Moving about Kāpiti on mobility scooters

Our staff aim to go the extra distance to understand community concerns.

So it was that three volunteers from our roading and road safety teams climbed astride mobility scooters to experience first-hand the obstacle course regular riders often face in our urban environment.

Organiser, Marilyn Thatcher from the Disability information and Equipment Centre, says steep culverts, parked cars blocking footpaths and badly placed wheelie bins can all pose a problem for local mobility scooter riders.

Scooter owners handed over their machines and, with a little rudimentary  instruction, the council team were off.  After a blat down Kāpiti Road, thankfully all three machines were returned intact.

Kāpiti Coast District Council Road Safety Coordinator Bruce Johnston says the experience was illuminating:

“It certainly gave us an appreciation of  the urban landscape from the seat of a mobility scooter and how everyday things we encounter as pedestrians can be a pain if you are on a scooter or wheelchair.

“The experience has given us an insight into how we need to design urban environments with mobility vehicles in mind and this fits in very much with  the Council’s embracing of age-friendly principles in urban design.”   

 Photo: Kāpiti Coast District Council Road Safety Coordinator Bruce Johnston leads members of roading and road safety teams down Kāpiti Road on mobility scooters.