The mobility scooter market currently offers more than 200 scooter models from which to choose, with dozens of amenities and add-on features available. But not every model, amenity or add-on is right for every consumer. The wrong scooter may potentially lead drivers of these devices to accidents or impede them from using transit buses or cause them difficulty with air travel.
Glenn Coleman, an independent technology researcher at Mobility-Scooter-Reviews.com, has spent the last three years researching the problems that consumers encountered with mobility scooters. Coleman’s research pinpointed many frustrating and potentially life-threatening situations that consumers could have avoided if they simply had the right consumer information before or shortly after they purchased a mobility scooter.
Coleman realized that his research yielded vital information, which consumers of mobility scooters needed to have. So Coleman used his research data to create three eBooks on mobility scooters, along with two free checklists: a scooter buyer’s checklist for how to purchase a mobility scooter and a scooter traveler’s checklist to help scooter riders with transit bus and air travel.
One of Coleman’s eBooks,”Know Your Mobility Scooter Danger Zones!,” is a mobility scooter defensive driving safety guide. He freely shares the eBook’s tips through a 10-part email series.
Coleman received an email from recent mobility scooter consumers Michele and Tom Bass. “My husband and I are taking our first road trip with his mobility scooter from San Diego to San Francisco and we are leaving very early Thursday morning,” wrote Mrs. Bass.
“He just received his mobility scooter and this past Sunday while taking a ‘stroll’ after lunch in La Jolla, California, we were crossing the street and when he went to go over the curb ramp on the other side, which was under construction and bumpy, both he and the scooter tipped over and he landed in the street (not a pretty picture),” she continued.
“We obviously need driving tips before we venture out again on Thursday morning. I feel very fortunate to have found your website tonight. Thank you so very much for all your help,” concluded Mrs. Bass.
Terry Flower, secretary of a disability action group in Australia says “It seems that people only start investigating what is available after they have been persuaded to buy units too small for their needs”.
Coleman advises consumers to consider some fundamental uses and features of a mobility scooter before they buy:
- Some scooters are primarily for indoor use
- Other scooters are primarily for outdoor use
- Some scooters are very comfortable to ride
- Other scooters are downright uncomfortable
- Some scooters can easily fold to fit into the trunk of a car
- Other scooters may have pieces that are too heavy to lift into the trunk of a car
- Some scooters are easy to take on a bus or an airplane
- Some scooters are so big, they won’t fit through the doors of a bus, home or an apartment
- Medicare or private insurance may cover the cost of a scooter, but only if it is for indoor use
- And the list goes on…
Any one of these factors may have a big impact on WHERE riders of mobility scooters can and can’t go and how COMFORTABLE and SAFE a ride they’ll have getting there. In too many cases, consumers get stuck with a mobility scooter that’s just not right for them simply because they didn’t have the right information beforehand.
Consumers who don’t prepare well before they purchase a scooter may run the risk of any of the following problems:
- Can’t leave home because the scooter isn’t meant for outdoor use and it may get stuck on every sidewalk cut-out
- Can’t travel too far from home because the scooter has a short battery charge life that may leave the rider stranded
- Can’t climb hills to get home because the scooter is underpowered
- Can’t easily get on or off the mobility scooter due to poor seat design
- Can’t easily control the scooter because it is too large, small, narrow, or it has the wrong steering control appropriate for the rider’s medical condition
- And that is just the beginning.
Although Coleman’s eBooks and checklists are available online, the information is still not reaching many seniors who don’t have access to the Internet. For this reason, Coleman created his scooter checklists in a handy brochure format that can easily be printed and displayed where seniors trek in libraries, community centers, mobility stores, medical offices and home-care facilities.
Copies of the buyer’s and traveler’s checklists and driving tips from Coleman’s ebook “Know Your Mobility Scooter Danger Zones!” are free by email. And Coleman says he can customize the checklists for any organization’s specific needs, whether the changes involve particular organizational policies or policies that differ in other countries.