Living in Finland: Retrograde Steps

Retrograde Steps

The City of Oulu in Finland used to be of the very best cities in the world for pedestrians, cycles and slow moving mopos and scooters, as they had separate tracks for these apart from the roads. Only in the city centre, where all traffic is slow moving, did the scooters merge with the road traffic.

It was possible for me to go from our home to the office without once driving on the road. It was fast and safe.

Some pedestrians, quite unwarrantedly, started a campaign to take the scooters off these special tracks. Last week this was implemented.

My first reaction after driving my scooter on the roads was that the number of fatal accidents of scooter drivers is going to increase sharply. Also it will be quite impossible for scooter drivers to be on the road once the snow arrives. I used to be able to drive my scooter all through winter. albeit slowly, when I was driving on the slow moving tracks.

The reason why accidents will increase is that most scooters do not have the power to drive at the speed limits set for the roads - 40, 50, 60 and 80 kmph. 40 kmph YES. 50 kmph at a stretch, YES. But 60 and 80 kmph is quite impossible.

Hence, motorists - car and truck drivers will be impatient when they come up behind a slow moving scooter, and the impatience will make them to swing out into the centre to overtake these scooters.

This will have two effects. The oncoming traffic will be jeopardised and secondly, when these bigger vehicles overtake these light weight scooters, they will cause the scooters to wobble and be unstable.

As a result the only conclusion to expect will be a possible accident of either the larger vehicle or the scooter.

People will express concern, but it must be said that these activists who lobbied for this quite unnecessary change - will have blood on their hands!

Using a helmet when riding a cycle or scooter

Many think it is a bother to use a helmet when riding a cycle or scooter.

This year, for the first time, I understood the significance as I clocked up a couple of thousand kilometres on the scooter.

Strike 1: I was going to a football match in early summer with my young friend, Soda, sitting behind me. I was not driving very fast when I turned right to go into a tunnel to cross the main road. As I turned the corner I saw three cyclists straight in front of me. They were riding abreast. Even as I braked I knew I would hit one of them. I chose the one in the centre as I knew that if I hit the ones nearer the sides, they could be thrown in a manner that they would hit the walls of the tunnel.

As both Soda and I had on our helmets, we both got away with some scrapes. It was lucky that cyclist, a young South Korean student in Oulu University, got away unscathed as he was not wearing a helmet!

Strike 2: I was driving along the scooter path to town, not very fast, when suddenly a driver turned sharply right into a side path, completely ignoring the cycle, pedestrian and scooter traffic which had right of way. The path of the car crossed the pedestrian/scooter road.

I reacted quickly turning my scooter perpendicular to the car. I was thrown off the scooter. The scooter crashed to the ground.

The driver was a lady with a baby strapped in the front passenger seat.

I just could not believe myself as to the bad driving by this lady who had swung across the cycle path without verifying if any traffic was on the path.

I was lucky that I had my helmet on as the scooter was thrown hard to the ground because of my evasive action. I can still remember how my helmet bounced on the ground three times as I hit the road!

Strike 3: I was driving back home from town when I decided to take a short cut which has no traffic. It involved driving up a steep incline and making a sharp left turn. Although my speed was really slow, as I turned left, there was a lot of fine sand on the road and the scooter tyres just lost their grip and I was thrown away from the scooter with my helmeted head crashing against the ground.

A bad bruise on the knee but no other damage.

In all three cases, if I did not have my helmet on the situation could have been catastrophic. If Soda had not been wearing a helmet when riding as my passenger, he too could have had a traumatic experience!

Accidents do happen. Many times for no fault of anyone. If you are not properly equipped the result could be tragic.

I am glad that I have always been properly attired when riding the scooter this year. It has saved my life.

Please follow the rules as there are many people who love you and want to have you around!