Skip to main content

Need for speed

Two British men have set a new world land speed record for a mobility scooter. During timed runs to meet with official requirements, the heavily modified mobility scooter proved capable of hitting a speed of 172km/h. This tops the previous mobility scooter speed record of 131km/h by some margin. The mobility scooter is however not suitable for road use, despite having working lights and indicators, as it does not possess front brakes. Power comes from a 600cc Suzuki motorcycle engine that has been squeezed
January 14, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
RSSTwo British men have set a new world land speed record for a mobility scooter. During timed runs to meet with official requirements, the heavily modified mobility scooter proved capable of hitting a speed of 172km/h. This tops the previous mobility scooter speed record of 131km/h by some margin. The mobility scooter is however not suitable for road use, despite having working lights and indicators, as it does not possess front brakes. Power comes from a 600cc Suzuki motorcycle engine that has been squeezed into the strengthened go-kart chassis upon which the mobility scooter has been constructed.

Two car occupants in China had a narrow escape when a mixer truck toppled onto their car, crushing it in the process. Despite the car being flattened in the incident, the woman driver and her younger male relative managed to escape relatively unscathed with only minor injuries. Passersby first tried to lever the mixer truck off the crushed car using a tree trunk. When this failed a passing crane was stopped and brought in to tackle the tricky task. After being rescued from the car the occupants were taken to hospital, but medical checks showed that they had escaped serious injury.

Related Content

  • Advances in road markings
    March 16, 2012
    Recent months have seen many major and vital road marking projects and products completed and tested in different parts of the world. Guy Woodford looks at some of them in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Africa. The London borough of Kensington and Chelsea now has one of the most dramatic streetscape designs in Europe. Exhibition Road’s striking chequered granite design, featuring a single surface running from South Kensington Station to Hyde Park and the full width of the road from building to b
  • Getting the message
    April 23, 2013
    A British man from Suolk has now been banned from driving for a record 44 times following recent vehicle and theft oences. He has not been fazed by this apparent setback however and has reportedly vowed to continue driving as soon as he completes his 10 month jail term and despite his ongoing disqualication. His last recorded oence was in 2010 when he was involved in a hit and run crash that caused a serious injury to a pedestrian. Following that incident, the man was banned for dangerous
  • Traffic control to beat congestion
    November 6, 2012
    Max Lay discusses how congestion has posed problems throughout history from early civilisation to the present day One of the earliest known human settlements was at the Springs of Elisha at Jericho. Inevitably, locals collecting fresh water from the springs would encounter other water carriers. When a path was too narrow, or access to it was too limited, or it crossed another path, some carriers would find it necessary to stand aside for others. Priority in such cases might be based on common courtesy and p
  • Road safety challenge for Europe
    December 3, 2012
    Europe’s road safety drive is highlighting key issues - Mike Woof reports In Europe there is a growing understanding that alcohol use amongst drivers still has to be tackled effectively. Accident data reveals that safety standards are improving across most European countries, with steady reductions in numbers of serious injuries and fatalities. But there remains a problem with alcohol use amongst many drivers and it is amongst this group that accident levels have not fallen. In Spain in particular, there ha