Electric wheelchairs on roads

[vk6hgr]

Hi folks

Interesting experience today. Me and quite a number of other drivers almost hit an elderly bloke riding his electric wheelchair up the wrong side of the road in the 80km section.

Just down the road a bit a traffic car had pulled someone over in a carpark so I go to tell them about it. Apparenty according to them what this bloke wad doing was quite legal and driving the opposite way to traffic was the safest thing to do since there's no footpath.

I think it's a great way he could of got himself killed.

Anyone come across this before?

[Tyranus]

...but in all seriousness no haven't seen it before but I could potentially see why. When I was at school I was always taught that as a pedestrian if you were on the road you walked on the right hand side of the road, and if you were a cyclist you cycled on the left. (I was brought up predominantly in Botswana where footpaths were not so common.) This was because a cyclist was moving reasonably quickly and expected to obey all road rules, on the other hand it is safer for a pedestrian to see the cars coming towards them and they can then move off the road. I expect the same applies with the Electric wheelchair, safer to see other traffic, however probably safer to be off the road in an 80km/h zone too!

[yorky]

Some laws are head scratchers. Common sense in these cases just doesn't seem to prevail. On the road against traffic is just asking for it.

Riding anything on the road where you don't match normal traffic speeds is a sure fire way to hurts-ville if you ask me.

Similar thing I've seen now and then is persons on powered push bikes. Either electric or gas, seems slightly safer as they are able to go faster and hence mix with traffic easier. The sad side is its actually illegal to operate these on the road as the law is so outdated that only a stupidly low Wattage/powered bike (and hence Senior Slow Coach) can be used before its classed as a normal powered vehicle and needs to be registered. Which of course can't happen because its a bloody push bike!

[vk6hgr]

If it's on the road and it's not completely pedal powered then it's a vehicle and I reckon it should be compliant, licensed and taxed as such. <shrug>

[Nafenn]

Supposedly you are also meant to walk down the road in the opposite direction, so you can see approaching traffic... a bit loony to do it in an electric wheelchair tho

[VK6LD]

Technically they shouldn't be capable of going over 10km/h.

See: http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/LBU_VS_IB_115.pdf

[Zebedee]

Apparenty according to them what this bloke wad doing was quite legal and driving the opposite way to traffic was the safest thing to do since there's no footpath.

Rob beat me to it!

I was going to say that a person operating a motorised wheelchair is considered to be a pedestrian - which is what that PDF that Rob linked to says...

It also says:

A rider in a motorised wheelchair is considered to be a pedestrian, as long as the chair is limited to a top speed of 10 km/h.

Where a footpath is not provided, you may travel along the edge of the roadway, unless the road rules prohibit you from doing so. You must travel along the right edge of the roadway, facing towards oncoming traffic. You should not travel along the edge of the roadway unless you absolutely have to and the design of the motorised wheelchair allows it to be safely driven on the expected terrain.

So, as crazy as it seems, this bloke sounded like he was following the rules to the letter - he was on the edge of the roadway, on a road with no footpath provided, and was facing oncoming traffic.

The only thing I can see that might have been a "gotcha" is where it says:

... you must exercise common sense and avoid dangerous situations.

Now if what he was doing, and where he was doing it, was dangerous to either himself or other people, then he may have broken that part of the rules, however it's a bit tenuous...

[vk6hgr]

Technically they shouldn't be capable of going over 10km/h.

Good find, Rob.

So riding an electric wheelchair on the bendy part of the 80Km/hr zone in Marshall road is suicidally stupid, but still legal.

[robbage]

So riding an electric wheelchair on the bendy part of the 80Km/hr zone in Marshall road

That's probably the same guy I often see at or near the corner of Marshall and Malaga and Beach Rd. There's a service road that runs parallel to Marshall from Bunnings. He should be able to make it almost to Guadalupe Drv without being on Marshall

[yorky]

Well this is interesting: http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/breakin ... 5934999562

[Zebedee]

Yeah - the article said the chair could reach speeds of 15 km/hr so I assume that's why he wasn't classed as a pedestrian, but rather as a driver of a vehicle...