Scooters and the Senior Set

 

What do you think about seniors riding scooters?  I am not talking about the motorized wheelchairs or the little scooters seen on television for mobility-impaired individuals, but honest to goodness scooters for transportation.

 

Driving gives people a sense of freedom unequaled by anything else and it is a heart-wrenching decision when it comes time to give it up.  It isn’t that you need to drive long distances or fight freeway traffic any more, but just being able to make small trips to church, the senior center or even the grocery store is empowering.

 

The scooter presents an inexpensive way to get from point A to point B and this explains why scooter sales are on the increase.  Scooters today are easy to operate (even for baby-boomers) and are an eco-friendly form of transportation.

 

Mark Solheim (Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, February 2009) wrote that scooters are technically motorcycles, but easier to operate.  Scooters are senior friendly for those with joint problems.  The step through design makes it easy to climb on and it also works well for women wearing skirts.  Scooters are easy to operate with its equivalency of automatic transmission, as well as being fun, affordable, economical and environmentally friendly.

 

If you have been to

Europe

you will have noticed that scooters are everywhere and quite accepted over there.  Why not here?   Feeling timid?  I would be too if I was contemplating freeway traffic, but I don’t like to do that even in a car.  I don’t like the pressure and tend to stick to back roads and keep within the speed limit anyway, so I think I might be quite comfortable with a scooter.

 

You need a motorcycle endorsement on your driver’s license, need to beef up your insurance policy, and a class to learn how to drive safely and learn the rules of the road is highly recommended.