The need for regulation of mobility scooters, also known as motorised wheelchairs Spinal Cord Injuries Australia Submission - 2018 1 Jennifer Street, Little Bay NSW 2036 t. 1800 819 775 w. scia.org.au abn. 93 001 263 734
On 6 December 2017, the Federal Senate moved that the following matters be referred to the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee for inquiry and report by 20 September 2018: The need for regulation of mobility scooters, also known as motorised wheelchairs, including: a. the number of deaths and injuries attributed to accidents involving mobility scooters in Australia since their introduction; b. the causes of these accidents; c. any current regulations governing the use of mobility scooters throughout Australia; d. comparison of Australian regulations with international standards; e. what support structures are in place to ensure the safe operation of mobility scooters; f. the regulatory role of government and non-government bodies; and g. any related matter It has come to the Committee's attention that some clarity is required regarding the inquiry's Terms of Reference. The Committee acknowledges that in some states and territories, motorised mobility scooters and motorised wheelchairs are two different vehicles. In order to avoid confusion, the Committee will take evidence in relation to both types of vehicles. They will be treated separately for the purpose of the inquiry. w. scia.org.au t. 1800 819 775 e. office@scia.org.au 2 of 7
Committee Secretariat contact: Committee Secretary Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Phone: +61 2 6277 3511 Fax: +61 2 6277 5811 rrat.sen@aph.gov.au Monday, March 12, 2018 Dear Senate Standing Committee, Thank you for providing the opportunity for Spinal Cord Injuries Australia (SCIA) to provide this submission to the inquiry into The Need for Regulation of Mobility Scooters, also Known as Motorised Wheelchairs. The SCIA Mission is A Life without Barriers for People with Spinal Cord Injury to which SCIA continues to advocate for and on behalf of people with spinal cord injury and similar physical conditions, their family and carers for over 50 years. This submission focuses on their needs of whom many have, or will, transition to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) which is designed to increase the social and economic participation of people with disability, to enable them to have greater choice and control of the supports they need and reach their goals. SCIA anticipates the Senate Inquiry Committee will give SCIA s submission appropriate consideration to ensure that all people with disability who are reliant on mobility scooters and power wheelchairs are able to do so safely and without physical or political barriers and discrimination. Submission SCIA believes this inquiry provides the opportunity to develop national regulations and guidelines to ensure safeguards in a variety of areas for all stakeholders including: definition and delineation between mobility scooters and power wheelchairs mobility aid areas of use (access to buildings, built environment and all transport modes) mobility aid maximum speeds mobility aid size, weight and dimensions. mobility aid controls including speed variation, lights and indicators mobility aid labelling mobility aid training, safety and community awareness w. scia.org.au t. 1800 819 775 e. office@scia.org.au 3 of 7
Definitions and delineation The Inquiry Committee has been informed there is a delineation between mobility scooters (aka gophers and buggies) and power wheelchairs. Just to clarify, the mobility scooter was developed to provide people with disability who have limited mobility to walk around the home but have difficulty walking long distances, to access their local community, shopping centres, doctors and medical centres, as well as visit neighbours and friends. A power wheelchair is designed for people with disability who are unable to walk, who mostly have a permanent disability, and used for a person s primary or only mode of mobility. Power wheelchairs are compact enough to be used in and around the home as well as on public transport, community transport, private accessible vehicles as well as wheelchair accessible taxis etc. In comparison with a power wheelchair, mobility scooters are considered to be the mode of transport with some state and territory government authorities not allowing people with disability to use mobility scooters while occupied on public transport, or in wheelchair accessible taxis, as mobility scooters are considered unsafe to be riding on while inside public transport. Although people with disability who are reliant on mobility scooters and power wheelchairs experience individual issues when trying to access public transport and private vehicles, people with disability using mobility aids are mostly transport disadvantaged and often do not have access to accessible public transport services, particularly in rural and regional areas. People with disability may not have access to other transport options including private motor vehicles, regardless whether they are a driver or passenger, or community transport which only operates business hours. Speed As previously mentioned, mobility scooters are considered the mode of transport, and some state and territories do not allow them to be used on public transport (even if accessible public transport is available). So it is important that mobility scooter users have the ability to get to and from their destination as quick as possible using the mobility scooters. Any proposal to speed limit mobility scooters and power wheelchairs is going to adversely affect many users, regardless whether they are used in urban or rural/regional areas, as it has the potential to double the time it takes to get to and from their destinations. w. scia.org.au t. 1800 819 775 e. office@scia.org.au 4 of 7
The speed of mobility aides when used by people with disability has little to no bearing on the number or severity of accidents involving these mobility aides. The footpaths are used by many users including pedestrians, cyclists as well as skateboarders and mobility scooter users travel along them and across streets, roads and pedestrian crossings. People with disability use mobility aides on footpaths and roads and adjust speeds in accordance to the footpath congestion as well as its terrain. This is the case whether in a built-up residential area or more sparsely populated regional and rural areas. It is imperative that such mobility aides should not be restricted by speed beyond the current regulations. Mobility aides have a multitude of uses particularly for power wheelchair users from in and around the home, the workplace and accessing the community. SCIA would not support any further regulation to such mobility aides as it would be detrimental to people with disabilities freedom of movement, independence and would hinder community access. Furthermore, if a person with disability uses a mobility scooter in a factory or safer on a large rural/regional property, and possibly only use the mobility scooter on the property for work, any speed limiting of the mobility scooter will adversely affect the person s ability to move around the property efficiently and effectively. This could also have negative implications for people with disability who are working on rural/regional properties, or in medium to large suburban factory or industrial sites. Training and Awareness Safety is a major factor for all people using mobility aids, pedestrians and cyclists. SCIA believes people with disability currently using, and/or planning to use, mobility scooters should be required to have appropriate mobility user assessment and training prior to obtaining the mobility aid. They should also be required to have periodic refresher training and possibly reassessment, particularly if the user has a degenerative condition that adversely affects their ability to operate the mobility aid. People with disability who are provided mobility aids through government assistive technology schemes are initially assessed and prescribed this assistive technology by occupational therapists or rehabilitation specialists. The prescriptions for mobility aides is assessed against need and goals, and SCIA suggests this process includes training in the use of a new mobility aid by the user. The training should also include using the mobility scooter in areas shared with pedestrians on footpaths, shopping centres, on or crossing the roads. And focus should be on educating scooter users as well as pedestrians to look left and right before leaving a shop or building and onto a footpath. And scooter users should be required to keep to the curb of a footpath and away from shop and building entrances. w. scia.org.au t. 1800 819 775 e. office@scia.org.au 5 of 7
Furthermore, mobility scooters and power wheelchairs have control instruments that enable the speed to quickly and easily be varied by the user. It is important that current and future mobility aid users be aware of these features, and appropriately trained to use them, to ensure they are using the mobility aid at an appropriate and safe speed in consideration of the surrounding environment. Mobility aid Regulations and Standards Mobility aids used in Australia are required to comply with regulations and standards to ensure they are safe to operate with maximum travelling speeds and weights. Standards Australia and the Therapeutic Goods Administration are responsible for setting mobility aid standards and quality control. There is also an international standard for mobility aids. The Senate inquiry might like to consider reviewing mobility aid regulations and standards with the aim of possibly adopting the international standard. At the very least, this inquiry should consider harmonising regulations and legislation so there is a single Australian standard; Also, customisation is a significant factor in this assessment and therefore any overarching regulations adversely affecting and restricting the use of the mobility aids would negatively impact on the person with disability. Labelling In NSW there has been previous discussion to consider whether mobility aids, particularly manual and power wheelchairs that are approved to be used on public transport and wheelchair accessible taxis, should be measured and weighed and be labelled with the specifications. The purpose for labelling the mobility aids is to provide some clarification for public transport drivers/operators and wheelchair accessible taxi drivers that the occupied mobility aid will fit within the space allocated on the public transport or wheelchair accessible taxi and not too heavy for the boarding ramp/lift. Mobility Scooter User Deaths SCIA has reviewed the limited research data about injury and deaths of mobility scooter users in Australia. Although this number of injuries and deaths are of concern, there is a need to put this number into perspective, particularly as many of the mobility scooter users injuries and deaths occurred when they were crossing the road and collided with a motor vehicle. And speed limiting mobility scooters because of the research data being used will have an ongoing negative impact on the scooter users. w. scia.org.au t. 1800 819 775 e. office@scia.org.au 6 of 7
There are many more people killed and injured due to motor vehicle accidents, particularly when drivers exceed the 110 km maximum speed limit, which is possible when the motor vehicles have the capacity to exceed 200 km/h. Due to the larger number of people injured and killed in motor vehicle accidents, SCIA believes this review of mobility scooters (and power wheelchairs) is a knee-jerk reaction and the Senate and Committee would achieve a reduction in injuries and deaths if they reviewed and reduced the motor vehicle maximum speed to 110 km/h. Summary SCIA again thanks the Senate and Committee for providing the opportunity to contribute to this inquiry. The main points that SCIA would like to include: there needs to be a clear delineation between a motor scooter and a power wheelchair SCIA is strongly against the speed limiting and weight limitations of mobility scooters and power wheelchairs due to the ongoing negative impact these would have on people with disability, particularly those living in rural and regional areas with very limited access to accessible public transport services, community transport services or a wheelchair accessible taxis that this inquiry provides the opportunity to develop and implement national guidelines on the safe use of mobility scooters including public awareness training of the general public possible labelling of the mobility aids to identify they comply to fit within the allocated space in public transport including wheelchair accessible taxis and doesn t exceed the ramp/lift maximum weight limit people in the process of obtaining, or who have a mobility scooter, should undergo assessment, training and possibly retraining/assessment if they have degenerative condition that is affecting their ability to control the mobility aid that, although it is outside this inquiries terms of reference, considering the number of injuries and deaths on the Australian roads caused by motor vehicles in comparison to people injured or killed using mobility aids everywhere, SCIA would like to suggest that both the Senate and Committee seek to reduce the speed capacity of all motor vehicles from over 200 km/h to a maximum 110 km/h to minimise the number of injuries and deaths from speed related motor vehicle accidents. Contact: Greg Killeen - Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer Spinal Cord Injuries Australia www.scia.org.au Email: gkilleen@scia.org.au Phone: 1800 819 775 w. scia.org.au t. 1800 819 775 e. office@scia.org.au 7 of 7