Date set for South Yorkshire mobility scooter sessions

South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership and Parkgate Mobility, working in collaboration to deliver a series of free of charge mobility scooter safety sessions for residents of South Yorkshire, are pleased to announce the date for their first Scooter Safe initiative.

The first event will be held at the Lifewise Centre, Hellaby, on 30 May 2012 at 4pm, with capacity for eight mobility scooter users to attend each event. Taking part in the two hour Scooter Safe workshop is completely free of charge for South Yorkshire residents.

Recorded figures show that in the last five years, across South Yorkshire, there were 28 incidents involving mobility scooters and in 17 of those incidents people were either killed or injured as a result. Many more incidents go unreported.  In order to address this issue Scooter Safe has been developed to teach mobility scooter users about the legal requirements of owning and using a scooter and the skills required to drive their machine safely.

Scooter Safewill involve a mixture of theory based and hands on sessions with attendees using a variety of mobility scooters, or even their own machines, to navigate their way around a series of obstacle courses and day to day situations.

PC Mick Hedges explains “The two hour session is designed to be fun and interactive, and is open for scooter users of all ages to attend. During the session we aim to explain the lawful requirements and responsibilities of owning a scooter, provide manoeuvrability skills and raise road safety awareness to mobility scooter users.

“The aim of the project is to help South Yorkshire residents with mobility issues to maintain their independence whilst enhancing their own safety and confidence on our roads and other public areas.”  

TracySimmonsof Parkgate Mobility said “Working with South Yorkshire Police and other members of the Safer Roads Partnership to develop these sessions has provided a great opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of mobility scooter safety. The Lifewise Centre at Hellaby provides an ideal setting to run these sessions in a safe, managed environment that represents a range of conditions that a scooter user could expect to face on the high street”.

To book your place on this or future courses please contact South Yorkshire Police on 01709 832 455 or email: scooter.safe@southyorks.pnn.police.uk.