Not to worry!
I have one bullet saved (think Barney Fife) for just that event. ;)
Posted on 02/03/2006 3:37:46 AM PST by irgbar-man
SOUTH PASADENA - Massage therapist Colleen Ronnberg had just left work in her Ford Mustang to drive home for lunch. She says she turned on her signal, stopped at an intersection, looked both ways and turned onto Pasadena Avenue.
But somehow her car collided with an 84-year-old woman who was riding a motorized three-wheeled scooter across Pasadena at Hibiscus Avenue. Although a sheriff's deputy later estimated that Ronnberg was driving 5 mph, the other woman was knocked out of her scooter, hit her head and died Wednesday, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said.
Ronnberg is very sorry, still shaken and wishes she could turn back time. "I have to live with the fact for the rest of my life that I killed somebody." But she wishes elderly and disabled people who use these scooters, sometimes called motorized wheelchairs, would be more cautious.
The Sheriff's Office has concluded Ronnberg will not be charged in the accident, which killed Czeslawa Z. Scibora of 2960 59th St. S in Gulfport.
But for anyone who travels through the Tampa Bay area, whether in a car or in a wheelchair, it's a reminder of the dangers people in the scooters face.
"It's obviously something to watch out for," said Lt. Greg Schwemley, who heads the St. Petersburg Police Department's traffic section. "They are low-profile little vehicles, so drivers will obviously have to pay more attention" to them.
"I haven't seen any crashes come across my desk regarding those scooters," Schwemley said, and he is unaware of any similar fatalities in St. Petersburg.
But this was not the first fatal scooter accident in the area. A 91-year-old man died last year in Largo when he pulled out in his electric scooter in front of a sedan on Keene Road. In that case, the driver of the sedan was going below the posted speed limit and was not charged.
Schwemley recommended people use extra caution when driving around downtown areas and near retirement homes where the scooters seem more prevalent.
Sgt. Kenny Orrill, supervisor of the Tampa Police Department traffic unit, says it's safest for people to drive these scooters on sidewalks, and he appreciates those who put tall flags on the scooters to make them more visible when crossing streets.
But state law allows people to ride scooters on roads where the speed limit is 25 or less, on bicycle routes or on "any street or road where bicycles are permitted," Orrill said. Because bicycles are permitted on most roads, that's a hard law to enforce, he said.
People aren't required to have a driver's license to operate these vehicles, which the law defines as "electric personal assistive mobility devices."
Wednesday's accident was still weighing on Ronnberg, 37, whose only blemish on her driving record during the past seven years was a speeding ticket, records show. She canceled her appointments Thursday and stayed home.
Bruce Lutz, 60, a Salvation Army employee who witnessed the accident, said there was nothing Ronnberg could have done.
He said he saw Scibora leave a parking lot traveling fast, faster than Ronnberg's car. As Lutz saw it, Scibora hit the car. He said he had seen Scibora another time at the intersection, darting across traffic and forcing cars on Pasadena to jam their brakes to avoid hitting her. Scibora did not have a driver's license.
Not to worry!
I have one bullet saved (think Barney Fife) for just that event. ;)
what an unfortunate accident!
looks like the driver used all precautions tho...
Or a Madonna movie! (Bloom County bumpus!)
"He said he saw Scibora leave a parking lot traveling fast, faster than Ronnberg's car. As Lutz saw it, Scibora hit the car. He said he had seen Scibora another time at the intersection, darting across traffic and forcing cars on Pasadena to jam their brakes to avoid hitting her."
Don't bring a scooter to a car crash.
Only if she had no children. Otherwise, her genes are still in the pool.
Is the Tampa Bay area still listed as one of the least safe areas in the county for pedestrians? I live in the area and both elderly drivers and elderly pedestrians are unpredictable and unyielding.
I lived in Daytona for about 2 1/2 years and it was a daily occurrence there. Virtually every time you would hear screeching tires, you look up and you see blue hair and white knuckles....
This is sad, yes, but hardly an unknown danger. As a biker, I have *always* had to watch out for cagers, and the sight of some octogenerian peering out through the steering wheel at the road still makes Me instinctively head for the curb. You do not want to know how many times people have pulled the usual stunts in front of Me; left turns coming from the other direction, backing out of driveways within feet of Me, changing lanes into Me -you name it, it's happened. Despite assumptions otherwise, a few hundred pounds of steel on two tyres simply can not stop that quickly. Swifter than a car, yes, but momentum still dictates some less-than-instantaneous cessation of movement.
Would not help. My scoot had chrome everywhere, with dual stacked chrome headlights and a candy-apple red paintjob and people *STILL* claimed they never saw Me (the wanker was in the fast lane and changed into the slow one -where I was putting along! Bloody near came close to bumping Me over.)
See My previous...
My eighty year old grandmother was driving with an elderly friend. They arrived at a familiar intersection. My grandmother looked to the left to see if traffic was clear for her left turn. She asked Mabel to look to the right. Mable said it was clear, and my grandmother turned, immediately caused an an accident. She was lucky that she was driving a 1976 Thunderbird... the old beast protected them, and no one was hurt. But, she shouldn't have relied upon her friend... that's what caused the accident.
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