Terry Farrell
Record staff
George Westman isn’t happy with receiving a ticket for riding his scooter on the right-hand side of the road.
Westman received a $109 ticket this week, for riding his scooter on the road in Courtenay.
The ticket, issued by Cpl. Andrew Waddell, is for “failure to use sidewalk.”
According to the Motor Vehicle Act, people in mobility scooters are regarded as pedestrians and must follow the same rules. By those standards, scooters must either travel on the sidewalk, or on the left edge of the roadway, facing traffic.
By the letter of the law, Westman knows he is in the wrong, but he says abiding by the law in this instance is too dangerous - mostly because the public is unaware of what the law is.
“How many people know that? I can tell you, no one does,” he said. “When I drive on the left-hand side of the road, facing traffic, every person who passes me shakes their firsts, honks their horns.
“The last time I rode [on the left-hand side] I had a big pick-up almost run me off the road. He came as close as he could, not more than four inches from me, shaking his fist out the window. The general public simply does not know that scooters are supposed to drive on the left-hand side and that is dangerous.
He said he’s not alone in this fight. Every scooter user he knows does the same thing.
“According to the law, if I can’t ride on the sidewalk, I have to ride on the left side of the road, into traffic. But that is foolish - absolutely foolish. I’ve talked to many scooter users and they all drive on the right-hand side of the road, just like I do,” said Westman. “We should have the same rules as bicycles.”
Westman said using the sidewalks for scooters is unreasonable - they are not wide enough.
“If I’m on the sidewalk, and someone approaches me with, say, a baby carriage, well guess what - someone is going to have to get off the sidewalk. It’s not wide enough for both of us.”
City of Courtenay bylaw Gary Usher said he understands Westman’s frustration.
“When you see a bicycle on the road, it rides with the flow of traffic. Why would a scooter be different?”
That said, there is not much the City can do at this point.
“I don’t think we would put a bylaw in that contravenes a Motor Vehicle Act,” said Usher.
City of Courtenay manager of communications, Anne Guillo, said the city is working to make the sidewalks more “scooter-friendly.”
“The City of Courtenay has been installing wheelchair letdowns at various intersections over many years to improve accessibility in the city,” she said in a statement.
Calls to the Comox Valley RCMP for comments regarding the issue were not returned.