speed) and at the end of the aisle where the 2 converged I was nearly run over. The person was going so fast that he almost ran into a table piled with books. In a tone that said I was not happy about nearly being run over, I told the person something like "...you know, those can go FASTER." The look on my face should also have been a sign I wasn't too happy. The guy in the chair? Just laughed it off.
A.) have we reached the point that wheelchairs and "scooters" need speed governors? Or do I have a problem? (Wait, don't answer the second part of that.)
B.) I know "Dear Abby" would frown on this, but does any one have a more obvious "comeback line" for MAROONS like this?
Don't need a comeback line, just push them over when they hit you and leave them there. 
The damn things are fast though aren't they. We did a Handicap sales show a few months back. There was a dealer for those chairs there zipping around on them. He had a couple of models that would out run me running. Not that I'm real fast. 
They probably aren't any less observant than the sheeple driving out on the street. At least the handicap scooter will only leave a bruise and not kill you outright.
There's a guy in my building in one of those chairs. Seems like he always has the latest greatest one around and he is always zipping around corners in it a full throttle, it is very fast for inside a building. I can't say I wouldn't do the same thing but damn its annoying.
There are asshats of all kinds. Wheelchairs do not counteract asshated-ness.
Comeback: " Hey watch it! You could break you neck (again!)"
Treat them like any other human being, just being disabled doesn't mean they get to act like ass-hats.
Obviously stop before you throw their wheelchair down a ramp and the angry mob catches up to you.
I built a handicap scooter for a friend of mine thats good for 30 mph on gas, then normal scooter speed on electric. Hybrid technology at its best.
And my friend is the sort of guy who would run you over, then give you E36 M3 for laying around.
I've never had an issue with a too fast motorized wheelchair or other vehicle. They are always crawling at snail speed and I've been tempted to crawl over them.
Working in retail, believe me, they destroy everything in their path and don't apologize about it. What's worse is that many of them are silent, too.
If I ever broke my neck I know I would want to have a fast as hell wheel chair. So the answer is no, a speed governor is not needed.
SupraWes wrote:
I can't say I wouldn't do the same thing but damn its annoying.
I was going to say something like that. That's all of us in 40 more years.
"That's all of us in 40 more years."
At my age, if I'm in a wheelchair in 40 more years, I better have a white sheet over me.
I have nothing against wheeledchairs or scooters, as my folks will soon need them to cope with arthritis. But like so much modern technology, people use it with no respect to the impact (in this case, literally) it will have on those around them.
And when you come close to inflicting bodily harm on me....LAUGHING it off, to me, is like a red flag to a bull.
can't stand those things. We get folks in them at the casinos.. they roam around like they own the place
Perhaps a bit of chicanery was needed. Lacking cones, a series of hardback books along the floor of the isle would have slowed him down.
I had an old man run into me on one of those damned thing. I was thinking "if I pushed your crippled entitled ass off that thing what will you do?" Of course being a gentle man I accepted the geriatrics apology.
Some old men have issues with being considerate and running a silent electric cart through a store and full throttle isn't considerate.
My friend's dad has a mobility scooter (he suffered a stroke in his 40's that cost him the use of his legs) he let my try out and that little thing had some cojones! The wheely-wheels on the rear are not for show.
His theory on why they were so fast was to compensate for the morbidly obese riders who would weigh down the scooter and make it slower.
Remember when George Costanza pretended to be handicapped at work and they gave him a scooter? That's what this thread made me think of.
Seinfeld Scooter Clip
Bob
This one is probably just about fast enough
Mobility Scooter from HELL
The Crippler made me laugh
Anyone else thinking of the scooter commercials with Tom Cruze?
I really dislike scooters. Every so often somone truly needs one, but usually it's overweight people who don't feel like walking.
And it may be your tax dollars that paid for the scooter too. Most of the ads seem to promise unconditional acceptance of the purchase by Medicare/medicaid aka us.
I've noticed--scooter or wheelchair independent--that you can glean a lot of information about how a person moves through stores (grocery, book, etc.) and apply it to their driving habits. Good chance if they don't anticipate someone or something around the next stack or obstacle they most likely practice the same poor skills in the car. Just watch the way they push a shopping cart and talk on their cell. Watch how they stop and stand in the middle of aisles or intersections. They will do the same in the street. I tell my students to do this. The laugh. That is until they get run over by an errant cart at the store! Think about it. The same way some of them walk through the hallways is how they will drive--looking right in front of them, not anticipating changes in flow, most probably texting!
Anyway, regarding the wheel chair thing, when I was in 5th grade a friend moved up to a motorized wheel chair. We all took a spin. I nearly crashed into the couch and end table. Seemed awfully quick--and that was in the early eighties. Electrics really are quick off the line!
When my wife's hips went bad with arthritis, our son was about 2 years old. She hobbled around for a while, getting worse and worse, then we got her a scooter. No government money was involved (this was WAY before PrezO--he was prolly still 'Barry' then-- so no mention of any bailout
), just a credit card and some savings to pay off the card. It was another several years before we got handicapped plates on the rig. Then one time while I was unloading the scooter, a woman passing by mentioned that I didn't look handicapped, so why was I in the handicapped spot? A few minutes later in the store, I saw her look at me, look at my wife on the scooter, look back at me and blush and look away quickly. I said loudly enough for her to hear, "it's sure nice that you have this scooter, isn't it?. Sure be a bear to get around without it, wouldn't it?" Her head went down and she ducked around the end of the aisle and then blushed furiously every time I saw her the rest of the time we were there.
The scooter may be a pain for those whose legs still work the way they're s'posed to, but they're a Godsend for those whose don't.
How is this one:
I was almost hit by a girl in one of those at school who was texting.
