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Posted By Jo Scott
I work for an organisation supporting disabled people and have noted the number of injuries we have from people having their feet run over or hit by people using electric wheelchairs.
Is there anyone out there experiencing similar problems and have you been able to come up with any effective risk reduction measures?
Thanks for your help.
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Posted By safetyamateur
Jo, I suppose I'd want to know how and where these collisions are happening.
In rooms without adequate turning space, in narrow corridors, at junctions of walkways. Is it carers/relatives who are getting too close to the chairs? Are the chair uses new to the machine?
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Posted By Ucan
I was run into with an electric wheelchair user some months ago in a shop, he pinned me to a chest freezer.......funny now but not at the time....it really did hurt the back of my legs.
He said sorry, but then kept his hand on the forward grip of the chair instead of reversing the chair from me.....he was pushing me back into the freezer.......
Shop well lit, isles wide enough, driver adequately trained.....I doubt it!
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Posted By safetyamateur
I reckon you deserved it.
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Posted By grahams
I would like to add to this people in electric wheelchairs using public roads. I realise they need to cross roads but have witnessed more and more using the main road as a way though. My most recent event was coming across someone at night, no lights on the chair that was dark red in colour and could have caused a serious accident. It must all be down to training of the user and for them to understand when in shops and outside the risks.
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Posted By Ucan
The other issue to consider here too is that some shop isle widths are not that wide, just about fit an electric wheelchair down it with no room at either side......can you imagine the panic if a fire started or a fire alarm sounded......the wheelchair user would certainly struggle to get out along with them blocking the access route for the customers.......
A mine field................
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Posted By safetyamateur
It's an issue that will grow too. I guess these things will be the norm rather than the exception as we all live longer.
That DDA will need a serious review.
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Posted By Stuff4blokes
Does anyone remember the Hell's Grannies episode of (I think) Monty Python?
There was thread on this subject some years ago on here where these chairs were being banned by some train company after a couple of people had driven straight through the carriage and out of the opposite door! It was a long thread with many views being expressed.
The users of these machines may well have been excellent car drivers but the equipment and controls are very different and it is not just a simple matter of transferring from one to the other. So we have a driver in an unfamiliar machine, little or no training, little experience and possibly reduced reaction times with some conditions.
There is a user who lives near to me and is a well-known road menace (erratic, no lights, little apparent road sense). Trouble is, non-locals do not recognise him and one day there will be a very bad accident. Pity the motorist who is involved.
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Posted By Crim
I'll be buying one myself soon as my legs are getting fairly bad, tried a few out in America recently, Walt Disney World and at the resort.
I found them excellent for getting out and about but they are silent and so easy to "speed" and not easy to stop in a hurry.
People tend to walk in front and stop suddenly - not realising a wheel chair is directly behind. Not always the driver's fault?
Yes it also happens with wheel chairs that are being pushed by an inexperienced carer, I've had that as well. Being pushed in a manual chair is even worse as there is no control at all.
One answer could be to install an automatic noise making device, bell, horn, bleeper or similar but that would only add to the disablilty stigma.
The main problem with both powered and non powered chairs is the length out front that takes some getting used to.
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Posted By Val Ives
Electric wheelchair 'drivers' are an absolute menace. I don't know about them probably being good car drivers - I should think that most of these people have no driving experience whatsoever. What kind of training do they have to undergo before they are let-loose on the pavements? Are they licenced? They are so heavy and numb and the operators are mostly so pig-ignorant and demand the right of way and get it of course because what poor pedestrian could argue with a chauvenist driving an electric wheelchair! They are lethal weapons; an accident waiting to happen. Train your children to steer clear.
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Posted By Ucan
Well said Val, I totally agree! These users should all undergo specialist training in the use and operation of this equipment.
I remember once a friend of mine was cleaning a shop window they worked in and a driver of an electric wheelchair crashed straight into him....bucket, sponge and suds all over the place. The the driver gave him a mouthful and said that he shouldn't have been stood there in the first place..........
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Posted By Seamus O Sullivan
I have not encountered this problem, however I have encountered problems caused by cars parking on footpaths, where wheelchair users sustained injuries as a result of attempting to get by.
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Posted By gerry d
I agree that some users have no consideration for other pedestrians (and road users!). But that lack of consideration also exists in pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and other users of the public throroughfares and highways as well. I don`t think its fair to tar all electric wheelchair users with the same brush. As someone who may need to use one of these machines in the future due to health, I am acutely aware of their benefits and what they do for some people. I would, however, be horrified if anyone automatically regarded me as a nuisance. Should there be some kind of proficiency test...well, yes, but it will still be treated with apathy by uncaring wheelchair users and the public at large. And don`t start me on people who don`t actually need an electric wheelchair.
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