ALTHOUGH mobility scooters are legally entitled to drive their 'vehicles' on main roads, common sense says that doing so is a bad idea all round.

For a start, a mobility scooter offers no protection to its rider should they be involved in a crash. Yes, you could say the same of cyclists and motorcyclists, but they wear helmets and protective clothing and, also, they're on vehicles that are far easier to manoeuvre rapidly in order to avoid a collision.

Besides this, there's the issue of speed. Mobility scooters allowed on main roads can do a maximum of 8mph and, frankly, that's far too slow.

You could argue that car drivers should simply slow down and wait for mobility scooters, but 8pm is crawling pace on a main road where the limit is 30mph and so, inevitably, most motorists will try to overtake and this increases the chances of a collision.

Surely the most sensible solution is for mobility scooters to be used on pavements and footpaths only, and not on roads.

Driving one on a main road is just asking for trouble.