Believe it or Not-Souped up Wheelchairs
Some drivers recently got the shock of their lives when an elderly, one-armed, no-legged man in a wheelchair overtook them on the main carriageway in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on the 28th May, 2010. His actual speed was not known but estimates put it at more than 80 kph. The man had taken the idea of an electric powered wheelchair and substituted a gasoline-powered motor on to it, and had souped that up so that it would propel him along at very fast speeds. He had made it a three-wheeler with handlebars to control the direction and bicycle-type brakes. The acceleration was provided by the same type of mechanism as a motorcycle.
He was stopped and charged by police for driving a motorized vehicle of an unknown type without permission. He said that he only wanted to try out his new invention.
This is what can happen when you are badly disabled and confined to your wheelchair all hours of the day. You become bored out of your mind and sometimes you might be tempted to engage in suicidal activities.
I tried to look up this particular man’s adventures on line, and to my absolute amazement I found that he is not the only person to tinker with his wheelchair. A guy named Jeff has got his electric chair to get up to 30 mph. He was giving a demonstration on the very quiet street where he lived in the suburbs, but didn’t stop at the stop sign.
On December 4, 2007, a 54 year-old man was fined $618 for violating the speed limit twice in his wheelchair by travelling at 41 mph. Police confiscated his wheelchair.
In Brighton, England, on April 4, 1952 a man was fined for speeding at 41 mph. His fine was One Pound. The police said that they had been getting too many complaints about speeding invalid chairs. After all, the speed limit in those days for wheelchairs was 20mph. That's right. Twenty miles per hour!
England actually has laws on its books to cover such transport. Wheelchairs are Class III vehicles, and the speed limit these days for them on public highways is 8 mph, and 4 mph on footpaths.
It should not come as a surprise to learn that wheelchairs are adapted to meet all sorts of challenges for the handicapped. In the USA the Federal Drug and Administration have approved wheelchairs that can traverse steps, both up and down, and even to lift the occupant into a standing position. The machine is called the iBot and costs about $30,000.
Then there are those people with spirit who, upon finding themselves sentenced to a life in a wheelchair, find the courage to have a life as normal as possible. Such people might be veterans of war, who could spend their days feeling sorry for themselves, but instead take on the challenge with gusto.
We see them engaging in very rough contact sports, such as basketball where they wheel around the court and slam into one another; or they engage in straight races. They drive their specially adapted cars, and they shop on their own, and they keep house and maintain personal relationships.
I will not say that I salute such people because I cannot say that there is a right way or a wrong way to deal with one’s own disability. To each his own; however, if it works for you then all well and good.
There is one class of mobility wheelchair user who needs to be mentioned, and that is the person who has a very heavy chip on their shoulder. They are likely to slam into pedestrians standing in their way, inflicting serious pain upon the ankles of the unwary with the footplates, in a fit of jealously because the pedestrian has two good legs and feet and didn’t get out of the way.
There is no pain and suffering that you can put such a person through that could possibly be worse than what they are already suffering. If there is such a person anywhere in your proximity be sure to give them a very wide berth, keep a close eye on them and give them a lot of respect, and love, if you can.
Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael
Some drivers recently got the shock of their lives when an elderly, one-armed, no-legged man in a wheelchair overtook them on the main carriageway in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on the 28th May, 2010. His actual speed was not known but estimates put it at more than 80 kph. The man had taken the idea of an electric powered wheelchair and substituted a gasoline-powered motor on to it, and had souped that up so that it would propel him along at very fast speeds. He had made it a three-wheeler with handlebars to control the direction and bicycle-type brakes. The acceleration was provided by the same type of mechanism as a motorcycle.
He was stopped and charged by police for driving a motorized vehicle of an unknown type without permission. He said that he only wanted to try out his new invention.
This is what can happen when you are badly disabled and confined to your wheelchair all hours of the day. You become bored out of your mind and sometimes you might be tempted to engage in suicidal activities.
I tried to look up this particular man’s adventures on line, and to my absolute amazement I found that he is not the only person to tinker with his wheelchair. A guy named Jeff has got his electric chair to get up to 30 mph. He was giving a demonstration on the very quiet street where he lived in the suburbs, but didn’t stop at the stop sign.
On December 4, 2007, a 54 year-old man was fined $618 for violating the speed limit twice in his wheelchair by travelling at 41 mph. Police confiscated his wheelchair.
In Brighton, England, on April 4, 1952 a man was fined for speeding at 41 mph. His fine was One Pound. The police said that they had been getting too many complaints about speeding invalid chairs. After all, the speed limit in those days for wheelchairs was 20mph. That's right. Twenty miles per hour!
England actually has laws on its books to cover such transport. Wheelchairs are Class III vehicles, and the speed limit these days for them on public highways is 8 mph, and 4 mph on footpaths.
It should not come as a surprise to learn that wheelchairs are adapted to meet all sorts of challenges for the handicapped. In the USA the Federal Drug and Administration have approved wheelchairs that can traverse steps, both up and down, and even to lift the occupant into a standing position. The machine is called the iBot and costs about $30,000.
Then there are those people with spirit who, upon finding themselves sentenced to a life in a wheelchair, find the courage to have a life as normal as possible. Such people might be veterans of war, who could spend their days feeling sorry for themselves, but instead take on the challenge with gusto.
We see them engaging in very rough contact sports, such as basketball where they wheel around the court and slam into one another; or they engage in straight races. They drive their specially adapted cars, and they shop on their own, and they keep house and maintain personal relationships.
I will not say that I salute such people because I cannot say that there is a right way or a wrong way to deal with one’s own disability. To each his own; however, if it works for you then all well and good.
There is one class of mobility wheelchair user who needs to be mentioned, and that is the person who has a very heavy chip on their shoulder. They are likely to slam into pedestrians standing in their way, inflicting serious pain upon the ankles of the unwary with the footplates, in a fit of jealously because the pedestrian has two good legs and feet and didn’t get out of the way.
There is no pain and suffering that you can put such a person through that could possibly be worse than what they are already suffering. If there is such a person anywhere in your proximity be sure to give them a very wide berth, keep a close eye on them and give them a lot of respect, and love, if you can.
Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael
