Anthem passenger has serious injuries, lost control of scooter in Bermuda

[Charles4515]

Tourists renting scooters in Bermuda is not a good idea. Seen many with injuries on my cruises there. The roads are curvy, the roads are narrow, there is no shoulder, and they drive on the other side.

 

http://www.royalgazette.com/news/article/20160531/tourist-injured-in-serious-collision

 

 

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Edited May 31, 2016 by Charles4515

[OCruisers]

Unfortunately, this happens frequently in Bermuda. :(

[champagne123]

This is how my gym teacher died on her honeymoon many, many years ago in Bermuda.

 

Very, very sad.

I don't allow any of my family members on them. Those roads in Bermuda are crazy.

[spookwife]

Scooter Versus Local Bus when we were there. very close to the terminal. we saw the aftermath as we were walking back from our trip to the Zoo. the scooter looked like the Hulk crumpled it up in his fist.

[Mac303]

I have seen many people who rent a scooter that just haven't any

business being on one in the first place.

 

If you are not an experienced scooter/motorcycle operator

stay off one.

 

Factor in the terrain, driving opposite side your used to and no real skills

your just looking for trouble

[knittinggirl]

Anything vs local bus would have been bad.

 

DH had an 18 wheeler barely touch him while 18 wheeler made a left turn. Totaled his car.

[PoppyandNana]

Tourists renting scooters in Bermuda is not a good idea. Seen many with injuries on my cruises there. The roads are curvy, the roads are narrow, there is no shoulder, and they drive on the other side.

 

http://www.royalgazette.com/news/article/20160531/tourist-injured-in-serious-collision

 

 

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Talk about stupid. Several years ago me and another pax went golfing. We rented a scooter. Here are two fifty year olds on this little scooter each with a huge golf bag. I'm driving with my bag between my legs, my buddy on the rumble seat with his bag across his lap. Between no rear view mirror on one side, driving on the left and going through the roundabouts I still have no idea why we are still alive.

[myfuzzy]

We saw the same thing when we were in Bermuda on the bus back to the ship. A gentlemen wiped out on one of the turns, and hit a pole and curb, he was sitting on the curb waiting medical assistance. We board the ship and sat on the promenade deck waiting to sail, here comes this ambulance, backs up and open the doors, and this gentleman comes off bandaged, arm in a sling. Made good conversation for him the rest of the trip

[Wanderista]

I've lived in both England and the US and when I saw the roads in Bermuda, I was not sorry that I'd decided not to attempt to drive them myself. I went on a group guided minibus tour with a local guide and it was really great and stress-free.

 

I like Bermuda a lot but I have no interest in renting a scooter to drive around there. It's part of why I decided to do a comprehensive overview of the island on this visit. If I visit again, I'd just get a cab or bus or ferry to the specific places where I want to go.

 

I do think the scooters are fine if you have experience or comfort with driving them. I know myself well enough that I have little interest. I've never had interest in motorcycles either though.

 

I will say that we saw some people driving kind of crazily on the scooters. They would speed really fast and try to overtake a bunch of other vehicles. Some people commented on how dangerously they were driving and they asked about road accident fatalities in Bermuda. Our guide was a bit nonchalant about it because it is a fact of life there.

[Clarea]

...

Factor in the terrain, driving opposite side your used to and no real skills

your just looking for trouble

Plus the narrow roads with high walls in some places give very little margin for error.

[Hotel CA]

Plus the narrow roads with high walls in some places give very little margin for error.

 

And the many Roundabouts that when combined with driving on an unfamiliar side of the road= real trouble. 20 years ago my wife and I thought it would be a fun idea to rent scooters there. Going out at 8 am was nice (No traffic) albeit a little tricky -- coming back at 2 was insane and a HUGE mistake (realized too late)-- we made it back safely--just barely-- and learned a valuable lesson--namely God invented Buses and Taxi's for a good reason!!!

[Charles4515]

 

 

 

I do think the scooters are fine if you have experience or comfort with driving them. I know myself well enough that I have little interest. I've never had interest in motorcycles either though.

 

 

 

 

 

It is not a good idea even for those with experience. If you read the comments posted following this article on the same accident on the other Bermuda news site which I have linked to below, the wife of the injured cyclist comments. She says he that he was experienced on motorcycles in the US but that it is different driving in Bermuda. They were on their honeymoon.

 

http://bernews.com/2016/05/road-collision-causing-middle-road-diversions/

 

 

 

 

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[riclop]

Tourists renting scooters in Bermuda is not a good idea. Seen many with injuries on my cruises there. The roads are curvy, the roads are narrow, there is no shoulder, and they drive on the other side.

 

http://www.royalgazette.com/news/article/20160531/tourist-injured-in-serious-collision

 

 

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And the scooters are not in the best shape.

[gerif]

Happens all the time, unfortunately. On one cruise, we were having an afternoon snack in the WJ when a young honeymooning couple came in - she in a wheelchair with a big cast on her leg, all the while berating him for insisting they rent scooters. I'll venture to say the remainder of their honeymoon was not pleasant.

[jamesr3939]

It's not limited to scooters or Bermuda.

[cwms]

Wife and I went to Bermuda on Grandeur a couple of years ago. We rented a scooter and about 3 miles down the road, came close to loosing it. Turned around, took the scooter back and they gave us all our money back even though we didn't even ask for it.

It's been a while but I used to ride motorcycles in my younger days, so I wasn't exactly a stranger to a bike.

WARNING...traffic in Bermuda is horrible, roads are very winding with lots of hilly terrain. We took a couple of buses and even those scared the hell out of me. The only time I felt safe on public transportation was when we took ferries

[racerxspeedy]

I heard an interesting comment made on the radio this week regarding a survey on driving ability. I found this on Wikipedia:

 

Illusory superiority is a cognitive bias whereby individuals overestimate their own qualities and abilities, relative to others.

 

A survey of 161 students in Sweden and the United States asked them to compare their driving skills and safety to other people. 93% of the U.S. drivers and 69% of the Swedish sample put themselves ast "above avarage" for skills, and 88% of the U.S. and 77% of the Swedish put themselves "above average" for safety.

 

Sorry - it's not possible for everyone to be above average.

35,000 traffic deaths every year in the US prove it. I reflect on this every day during my 70 mile commute to work.

 

PS - I love riding scooters in Bermuda, but understand the risk.

[jetta8300]

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Edited September 4, 2016 by jetta8300

[Clarea]

...

We used the busses and ferries. There is an excellent public transportation system in Bermuda.

[snowbird1]

I rented one first time I was there, rode it almost 4 days and did not have a problem. I was younger then and was very careful with no drinking at all while riding it. People get in trouble quickly there with all the lose gravel on the sides of the narrow roads. Having said that, the bus system is much better now and on my last visit I used the ferry's and buses which were just fine. The other thing is most ships dock at Naval Dockyard now which is a long way from say Hamilton on a scooter so your risks increases. On my first visit the ship went to Hamilton and St.George. The scooter rental company moved it for me from one port to the next which was nice.

 

 

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[cb at sea]

This is why they have good public transportation..and don't allow visitors to rent cars!

[IsanTom]

Unless you have years of experience driving a motorcycle and a valid motorcycle license this will happen many times over. You go to Bermuda, Thailand, wherever, and an inexperienced person rents a motorcycle, an accident and/or death will occur 10% of the time. I see it everyday in Thailand with my students at the university. I lose an average of 2% of my students every semester, so that's 4% a year. They are very dangerous and should not be rented unless you have the experience.

[preschool teacher]

So sad....prayers for him and his family..

[Margy23]

We used the busses and ferries. There is an excellent public transportation system in Bermuda.

There are also blue-flag taxi tour guides, who are accustomed to driving in Bermuda and have skills recognized by the government. When we were in Bermuda, we took a tour with Nevis Barboza, who had been honored as the best taxi tour guide in Bermuda in 2012. We never had a nervous moment, and we explored lots of places where the big buses couldn't travel.

[iheartbda]

This is why they have good public transportation..and don't allow visitors to rent cars!

 

No, that is not the reason they don't allow visitors to rent cars. Of course I just wasted a response since you'll never come back to see you've been corrected.