Evelyn F. Altheimer-Fain
Recently, I afforded with a most
unpleasant sight - mothers on scooters as large as motorcycles with unrestrained
and no helmet wearing toddlers riding along with them. In one instant, the toddler
was riding in front the mother gripping the handlebars of the scooter with a
death grip.. In the second instant, the toddler was pressed up against its
mother back and holding tightly onto her blouse. The legs of these little toddlers
barely stretched across the seats of the scooters. it was also clear to me that
any sudden stop would have end their tiny lives, or at the very least left them in a vegetative
state for life.
I cannot explain the shock of these mothers’
actions. However, theirs open disregard for the safety of lives of their
children told me that they were not thinking rationally. And the upmost thought
that flooded my mine was that at any given moment a sudden stops, an accident
with another vehicle, or a bump in the road could sent those toddlers flying and
landing with shattered brains and broken bodies. I also wondered were these mothers
that uncaring, that confidence, or just so plain stupid that they would knowingly
put the lives of their children at that type of risk.
According to a spoken person for Saint Petersburg
Police Department, who shall remain nameless by me, if these children are
unrestrained and not wearing helmet, then is a citizen’s duty to call the
police department. Although not contacted, I am sure that the Department of
Children and Families would like to have their own say to parents who put temporary
joy rides such as in these two incidents before the safety of their children.
Under their study, Protecting
Children, The National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration has this to say about children safety while riding motor
scooter.
Scooter
Safety
When
lightweight, foot-propelled scooters came on the market a few years ago, their
popularity exploded. With that, popularity came a remarkable increase in
injuries, however; scooter injuries now exceed in-line skating injuries. According
to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 40,500 scooter-related injuries
were treated in emergency rooms in 2000. About 85 percent of those injuries
have been to children under age 15. Five deaths have been reported. Most of the
injuries occurred when riders fell from the scooter. Fractures and dislocations
to arms and hands were common.
In addition, under the section for helmet
requirements:
Bicycling
and Scooters
Many
local jurisdictions have imposed helmet requirements, which are directed mainly
at children (table 2). Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have
enacted laws regarding bicycle helmet use. These laws, a relatively new
phenomenon, began in the early 1990s. They target young riders, usually those age
16 and younger. Rhode Island and Tennessee amended their helmet laws in 1998 to
increase the age to under 16, rather than age 9 and age 12, respectively. The
American Academy of Pediatrics has proposed a model law to require the use of
certain safety equipment by children when on bicycles.
Many
state legislatures have been quick to respond to scooter safety concerns. For
example, several states have considered bills to address scooter injury
problems. In most cases, the bills require the use of safety equipment such as
helmets or protective pads. Maryland passed a law that requires individuals
under age 16 riding on roads or pedestrian ways to wear helmets, which must
meet or exceed certain safety standards. A new Maine law requires scooter
riders to ride on the right side of the road.
In light of this information, why would mothers/parents risk the
safety of their children for a few moments of pleasant when it is clear that those
are at the high risk of turning deadly? According the risk of accident with
scooters is very real. Furthermore, the number of motorcycles in the United States
is about
6 million. At this reporting no governmental agency was being counting the
number of scooters. However, among motorcycles, between 3,500 and 4,500 riders
are killed annually in the United States
Nevertheless, this report does not lessen
the riders of scooter risk or responsibility to the children as riding scooters
pose as a death risk are just as dangerous as motorcycles and far more
dangerous than driving a car (Scooter Vs. Automobile Accidents).
According the U.S. Product
Safety Commission, 2,870
emergency room-treated injuries relating to motorized scooters were reported
for the first 9 months of 2001. There were 2,760 injuries reported in the same
period the previous year. Of the motorized scooter deaths at the time of this
report and involving children, in
September 2001, a 13-year-old boy died after being struck by a car while riding
a motorized scooter in St. Petersburg, Florida (from Scooter
Data).
In the 2012 Florida Statutes, Title XXIII,
Motor Vehicles, Chapter 316: the State Uniform Traffic Control law states
clearly that:
A person under 16 years of
age may not operate or ride upon a moped unless the person is properly wearing
protective headgear securely fastened upon his or her head, which complies with
Federal Motorcycle Vehicle Safety Standard 218 promulgated by the United States
Department of Transportation.
Although, this statue states
mopes, I am sure that the United States Department of Transportation would agree that scooters pose the same threat to children under 16, and that this law
would (if it has not already occurred) include riders of scooters.
In closing, I really hope that one of
the readers point this article to the any parents that they know to take such
high risk in joy riding with they children. For me to see two mothers with
their unprotected children on scooters, which are potential death machines, has
certainly brought to light that there is a need for parents education in the
realm of protecting their children while riding with children under 8 years of
age.
