The bare facts of scooter safety – now on Facebook

The bare facts of scooter safety – now on Facebook

Younger riders of motorised scooters are potentially putting their lives and limbs at risk by forgoing good safety practices – so ACC is taking to Facebook with its ‘Scooter Survival’ safety messages.

“Scooters are a cost effective and convenient form of transport, popular with young people,” says ACC’s Head of Injury Prevention and Insurance Products, David Simpson, “but riders can’t afford to be casual when it comes to safety.”

This is the first time ACC is using a Facebook page as part of an injury prevention initiative.

“We know a lot of people use Facebook to ask questions and have conversations that are scooter-related. This page provides a common space where everyone can come together to do this, and also ask ACC questions about scooters and safety.”

The page will feature a range of safety tips and information, and ACC will post regular news on topics of interest to scooter riders.

A competition is currently running on the Scooter Survival page, and it also shows riders how to access subsidised “Ride Forever” training courses across New Zealand.

“These training courses are a great way for people to learn important handling skills and hazard avoidance techniques, which could help save their lives.”

Mr Simpson says now that winter is coming, scooter riders need to be more aware of things such as being visible in murky conditions, the extra stopping distance required in the wet and how quickly fatigue can set in if riding in cold conditions.”

This marks a change from summer, when too much bare skin was one of the biggest problems.

“In warmer weather, scooter riders dressed in shorts, tee-shirts and jandals are an all too common sight on the road. All that bare skin is just a disaster waiting to happen if you come off and hit tarseal.”

Last year, ACC received over 600 claims for injuries resulting from crashes involving scooters, and the cost of these claims to date is over $900,000.

Males are slightly over-represented in the injury statistics, with claims lodged by 331 males, versus 283 females.

Although all ages feature in the statistics, the highest number of claims (118) was lodged by people in the 15 -19 age bracket, with the next highest age bracket people aged between 20 and 24 (106 claims).

To check out the ACC Scooter Survival page, go to https://www.facebook.com/ScooterSurvivalNZ

ENDS

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