Modern Buddy

This is not a buddy, but a scooter related incident I found interesting today. Here in Cleveland I was rolling down a main drag and saw 3 vespa's (lx150's) each towing these enormous displays for National City Bank saying "tell ATM fees to Scoot". the bikes were really nice,and the signs were on a 3 wheel tower, the signs were so large & wide in fact that side mirrors couldnt be seen from behind the signs, and I am quite certain they could not see safely behind them to any degree.
Well the point Is I watched in horror as 2 suvs flew by these 3 scooters and their signs passing in the right hand lane (where cars were parked) and almost smacking 2 of them. I pulled up to the riders in question at the next light and the one was shook up saying he may call the police (too late i was afraid as the car in Q was long gone. )
My thought was that it was unsafe of National City Bank to put these things on the road, let alone a holiday weekend (they said they were heading to our local rib cookoff) where they obviously couldn't see squat behind them. On top of that I have to say that the tail rider was swerving like hell on roads for the 2 miles I was behind them.
I'm afraid this post started rambling a bit.
1. I thought the advertisting/scooter idea was wise.
2. National City Bank really placed these guys at risk, if you would have seen the situation you would agree.
3. I am amazed at the poor judgement of car drivers, and on more than one occasion I have seen drivers seem to have a personal vendetta, almost a primal reaction to scooter riders and really put them at risk and it gets me mad as hellfire.

Was it one of these?


http://www.scooter-media.com/

Actually these look much safer and 2 dimensional. The widest aspect of the ones today was the very rear instead of flat it was a triangle with the whole back side facing traffic to the rear. actually from behind it was completely impossible to tell it was scooter pulling something, and I only knew this as I came along side them it looked like 3 billboards being driven down the road, which is exactly what made it so dangerous. Thanks for this post though, it is showing it done the right way

I saw them today as well. What struck me was the high profile of the signs and the fact they were driving over the Superior Bridge which picks up a strong cross wind. Do you really think they were 150's or just 50's? Either way it looks like a poorly designed operation.

I also thought they were 50cc's when I saw how slow they were going, but when I pulled up next to them they were marked as LX 150's. I don't want to harp on it, but like you said the high profile, poor shape, and rider visibility definitely placed them in harms way. they pretty much almost got creamed in the incident i witnessed.
That being said, if I could get paid to scoot around carrying anything i'd be happy as a swine in swill.

Redrider wrote: 3. I am amazed at the poor judgement of car drivers, and on more than one occasion I have seen drivers seem to have a personal vendetta, almost a primal reaction to scooter riders and really put them at risk and it gets me mad as hellfire.

While I'm never surprised at other peoples crazy-@$$ driving habits, I do have to agree that some people are hell-bent on terrorizing scooterists for whatever reason.

I'd really love to see a psychology major conduct a study and see what types of personalities have what types of responses to different types of vehicles they encounter on the road.

Sounds like a masters degree just waiting to be seized.

Just a brief follow up on yesterday's post. As i was out for a walk this afternoon I realized that the scooterers are actually staying about 1/4 mile down the road from me at a local hotel (for you westsiders its a days INN in lakewood), as i was out today they were all gearing up, I bit my tongue on mentioning how unsafe I thought their campaign was and the monstrous billboards. Now I don't mean to knock other riders out of due respect, but as I watched the same swervy guy from yesterday was crusing scooting down a 35mph road (clifton) with one hand, the other being full with a superzize cup and fastfood bags, hell he may be evel kneivel for all I now, but that's setting a bad example in my books. Just had to mention that, now I will mind my own business on the matter.

Sounds to me about right speed wise. You never tow at normal travel speeds if at all possible and with the erratic movements you described, the slower speeds would make sense.

Also, I wonder what extra stress is being put on the scoot's by pulling that sign. I wouldn't think a scooter had a transmission geared for towing.