Rascal Announces Education Program for Scooter Users

• By Laurie Watanabe
• Nov 01, 2010

Citing driver error and injury reports filed with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Rascal Mobility will introduce a driver education program aimed at consumers who operate scooters.

In a news release sent out Nov. 1, Rascal Mobility President Michael Flowers said the manufacturer's new education program seeks "to raise awareness of how most three-wheel scooters tip over." Flowers also said Rascal has introduced "new technology which makes three-wheel scooters as stable as four-wheel scooters."

Flowers said, "When I reviewed a study of CPSC's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, I noticed an alarming frequency of wheelchair-related serious injuries, many of which I know were caused by people tipping over their three-wheel scooters. Hospital emergency departments treat more than 100,000 injuries from scooters, power chairs and manual chairs annually. Most injuries are related to tips and falls, and most result from mobility scooter use."

The driver education program will be available through Rascal dealers, the press release said.

As for the "new technology" introduced by Rascal (rascalmobility.com): Russ Rolt, Rascal's director of dealer sales and training for North America, said, "DME providers and their customers no longer need to compromise between three-wheel maneuverability and four-wheel stability with the patent-pending Magnetic Stabilizer Wheel Technology." The news release cited standardized lateral stability tests conducted by the Human Engineering Research Laboratories at the University of Pittsburgh, which showed Rascal's Balance three-wheeled scooter is "as stable as a Rascal four-wheel scooter." The swiveling Magnetic Stabilizer Wheels are positioned on both sides of the Rascal scooter's front wheel.