I MUST say I was fascinated by last week’s letter which spoke of a purple scourge in the suburbs of Logan.
I too have been a little perplexed by the messy way the purple scooters are left lying around, rarely neatly put away.
Occasionally they are lined up nicely in a row on the side of the road in front of a rental agent, or simply a shop owner who has some pride in the environment they work in.
The rental company cannot rely on the good conscience of these types of people to do the right thing.
We never seem to hear from the owners, or how they plan to make the scooters safer and more friendly to the eye.
Logan might be a good spot for them to have their business, but we too have pride in our streets and want the suburbs where we live to be beautiful and liveable.
I’m a little biased because I’ve never really taken to bikes on the roads either, but at least most of them have a bell which allows other people who also use walkways to know whenthe two-wheel monsters are coming.
Speaking of bells, I think the scooters should all be fitted with a horn, a louder device which makes them more noticeable.
I notice that there are supposed to be rules or electronic devices which force riders to wear the helmets provided.
I’m not sure I’d want to be wearing a communal helmet during current times of Covid and other ailments, but they’re critical to safety and I see way too many riders getting away with not wearing the helmet.
Then we start to see helmets left in one spot and a scooter left somewhere else.
I saw one young man riding down a steep hill, no helmet, between cars and straight through a red light.
I saw another down the median strip, again dodging cars as they made their way down a steep hill.
Let’s face it, when you see in the media that someone riding a scooter has been involved in an accident, it is sad. But it also triggers thoughts that they must have been riding too fast, or must have been ignoring the rules of the road.
We don’t of course know what the circumstances of each crash are, but having seen so many – usually teenagers – doing silly things on their rented killing machines, it’s understandable why the thought process transpires.
I suppose all this makes me a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater.
But surely there should be a greater responsibility placed on the management teams of these companies to ensure safety.
J Smith,
Loganholme
Flying purple people a menace
