Scooters and International Day of the Girl

Thursday, October 11th, was the first International Day of the Girl. It's a day meant to promote equal treatment for girls around the world, whether it's in education or health or marriage. This year's campaign focused on the huge number of girls who are forced to marry when they are as young as eight. There are some powerful pictures online of child brides.

I don't know how far these international days can go to improve situations, but this one came in a bad week for girls. In Pakistan, there was the obscene case of the Taliban shooting a 14-year-old girl, Malala Youafzai, just because she had become an advocate for girls' education and dreamt of becoming a doctor. In Canada, where girls have made great strides in schools, there was the horribly sad apparent suicide of 15-year-old Amanda Todd who went through years of stalking and tortuous bullying in the Facebook age before putting her story on you-tube last year.

If anything, those stories do highlight the need for such an international day. But, okay, I write a blog about scooters. And how could I possibly tie those stories to my subject? As an ESL teacher, I talk to my students a lot about using transitions in their writing. But no transitional word or phrase seems adequate to the task of connecting scooters to the tragic stories of girls' lives thwarted. HOWEVER...

However, just so you don't think it's all bad news out there for girls, I'm posting this story from India, which has its share of stories about child brides, unequal opportunities for education and abuse. It's a story about girls, scooters and the International Day of the Girl. And yes, there's a marketing angle to the story. It may seem frivolous, even tasteless to bring up this story in the same context as the others. These are middle-class girls from families who can afford scooters tasting independence. But my hope is that girls like these ones learn from that experience of independence and go on to become policy makers who bring other less-fortunate girls along with them. And one has to find hope where one can.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/10/11/International-Day-of-the-Girl-Riding-to-independence-on-scooters/PC-8731349968380/?spt=hs&or=tn

My Micro-Mobility Model

Turns out I don't ride a scooter so much as a "micro-mobility model," and I'm part of a trend away from traditional cars. I don't fit the demographic (Gen Y urbanites) and my scooter doesn't quite fit the model (no combustion engines) but I am on the right curve. Small is the new beautiful.

The global research company Frost & Sullivan defines micro-mobility models as electric bikes, cars without doors and pod cars. (Those are basically private cars that run on tracks above a city; they have some at Heathrow Airport). But the general idea is models that are small and cheaper to buy and cheaper to run than automobilies. The Frost & Sullivan study predicts that 150 new products that match the micro-mobility model will be introduced by 2020. The authors do warn that two things could dampen the growth of these models: a slow build-up of electric vehicle infrastructure and increased spending on public transportation.

There's no evidence that an electric vehicle infrastructure is building up in Canada and no sign in my city that there's a boon ahead for public transportation.  A scooter powered by the small amount of gasoline it needs still makes sense as part of this future picture in my part of the world.

This got me thinking about why the trend is happening. There are obvious answers, of course, like high energy costs and the lower buying power of many young people today. At a conference in San Francisco last month, a venture capitalist named Steve Jurvetson of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, came up with a suprising conjecture. He said that one of the tipping points (a phrase he borrowed from Malcolm Gladwell) for the increased sales of electric bikes, scooters and motorcycles was SARS. According to his theory, the contagious and deadly disease created a fear in the Chinese population of riding on buses and other forms of public transportation so electric bikes and other two-wheeled motorized vehicles became a reasonable alternative. The need increase in production led to a broader increase in popularity.

I think in any debate on the future size of vehicles we have to consider how we are going to use them. What is needed for high-speed highway driving - where larger vehicles may be needed for safety - is not the same thing as what's needed for city streets. I haven't figure out how to get to my work that's some distance out of town on a small vehicle. But what if we could figure out other ways to get people to the edges of cities where they could then get in their micro-mobility models.

I had a glimpse of a future that seemed pretty damned exciting years ago when I directed a TV piece on Canadian-born Paul Moller who has spent the better part of his adult life trying to develop a flying car: the Skycar. The prototype works; it lifts up like a helicopter and is steered by a computer. Moller didn't see skycars as urban transportation but as a way to get from the country to the city or from city to city - avoiding highways altogether - where riders would switch to small electric cars (and, in my mind, scooters) and use those to get around town. Maybe that seems too much like science fiction - think Bladerunner and Fifth Element, but using micro-mobility models in town makes so much sense. Think of all the parking lots that could be halved in size; think of city smog alerts as a rare summer occurrence.

The Joy of Mobility

The true pleasure of riding a two-wheeled vehicle is the deep sense of mobility it offers. Driving generally makes me feel free: I am going where I want to go and, when it's a holiday drive, moving in the direction and at the pace I want to go. But a car only connects me visually to the landscapes and cityscapes I'm driving through. On a scooter, I smell the pizza shop at the corner, the flowers in a garden or the rotting food on the days when the green bins sit on the curb. On a scooter, I hear the radio in the car beside me and the conversation on the sidewalk. On a scooter, I feel the sun, the rain and most of all, definitely most of all, the wind. As each sensation comes and goes I am constantly reminded of the movement of my body on the scooter. And although I don't usually dwell on this, the risk of riding a scooter in traffic, the knowledge that my mobility could be destroyed by a wrong decision on my part or an idiotic move on someone else's part adds to my appreciation of the fragility of mobility and my responsibility for doing all I can to safeguard it.

Mobility  - moving easily and freely - is important to me and I do know how lucky I am to be able to enjoy it. I remember how my daughter screamed each time she was fastened in a car seat as a toddler. I related to the constriction she felt even though I was the enforcer. I also remember exactly how I felt the first time I left the Dadaab Refugee Camps in Kenya after witnessing the lives of refugees who had been stuck in the camps for almost twenty years. When the plane taking me away from the camp took off I felt such relief - and such guilt - at my ability to move. And I just have to hear the roar of a motorcycle to take me back to a time when I felt stuck as a teenager at the dining table when the boys in town were out on the roads moving at their own free will.

I've been thinking about mobility a lot lately because I've been riding my scooter back and forth to first a hospital and now a rehab centre where my husband is recovering from an operation to return mobility to a hip and leg (his story to tell, which I'm sure he will). As I watch him learn how to move about without putting weight on one leg, how to manage the simple steps of life that those without injuries or illness take for granted, I am both awed at how he copes and aware how difficult I would find the situation.

Yesterday, riding my scooter to see him I realized I was not enjoying my ride. In fact, I was so preoccupied by so many things that I was almost unaware of my own movement. Then, when I turned on a street that was nearly empty and downhill I felt the wind slap my face as I picked up speed, forcing me to pay attention. It was a wonderful moment.  I actually felt my eyes closing to savour the moment. Then I laughed at the ridiculousness of my reaction and I became aware of my movement again.

My husband and a friend with a bad knee used to have an inside joke; they described those without mobility problems as TABs or Temporarily Able Bodied. We are all TABS and those of lucky enough to enjoy free movement should be grateful.

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To follow up on my post about trying to use my scooter as a beast of burden, here's a stair basket I found on wonderful Spadina Avenue in Toronto. It's perfect for carrying odd-shaped, light packages - keep the heavy items for under the seat or the backpack. Make sure to balance things properly.

You know scooters are getting popular when...

I'm pretty lucky really. I've had my scooter for about seven years now and, other than fearing I'd lost it to the businessman who was supposed to store it safely one winter, I've never encountered a scooter thief. I do take some precautions, like locking the steering whenever I park the bike and storing it out of site at home. I have even used a U bolt on the back tire when I parked it outside my workplace, knowing that all locks can be broken but also knowing it would take a thief some time to take it apart on a busy Toronto street. But I have done stupid things too, like forgetting my keys in the ignition. In fact, one day I left my scooter the whole working day on that same busy street with the key in the ignition attached to an inviting blue key chain. I thanked the Scooter Gods that day.

When any product becomes popular with consumers, it becomes attractive to thieves. It has ever thus been so. - Think of the stories of copper rooves being torn off churches in England as the price of the metal rises - Motorcycles and scooters are no exception; in fact, they are easy targets. They are small enough that they can be carted away by a group of burly thieves and mechanically simple enough to be tampered with by a smart one who can roll it away. Stories about scooter thefts turn up around the world. The police in Delhi, India just arrested a gang who had been stealing scooters and selling them at junk markets. They caught another thief last week after noticing a crowd chasing a man through the streets. He had just tried to steal a scooter using a master key, something he is alleged to have done before. But it's not just in India; police in Australia, Great Britain report higher rates of scooter theft. One of the saddest stories of late came from England. Ricky made what living he could in a depressed economy delivering fast food on his scooter. It was stolen outside a friend's house and now Ricky can't work.

The United States is no exception. In Florida, Cpl Doug White of the Hillsborough Country Sheriff's Office reported that although his county has seen "almost a double-digit decrease in crime in the last few years," it has witnessed a 10 percent increase in motorcycle and scooter thefts in the first half of this year. "These scooter are an economical way for families to get around," he said.

There's even an on line site where U.S. riders register their stolen scooter: http://scoot.net/stolen/  .

So how easily is it done? According to the police from Hillsborough County it doesn't help when people leave the keys in the ignition (whoops), don't lock their steering mechanism, or leave their scooters in their garages with the doors open (think I've done that too.)

But some thiefs will just break the steering mechanism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN9RqQBPxJk Watch a thief try to do that. He doesn't manage it but did cause extensive damage to the scooter.

Atlanta police released this video of scooter thieves in action. It takes a while to see what they are doing and it's hard to tell how they got the scooter or whether it was locked, but they did roll it away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_3futDKypM

So what can be done? The Annapolis police have created a Scooter Watch Theft Protection Plan. It involves decals that are applied to the front and the rear of the scooter which means riders are willing to be stopped by police to prove ownership.

http://www.annapolis.gov/Government/Departments/PoliceDepartment/CommunityConnection/ScooterWatch.aspx

If you don't mind being stopped by police, it's not a bad idea. But there are other ways to decrease the risk of having your scooter stolen - beyond the simple ones like taking your key with you, locking your steering if you can and keeping your scooter out of site at home. The site Safe Rider recommends securing your scooter to something fixed with chains, or using U bolts and disc locks. It also suggests marking as many parts of the bike as you can to make it less attractive to thieves for resale. This, it suggests, can be done with ultra violet pens.

Other sites recommend alarms, some that go off if the scooter is tilted, some that are attached to the disc brakes.

I eventually stopped using my U lock. It took time to put it on and off and I got complacent. I guess every scooter rider has to assess the risk of every situation. The extra precautions may take some of the fun out of scootering but could mean you'll be doing it longer.

The Men with the Door

The way I see it, there are three reasons to ride a scooter. It's fun - that almost goes without saying; it's an efficient, economical means of urban transportation; and it's a beast of burden.

Beast of Burden? When you hear those words you probably think more of this:

Donkeys in the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya used to carry needed loads of firewood.

                                                                                                  Photo: Debi Goodwin

Donkeys, horses, elephants: they are the beasts that save people's backs in much of the world. In North America, cars and trucks have become the beasts of burden for most of us. They're how we get our lumber, our food, our patio furniture to our homes. And in countries where scooters and small motorcycles outnumber cars it's astonishing to see the extent to which they are used as beasts of burden.

In Vietnam, watching riders pass by, loaded down with everything from toilet paper to trees to - yes - flat-screen TVs, I was impressed by just how much they could load on their vehicles and how ingeniously they managed to strap their loads down.

                                                              

                                                       

              
                                                                                                    All photos: Debi Goodwin

I've been thinking a lot about how to use my scooter since I came back from Vietnam. Being a practical person, I like the things I own to be useful. So now that I don't ride my scooter for my daily commute, I'm looking for different ways to use it and justification for owning it beyond the fun rides. More and more I am taking my scooter for errands that I used to use the car for. With a backpack, a bag between my legs and storage under the seat I am now able to carry home a week's worth of groceries.

However, I still have a far way to go to match the riders in Vietnam. Sometimes, I think about the men with the door. I saw them on a busy street in Ho Chi Minh City and had to laugh - I just couldn't imagine anyone trying to carry a door through a busy North American city on a small motorcycle, but there they were. Who knows how far they had to go with the passenger sitting on the very back of the bike - the equivalent part of my scooter says: "do not sit"  - holding tight to the door squeezed between them.

                                                                                                   Photo: Debi Goodwin

Not that I plan to try carry doors. But I would like to figure out a way to carry odd-shaped things: strips of lumber and flats of plants and that sort of thing. Yesterday, I thought I'd give it a go. I had a coupon that was running out for the expensive furnace filters we like. I thought I'd try to find a way to bring a package of them home on my scooter. I had bungee cords and some rope, but when I tried to lash down a similar filter I had at home onto my scooter, I couldn't seem to keep it from sticking out too far on one side, or too far off the back of the scooter. It was also too high to stick between my legs and two wide for a backpack. In the end, as rain threatened, I just got in my car. But I've been puzzling over it since and realized I was thinking of the scooter with my North American brain. As soon as I thought of the seat as part of a transportation platform, I had the filters on in no time. Strips of lumber: I still have to think about them.

                                                                                                    Photo: Debi Goodwin

Scooting into the Future

There's no surer sign that scooters are becoming essential all over the world than the number of businesses jumping at getting into the scooter market. And there's no surer sign that those businesses believe scooters are here to stay than the innovative features, like built-in GPS, they're coming up with, and engines they're redesigning for the green market.

We're not just seeing more "super" or "hyper'' scooters that are powerful enough to cut into the motorcycle market, and more three-wheeled scooters for riders who want an even greater sense of balance. We're seeing products designed for the future like BMW's new electric scooter. This is not the electric scooter we're used to, the one that can only piddle along in bicycle lanes, confusing drivers and causing lawmakers to scratch their heads over how to licence them. No. This is a real scooter that just happens to be electrically powered. A scooter that can go up to 75 miles an hour. A real vehicle that one can keep up with urban traffic and, therefore, follow the laws of the roads. Sure you have to charge it after 62 miles but you can get around a lot of city and suburbia on that. And it's clean.

Perhaps more intriguing is a scooter coming out of China. It's a hydrogen-powered scooter that promises to be more than two times more efficient than gasoline models. We've been talking about hydrogen-powered vehicles for years in Canada. I remember doing a story a long time back on the prototype hydrogen-powered buses that came out of Ballard Power Systems of Vancouver. Ballard was working on the fuel cells; for the fuel itself we went to a company in Toronto. Everyone we met there talked of a great hydrogen future.  As I remember, the expense of the cells as well as the difficulty of creating a network of "stations" for hydrogen fuel were obstacles back then; obstacles that are still far from being overcome. It seems we're still stuck in the "demonstation" stage in Canada. Hydrogen anything seems a long way off.

In a country like China, however, with its billion plus people and its mega industrial complexes, hydrogen scooters are becoming a reality. They will cost a lot at first but with the speedy rate of Chinese production, prices are expected to drop in the next ten years which will make them an attractive option throughout Asia.

Here's a link that explains how real they are becoming:

http://www.h2journal.com/displaynews.php?NewsID=702
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And, here's an another interesting international story that shows countries like Great Britain are catching on to what urban dwellers in much of Asia and Africa have understood for years: small motorcyles and scooters of 125 cc are great city vehicles.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motorbikes/9444621/125cc-scooters-and-motorcycle-buck-the-sales-trend.html

Mobile mobile scooters

I have been too busy to write here or even ride my scooter much lately. I will get to another post shortly, but, in the meantime, here's an interesting advance in scooter technology from Piaggio. I'm not sure how I feel about the need to be connected everywhere - especially during a scooter ride when distractions should be kept to a minimum. But in a crunch, this could be a handy device for commuters who go some distance.

http://www.multimediaplatform.piaggio.com/eng/come_funziona.htm

Have No Helmet. Will Travel.

I got on my scooter the other morning, rolled it down the driveway to the street and was about to start up the engine when I realized something was wrong: I'd forgotten my helmet and was about to take off without it. I remembered it because I felt surprising light on the scooter and could even feel a bit of breeze in my hair. But helmets are mandatory where I live and besides that I like my chances better with a helmet. I'd give up that carefree feeling for the knowledge my brain's a little safer. I like having my head on straight and want to keep it that way.

That's why it drives me crazy when I hear news about American states - Michigan most recently - repealing their helmet laws. If I feel safer on a scooter with a helmet, I can't imagine going on a highway on a motorcycle without one, but that's exactly what some biker clubs are cheering about in Michigan. Even though all the evidence shows helmets can reduce fatalities and brain injuries, there are still states with no laws, more states with laws that only require minors to wear helmets, and other states repealing laws that were proven to save money and lives.

The World Health Organization says wearing a helmet can reduce motorcycle deaths by 40 per cent and reduce the risk of severe injury by more than 70 per cent. That's why it watches with concern as scooters and motorcycles become increasingly popular in places like Vietnam, India and China while helmet use remains low.

Vietnam is often sited as an example of a model for helmet law in Asia. Recognizing that it had a major problem with traffic fatalities, the Vietnamese government made helmets mandatory in 2007 for all riders and passengers on two-wheeled vehicles. But since no child under 14 can be given a sanction, few riders bother to buy helmets for children. That means it's common - the norm from my experience - to see families with parents wearing helmets and as many as three children with no head protection stuffed in between them, including soft-headed infants who hang precariously from mothers' arms.

There seems no hard and fast way to make helmet laws stick. In India, the Transport Department has said that starting July 23rd it will not register a two-wheeled vehicle unless there's an invoice for a helmet attached to the document. There's been a rule about wearing helmets since 2006, but, as The Hindu reports, it "got diluted over the years." The Transport Department doesn't want to harass people, according to a deputy transport commissioner but it hopes the use of helmet will have an added benefit: preventing riders from using mobile phones while driving!

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Vijayawada/article3657339.ece  (Take note of the picture.)

The WHO reports that although helmets are required in China, only 16 per cent of riders wear them and there is "no consensus" on how to enforce the law. This video of a woman rider escaping a run-in with a truck in China will probably not do the campaign for helmet use any good.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/video-watch-truck-obliterate-scooter-1150909


Finally, here's a report from Road Safety Fund on the low use of helmets in Asia and Africa and some of the attempts to change that.

http://www.roadsafetyfund.org/activities/investments/Pages/PromotingHelmetVaccines.aspx

A Scooter By Any Other Name

Although I love my scooter, I confess that I sometimes feel envy when I am stuck in my car on the highway and the boys of summer whizz by on their big motorbikes. I'm sure some Freudian could have some fun analysing that, but what I envy, why I wanted to learn a motorcycle in the first place was to get that feeling of speeding along roads in the open air.

However, I do still know that the scooter is the best choice for me. Not having to worry about the gears - which never came naturally to me - means I can concentrate on the road, the vehicles around me and whatever environment I'm riding through, even if it means I can't do the big highways. Nonetheless, I still have that envy and I still feel sensitive to the idea that scooters are second-class two-wheeled vehicles. In India, for example, gearless scooters are seen as "sissy." That's why they're marketed to girls and women. Scooters with gears, however, like the original Vespas, are somehow seen as all right. Gears then seem to be the dividing line between macho and sissy, at least in that part of the world.

And yet, there are so many ways to look at two-wheeled vehicles, so many new models out there, and so many ways to make judgements. When I was shopping for a motorcycle and eyeing the beautiful blue Suzuki Marauder I eventually bought, the salesman came up to me and told me it was a fine "lady's bike." It's 250cc-engine earned it that title. In North American terms, it's a small bike, suitable for first-time bikers, especially "ladies." Engine size seems to be the dividing line here.

The male rider in India, China or Vietnam on his 100cc motorcycle may think he's riding a macho bike because it has gears, but in North America young males who want to take to the super highways would scoff at the light bikes. And what do we make of a German rider who takes a 600cc scooter, a super scooter, on the autobahn? Would anybody dare call him a sissy?

On a site called www.rubberontheroad.com  - a site devoted to motorcycles - a guest writer extols the virtues of the "super scooter," which are easier on the back and simpler to use while going just as fast as motorcycles. He writes that "the word 'scooter' has been for a long time shunned by many and some motorcycle fans would rather walk than hop on a scooter. They recognise scooters as simple fun toys to have but to consider owning one is not an option for most." Now with super scooters, he writes, "scooters have shifted from the fun item to the cool ride on the block."

It seems to me some of the distinctions that pit scooter versus motorcycle out there are silly. This summer, I've seem more and more riders on three-wheeled motorcycles. A recent news story reported that they are becoming more popular with ageing bikers who are finding it harder to balance heavy motorcycles as their knees start to weaken. Even tough guy, Harley Davidson, has a model. But tell me how something called a "trike" couldn't be called "sissy," by some?

Not to be outdone, Piaggio and others have come up with three-wheeled scooters that come in engine sizes up to 500 cc. Can anyone call them "sissy," when there are pictures of George Clooney driving a beautiful woman on one around his Italian home turf of Lake Cuomo?

http://www.okmagazine.com/photos/hot-shots/george-clooney-takes-stacy-keibler-romantic-scooter-ride-switzerland

Think of these three things together: George Clooney, Italy, scooter, and try to work "sissy" into the same sentence. Just as Gregory Peck's ride with Audrey Hepburn through ancient streets in Roman Holiday pushed Vespa sales sky high, George Clooney could make the three-wheeled scooter sexy.

What we all share - riders of scooters and motorcycles, big and small - is the understanding that two-wheeled vehicles are economical and fun. Why can't we just go with that?


P.S. I know I'll remain a scooter rider...but, maybe, just maybe, I'll become a super scooter rider and give the boys of summer a run for their money.

Bollywood and Scooters

Yesterday, I went for a scooter ride through one of Toronto's leafier neighbourhoods, through streets with mansions I could never afford. On a quiet Saturday afternoon, I encountered the occasional car, but no other scooter. It was a tranquil ride and I must say I missed the buzz of scooters and motorcycles that exist in so many other cities in the world.

Back at home, as I cruised through articles and websites for news about scooters in those busier cities, I came across yet another story about the competition among scooter manufacturers in India. It seems a day doesn`t go by when there aren`t stories in The Times of India or The Economic Times about some new deal or some new product. No wonder. Recently, a European consultant said that any international maker of two-wheeled vehicles had to have a serious focus on India. It represents the second largest market after China. With 1.22-billion people and just millions of motorcycles and scooters on the roads there`s still lots of room for growth.

Honda Motorcycles and Scooter India (HMSI), with the biggest market share, announced last week that it has reach the 10-million milestone in sales of two-wheelers. But it never rests on its laurels. The company is expanding into ``far-flung towns," to penetrate deeper into the country.

And the Indian company, TVS, is partnering with BMW, hoping to catch up to the gains made by Honda, Baja and Hero.

In the eternal motorcycle/ scooter debate,  Indians are leaning more and more toward scooters. The Times of India reported last week that scooter sales were up 34% in May while motorcycles sales only grew 7%. Women riders are credited for that leap. And the paper doesn't ignore the social reasons behind this. I couldn't do their words justice so here's an excerpt from the article:

At its core, more women scooter drivers criss-crossing the country indicate far greater independent mobility for women, easily able to drive lightweight vehicles to required destinations. This highlights two valuable developments - first, the growth of a liberal mindset across India, with women independently travelling to college, work or the shops without empty-headed machismo or narrow-minded conservatism barring their way. Secondly, it shows a social scenario where civic authorities will have to walk the talk about ensuring decent public safety, essential with more citizens, male and female, going about their regular tasks. There's also an economic green light here - a surge in women driving scooters shows the possibilities of an economy vitalised by strong female participation in all sectors, from education to employment, entrepreneurship to recreation. In this light, we appear closer to our East Asian neighbours who have successfully integrated women into their economies, with women on scooters rushing to big offices, small businesses, colourful stores or families a common sight across South Korea, Vietnam and similar nations. That's a joyride that benefits all.

The Times of India, July 4

So with the stakes high, it's no wonder that companies are looking to popular Bollywood stars to push scooters and no wonder that most of the "ambassadors" for scooters are actresses. The commercials are energetic, sexy and sound like they should all have "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" as their sound tracks. I've gathered some together here. Have fun watching them.

1/Hero MotoCorp's ambassador is Bollywood star, Priyanka Chopra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugKIZNEx9rQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9vHdRNgB-g&feature=related

2/In an appeal to young women, TVS Motors chose Bollywood star Anushka Sharma for their "Scooty Range" campaign because "she is seen by young women as one who is living her goals of being vivacious, independent and successful."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs7CS4-BfcI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-dtO_-d2Rk&feature=related

3/ Actress Kareena Kapoor is the ambassador for Mahindra Two Wheelers. Like the other commercials there's a sense here that women are smarter than the men around them, certainly smarter than the men around them think they are.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icx6aOonkkc

4/ And finally a Bollywood male star gets into the action in this beautiful spot for Honda Scooters and Motorcyles India. Celebrity Aksay Kumar does the voice-over for this commercial that shows how Honda products reflect the Indian dream.

http://www.campaignindia.in/Video/306471,akshay-kumar-reflects-on-the-power-of-dreams-for-honda.aspx

They all make me want to go back to India and try out a "Scooty Range."

Riding a Scooter in Vietnam

Riding a scooter in  the traffic mayhem of Vietnam was intimidating but also envigorating. Here's a story I wrote about my ride for Perceptive Travel Magazine.

http://www.perceptivetravel.com/issues/0712/vietnam.html

Ride a Motorcyle or Scooter to Work Day 2012

Ride your scooter to work tomorrow! If I could join you this year I would.

Here's a prediction that this year's ride-a-motorcycle-or scooter-to-work day will be the biggest yet.

http://www.motorcycleworld.com/enthusiasts/news_article.asp?id=3938

And ride-to-work-day is not just happening in North America. Here`s a press release from England where it`s happening too.

http://www.cisionwire.com/promark-pr---marketing-ltd/r/international-ride-to-work-day-uk---monday-18-june-2012,c9272728

Photo: Morning commute in upscale neighbourhood of Hoi Chi Minh City

                                                                                
                                                                                        Photo: Debi Goodwin

Aimless Riding

Next Monday, the 18th of June, is ride a motorcycle or scooter to work day. The aim of the day is to show how economical and efficient two-wheeled vehicles are for commuting in our cities and to get employers and municipalities to accommodate them.

For several years, I rode my scooter during the fair-weather months from a neigbourhood that lies west of the city to the downtown core. If I had a bad day at work I knew that, at least, I had my scooter ride home to look forward to. If I had a string of bad days I liked to joke that work was what I did between two scooter rides.

Alas, I now work more than 30 kilometres from my home and the only efficient way to get there is to take a highway - so no scooter commute anymore. That means my scooter sits in my garage all too often. Recently, I was out of town for a few days; before and after those days I was too busy with work to get out on my scooter. So Friday, a day off, I decided to do all my shopping and errands on my scooter. I was all ready to go with a backpack and carry-all bag, but my scooter was not. After more than two weeks in the garage its ageing battery had drained.

I left the battery on a charger over the weekend and reloaded it today, determined to get a ride in before another busy week. I rode all around neighbourhoods in the west end, by homes I imagined I'd buy if I won a lottery, past parks where people played sports. It felt a little strange to have no purpose. I guess I feel the same way about riding a scooter aimlessly as I do about having no work or a project or task that needs completing in my life.

Going for a walk never feels that way. It's exercise and, as the body moves through green spaces or city streets, the mind opens to contemplation. Sometimes, I return from a walk with problems that have been rattling around in my head for days all figured out. Even when I drive my car along a familiar route my mind has enough spare parts to mull over ideas.

But riding a scooter is a different thing. You need enough of your attention to stay safe that your mind stops wandering for long. I remember as a kid watching an episode of Perry Mason with my family. A crime had happened on Della Street's route to work, but when Perry asked her to recall what she'd seen she couldn't recollect anything from her drive. Perry Mason thought his secretary's amnesia was quite normal because people drive their regular routes without thinking about it. The adults in my family seemed to consider this normal, but, as a young child, it worried me deeply. Only as an adult driver myself, did I come to see the truth of the phenomenon.

That certainly is not the case with motorcycles and, to a lesser degree, with scooters. Riders need to be alert all the time to keep the bike moving, to watch out for potential dangers, to monitor their speed.

So that leaves me wondering about aimless driving. For the time being, I can't be part of the ride-a-motorcycle-or-scooter-to-work campaign - although I think it's a great idea. I will try to do all my errands around town on my scooter. But I think I will still go for aimless drives. My scooter has taught me so much already. Maybe I can let it teach me that just enjoying the ride, enjoying the moment, is all I need.

Republican Congressman Supports Scooters!

Hurray! Even in the U.S. House of Representatives they're talking about scooters and motorcycles as transportation options for commuting at a time when President Obama is calling for alternatives that ease traffic congestion and reduce oil consumption. A Republican congressman promoting scooters and motorcycles.... Another sign (of the beginning) of a transportation shift in North America?

http://capitolwords.org/date/2012/05/18/E874_motorcycles-and-scooters-as-transportation-options/

That Expanding Indian market

India remains the battleground for makers of two-wheeled motorized vehicles. They big companies are using Bollywood stars, coming up with new models all the time and analyzing the country to get to niches before others do.  Each day there are stories about Honda, Yamaha and Piaggio's attempts to grab as much of the growing market as they can. Suzuki has decided that the rural market is key.

Here are two stories of late:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article3432852.ece
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article3429367.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home

A Place To Park

One of the things I love about my scooter is free parking. I can make stops all over the city... simply get off, do my errands and continue on with little hassle. Because my scooter is small I can park it on wide sidewalks between trees and far enough away from bicycle stands to leave cyclists happy. And because I live in Toronto I can park on streets for free. I don't do that very often because I worry about drivers not seeing my scooter before it's too late. I only park on streets when I have no other choice or I see a gathering (a bunch? a flock?) of motorcycles and scooters parked together and facing out into the street, taking less space and making their presence obvious to motorists.

The parking situation for scooters and motorcycles in Toronto has been a happy one. Several years ago a scooter rider named Michelle Calvert started a campaign to fight city hall over parking and won. Riders had been buying the Pay & Display tickets only to have them stolen or blown away by the wind. Luckily, at the time. city council agreed that riders were getting tickets unfairly and swiftly amended the parking laws.

But now, under Mayor Rob Ford, free parking on Pay & Display streets is threatened. In the late fall, city budget chief, Mike Del Grande, described the current situaion as  another freebie that is costing the city money. In local newspapers he was quoted as saying, "they burn gas just like everybody else." (Really? I burn gas.) "You take a parking spot, you pay what you pay for cars." According to The National Post the mayor agrees with his budget chief. But that's not surprising from a mayor who loves the car.

The fact that other Canadian cities are having to face similar parking questions just shows that scooters and motorcycles are gaining ground as a clement weather commuter choice. In Ottawa, city hall offers half-price parking for motorcycles and scooters and at the busy By-Ward market there's a seasonal half-price lot.  The city is trying to get around the problem of Pay&Display tickets with PayByPhone service which registered riders can use to avoid displaying the ticket. And in Vancouver, the city came up with a similar plan two years ago but only for about 230 designated spots. Before that riders had parked free in unofficial spots and the advocacy group, MC Parking wants a return to free parking. City staffers suggested giving motorcyclists an 80 percent reduction fee compared to cars but their attempts to change the parking laws were shut down last week when city councillors passed an amendment to keep the status quo and get tougher with bikers who don't pay. The battle is not over though. MC Parking leader Ian Tootill say motocyclists may jam city streets to protest the "idealogue council" who are "not interested in anything that has a tailpipe"
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Last week's story from The Province.
http://www.theprovince.com/news/Motorcyclists+pushback+over+parking+against+idealogue+Vision+Vancouver/6640072/story.html

Website for Vancouver advocacy group, MC Parking:

http://www.mcparking.ca/

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Canadian cities may be entering a new shift, the kind of shift that city councils had to face to accommodate cyclists. Parking experts could do worse than look at how parking is handled in Vietnam where the vast majority of vehicles clogging city streets are scooters and small motorcyles. They'd see some brilliant ideas such as using corner lots for parking lots in the day and restaurants at night or government agencies and big companies turning land around their building into huge lots. In front of cafes and restaurants there is always an employee who lines up the scooters to maximize the use of space. For the most part, parking is not free though. There are "lots" at beaches and spots along streets and lanes where attendants charge a small fee to park and watch the bike. And parking is still a problem in cities where two-wheeled motorists traffic has exploded. While sidewalk parking remains an option, it can cause huge problems for pedestrians who have often to walk out on the street because there's no room left on the sidewalk for them.

A smart solution in Ho Chi Ming City... corners that's are parking lots by day, restaurants by night.

A street in old Hanoi. Scooter parking makes it treacherous for pedestrians.

Scooter line the sidewalks in Hanoi.

Scooters in a Hanoi alley. Wherever there are scooters parked you'll see minders who make a little money with the spaces in front of their businesses.

Workers in Vietnam can often park on concrete lots in front of their buildings.

All pictures: Copyright by Debi Goodwin

Marketing to Scooter Girl

Here's an interesting article from India about the marketing of scooters to girls. While this article relates to my post last week about increased mobility and independence for women, it also hints at the sexism in the two-wheeled market: scooters are for girls, motorcycles are for boys. Too bad.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Brunch/Brunch-Stories/Woman-Power-Goes-Zip-Zap-Zoom/Article1-854199.aspx


By the way, it was impossible to detect a gender bias towards scooters or motorcyles in Vietnam. The ratio of scooters to motorcyles seemed to have more to do with whether a region was hilly or flat. These two young women were riding to school on a bike in Dalat, Vietnam, the mountainous city established by the French in the interior of the country.

Photo by: Debi Goodwin. Taken in Dalat, Vietnam

Scooters Are Small, Cars Are Big

May is safety month for scooters and motorcycles in many provinces and states across North America.  Every time I ride my scooter I remember two basic facts: 1/scooters are small, cars are big 2/ there is no metal framing around me to protect me in a crash or if I’m thrown.

It’s not that I dwell on those facts. If I did I would not ride with any confidence. But they are there, at the back of my mind, when I see a car about to cut me off.

Part of the goal of these safety campaigns is to make motorists more aware of the two-wheeled vehicles that share the roads. Scooters are becoming more popular around the world.  If we follow the trend here there’s going to be a lot more acclimatizing needed for cars and scooter to co-exist. Will we ever match the situation in Vietnam where scooters so outnumber cars they can control the flow or the situation in Italy where drivers, who likely rode scooters at one point in their lives, don’t object to sharing a lane? Hard to imagine. Yet.

When I ride I keep hearing the safety instructor who told me I had to “own the road.” I try to ride to demonstrate to cars that I will keep up with the speed of traffic and follow the same rules as them. When I encounter a driver who is aggressive and clearly annoyed to be behind a scooter, “own the road,” sometimes give way to “scooters are small, cars are big,” and I just get out of the way. I never engage in the kind of battle for position that cars often do and I let it go as soon as the rude driver is past me. I also remember a motorcycle safety trainer saying: “never ride a motorcycle (or a scooter, I imagine) angry.” You need your wits about you.

But there are drivers who just annoy me enough that I try to show them “I own the road.” They are the pushy ones who don’t bother waiting for the gap two cars behind me but decide, “Oh, it’s just a scooter I’ll pull out fast in front of it.” This happens again and again and because a scooter has more wiggle room than a car I can usually pull around the vehicle trying to butt in. One time I did this on a busy evening on a major artery in Toronto. There was a gap behind me; the driver had no excuse. So I went past him. He yelled out his window,” Why?” and I had a feeling he wouldn’t let it go. Sure enough, after he got into the flow of traffic, he made a point of getting past me and slowing down in front of me.  I just ignored him, matching his speed. My safety is more important than playing games.  It was a clear summer evening, but he squirted washer onto his windshield, which, of course, flew over the car and onto me. I guess if we’d been on a beach and I’d ticked him off he would have kicked sand in my face.  I had glasses on; none of the fluid went in my eyes. So I could laugh off the incident. But I was relieved he was just a jerk and not one of those urban psychos.

I don’t mean to pretend that all scooter riders are saints and drivers in North America are out to get them. I encounter lots of courteous drivers. And I’m sorry to say I witness a lot of scooter riders doing stupid things. I saw one simply ride up on the sidewalk to pass a gnarled bit of traffic. And when I was I the left-turn lane a week ago, I expected the scooter rider in front of me to turn as well. Instead, when the light turned green, he sped up and pulled in front of the car moving through the intersection. Scooters may be small and accelerate fast, but if riders pull tricks like that it doesn’t help motorists understand us any better.

Add to that the electric bikes and the mopeds moving along near the curb because the riders can’t match the speed limit and it’s no wonder that drivers are totally confused.  

Motorized two-wheeled vehicles sense in our cities. They save on gas and valuable parking land. We’ve rethought our streets for cyclists with special lanes; maybe it’s time to rethink the roads for a greater mix of vehicles.
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Here's an interesting link from Der Speigel that supports the idea that more scooters will be on roads soon...at least in Europe....and hopefully in North America. In this case they are talking about introducing an e-scooter.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/e-scooters-make-a-comeback-among-major-auto-companies-a-832688.html

Scooters as Art

What to do with old scooters. Make art!

Photo taken in Dalat, Vietnam by Debi Goodwin

Sexism and Scooters

Years ago I did a television profile of a Canadian aboriginal woman artist who used a lot of images of horses in her work. She claimed that the horse changed everything for Native women on the plains by freeing them from dragging heavy loads.

Although I know little about the history of Plains aboriginal women, her words stayed with me, resonated with my own thinking about women and mobility. It has always seemed to me that my grandmother and my mother were strong women in part because they drove automobiles. My grandmother, in particular, came from a generation when the first women got behind the wheel. She drove everywhere on her own until cataracts stopped her in old age. There were many things she couldn't accomplish as a women of her era, but driving gave her the independence of managing her own time and the desire to see her daughters move into the wider world.

If you have any doubt that scooters and motorcycles are a feminist issue today read these stories. The first two are from Pakistan where women on two-wheeled vehicles are seen as ridiculous. The Tribune story contains an interesting fact about a bicycle-riding skills training program carried out in a region of Tamil Nadu in the 1990s. Done as part of a literacy campaign it increased women's mobility and independence.

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/8149/why-can%E2%80%99t-women-ride-motorbikes/

http://tribune.com.pk/story/367104/motorcycle-diaries/

The following story's not on point but it says much about perceptions of women on motorcycles. It's the story of the only female superbike rider in Manila. A great story. But the writer couldn't resist stressing the woman's long hair, red lips and fine body, and pointing out how "the idea of the feminine embracing the ruggedness of two-wheels gets the imagination flowing."

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/358490/a-woman-on-the-tracks


How a Vietnamese mother gets her children to school.

Photo taken In Ho Chi Minh City by Debi Goodwin

Vespas in India

The Hero and Honda scooters, the top two scooters in India, will now have competition from Piaggio. Scooters represent the fastest-growing segment of the two-wheeled market there and Piaggio is counting on that as it reintroduces its scooter.

http://business-standard.com/india/news/the-vespa-scooter-is-back/472762/

Give Me Back My Scooter

Getting my scooter ready for spring was the easiest thing this year. I didn’t have to reclaim it from a storage unit, find a shop that could give it a big tune-up or, as I did one spring, hunt it - and the man who’d absconded with it - down.

When I first bought a motorcycle I felt I didn’t have the mechanical savvy to get it ready for winter and then tune in for spring. Luckily, I’d bought it at one of the most respected and oldest bike shops in Toronto, McBride’s.  All I had to do was ride it there one fall day and pick up it all washed, shiny and tuned in the spring.  I did try, some years, storing it myself but our garage was damp and I was never confident that I was doing all the right steps. Besides, picking it up in the spring all ready to roll was a thrill. Trouble was just after I switched to a scooter the business shut down.

That first winter I found another dealer but it was a long commute on public transit from my house.  And it was expensive.  The next year I left the whole question too late. An early winter hit Toronto that year; the roads were covered with ice and snow before I figured out what to do with my scooter. I had to go on a work trip and needed to find a solution fast. A friend, who’d wisely found space in someone’s garage for her scooter, told me of a dealer in town she’d gone to for repairs, a guy who might store scooters. I called. He did and the price was right too.

He’d closed his old shop, he’d told me, before giving me a new address. I picked a day when the roads were clear and arrived at a unit in a broken down – and mainly abandoned - row of brick units in the city’s west end. There was no sign on his unit; just the number I’d been given.  No one had bothered to clear the laneway. The ice in front of the door was hard, sheer and shiny.  So I walked the scooter carefully across it. Even as I handed my keys and a cheque for half the amount over to the staff at a makeshift desk, I didn’t feel good about the place. I eyed the scooters stuffed into two small garage-like spaces warily.

“You’ll winterize and tune it in the spring, right?” I asked.  The young woman nodded. I still felt suspicious but didn’t allow myself to think about it anymore. The problem was solved. The scooter would be out of sight and out of mind.

But I would get another life lesson from my scooter. I was in a busy job at the time and too often I rushed through the necessities of life, compromising when I had to.  Sometimes, I just didn’t take the extra time to find the best way and I shut off the doubting Thomasina in my brain. I’ve since learned to listen to her more.

In early spring, still too early to pick up my scooter, I drove by the unit and noticed there was a piece of paper taped to the window.  I pulled in to read the sign.  It said that the scooters had been moved and gave a number for inquiries.  I peered in through the grimy window at the emptiness of the space and felt bereft. My scooter was gone and I didn’t know where it was.

I must have called that number a hundred times. I got an answering machine at first but later when, I suppose, there were too many messages on the machine, the phone just rang and rang.  No one ever picked it up and no one called back.

The journalist in me kicked in then. I started searching the owner’s name.  I found it, far too often and never in a complimentary light. The man had been a dealer for a lesser-known brand of scooters, had run into trouble with the company and closed up shop, leaving customers who had given him deposits stranded. The news wasn’t much better at the next business he’d owned. He’d left customers in the lurch and had to leave the premises.

I took my findings to the local police station.  I reported the scooter as stolen so an officer would open a case. The officer I spoke with was helpful and interested in the history I’d gathered about this man.  He promised to look into it and I did get a call saying they’d heard he was opening a shop nearby. But when I drove by that address I saw nothing but an empty building.  Around the same time, I was introduced to someone who’d actually gone out with this guy. It had not gone well but she had a number. I left several messages on that phone.  In the last one, I told him I’d gone to the police and the media. Nobody takes Debi’s scooter.

Days later, just after I’d spoken to my insurance broker, I got a call out of the blue. It was from him. His voice was all light and cheerful. He was sorry for the “misunderstanding,” asked if I knew someone else who worked where I did, perhaps guessing that was how I’d got his number.  I didn’t buy into the friendly act. He had only the vaguest excuses for why he hadn’t answered his messages: been away, setting up a new place was so hard, blah, blah, blah. Bottom line was I could pick up the scooter any time after that day. “Tomorrow morning,” I said in one quick breath.

I got to his new place early. It now had a sign; there were new scooters lined up inside on a clean wood floor. It looked authentic. But I couldn’t see my scooter and until I saw it and had it and rode it away from there I wouldn’t relax. There was another woman there waiting for her scooter. She said she was so grateful that she was ready to put the whole thing behind her; she had her cheque for the second payment ready. I was not feeling that forgiving.

The owner, a young, rather cool look man – again with the friendly act – arrived, ushered us in, gushed about his new business and pointed to my scooter at the back of the shop where a mechanic was tuning it up.  The other woman chatted with him warmly; he offered her a second tune-up when she wanted it. But my doubting Thomasina was still on high alert despite the weird normalness of the situation. I nodded at him stonily, took the scooter as soon as I could but, in the end, gave him a cheque for the balance. I reasoned I just wanted out of there clean, but as a rode away I felt duped. Later that day, after I noticed a mark that may or may not have been on the scooter before, I called to say I’d canceled the cheque until the scooter could be looked over. I never heard back from him. Months later, his shop had vanished again.

Since then we’ve made room in our garage, taken care of the dampness.  Now each fall, the battery comes out and goes on a charger.  I fill up the tank and add stabilizer to the gas, I put a pencil under the wheel that touches my garage floor, spray the bolts and cover the scooter.

But tune-ups still remain a problem.  When I was in Vietnam this winter I passed motorcycle and scooter mechanics on just about every city street. But then the larger streets are lined with businesses selling everything from Hondas to Vespas; the streets are clogged with scooters and small motorcycles. (More on Vietnam scooter culture to come) In Toronto, it’s hard to find a dealer that stays put or in business.

This spring I knew my scooter didn’t need much attention. So I called the mechanic I use for my aging Honda car to see if he would check the tires. The owner, the mechanic and a guy waiting for his car all gathered around my scooter. The owner, an older Italian man, talked had ridden motorcycles in his youth and had all sorts of questions about mileage, parking and licensing.  He was thinking of buying a scooter to get around town.

They fussed over my scooter and when they noticed a bolt hanging loose on the licence plate they tightened that. I felt no need to get on with the next thing in my life. I just enjoyed the moment, standing in the sun on asphalt in front of an old garage, talking to these men about my scooter.

The owner wouldn’t take any money. “You be careful,” he kept saying. No gushing, no lies. With joy, I rode my scooter away, back to its permanent home, in the garage, where it belongs.

Ways to Use a Scooter

I love the scooter culture in Vietnam. In these three pictures you can see how much they are a part of people's lives. People use them to rush through the streets, take a break, or carry just about anything I'm going to explore that culture and the what the transformation from bicycles to scooters has meant for the Vietnamese. But for now here are some images:

All photos by Debi Goodwin

Scooters may be the safest two-wheeled vehicle

Guess the safety training pays off. Scooters are safer than motorcycles and mopeds according to this Australian study

http://www.themotorreport.com.au/53964/scooters-safer-than-mopeds-and-motorcycles-study

Crazy "Graduation"

I heard recently that young people in the United States are not buying or driving cars like they used to. It seems they don’t feel that same pull to the automobile that generations of teenagers before them all over North America have felt. I was driving in my car -unfortunately, I now work too far from my home to ride my scooter on a route that involves six-lane highways - when I heard this and thought how important the car had been to me and my siblings, my parents before us and to my grandparents. Yet, the report rang true; my own daughter shows little interest in driving or in advancing her licence from intermediate to permanent.

The interview suggested that the graduated licensing system was the reason for this shift. GLS was introduced around the world to reduce the number of crashes involving young drivers. For the most part, it seems to have worked. But the by-product may be that, unless there is a keen interest in driving or a need to use a car, young people can’t be bothered with the lengthy process. I wonder how many potential scooter riders feel the same.

As I drove along the 401, a busy highway north of the city, listening to the radio, I wished I could be on my scooter listening to the wind. But I know it would ridiculous for me to ride a light, 125cc scooter at 100 kilometres an hour, buffeted by the tractor trailer truck that would invariably pass me. And yet I have “graduated” in the motorcycle licensing system to a permit that would allow me to do just that.

When the Ontario Ministry of Transportation introduced its GLS in 1994, it required riders of

motorcycles and scooters to prove they could drive safely on “controlled-access” highways before

getting their full M licence. It took years but finally the ministry recognized that taking small

scooters on a highway like the 401 was outright dangerous. So in 2005 it prohibited mopeds and

scooters with engines less than 50 cc from controlled- access highways and dropped the highway

portion from their test.

That still left a grey area for scooter riders who don’t want to travel on highways, but want an engine large enough to give them the acceleration they’ll need in most urban situations. Riders like me. After receiving my M2 on a motorcycle and after I decided the scooter was the right choice for me (see Scooters and The Art of Compromise entry) I asked around and decided the 125 cc Yamaha Vino had the right power. I’ve been riding without incident for years now.

When, a few years back, my M2 was running out, making it time to get my M licence, the full and permanent one, I called to see how I could earn it safely on my Yamaha - without going on the 401.  I tried calling numerous people at the drive centres and was always told that if I took the test required for my engine size in the Toronto area, I would have to go on the 401. I tried to argue that I didn’t think that would be safe and that I had no intention of using my scooter that way. (In fact, I met a scooter rider who did brave Canada’s busiest highway only to be stopped by police who told her she wasn’t allowed on it.) Perhaps just to get me off the phone I was given the only two other options open to me: redo the M2 licence every five years or transport my scooter to a smaller centre (the one suggested to me was hundreds of kilometres away) where the four-lane highway used for the test might not be so intimidating. Since time was running out, I retook my M2, and temporarily put my quandary about the M licence on hold.

As a journalist, I called the Ontario Ministry of Transportation a couple of years ago to figure out if things had changed, but was told again that anyone with a scooter over 50 cc had to take the highway portion of the test to get the full licence. The official I spoke to did tell me that examiners had the discretion of conducting the highway portion on a section of highway that has a speed limit of at least 80 kilometres, but only if there is a ministry-approved route near the testing centre and only if a rider asks for the modification.

But most riders don’t know to ask; many remain both confused and frustrated with the system. Danute, a rider in Hamilton told me she uses her 125 cc Yamaha to get everywhere in that city. “It puts a smile on my face even on bad days,” she said. Her top speed is 80 kilometres an hour. Anything faster and she feels as though even a pebble would throw her off.  She was contemplating getting her full licence when I spoke to but couldn’t imagine taking her scooter on the 401, where she “could be sucked under a truck or blown into a ditch” or risk annoying motorists by driving too slow. She hadn’t heard of the examiner’s discretionary authority and planned on booking her test in a nearby smaller city with less-travelled highway. “It’s the oddest thing,” she said, “to sit around and have to figure how to do this the safest way.”

Another rider I spoke with owns both a motorcycle and a scooter. Bridget uses the motorcycle on

the highway and keeps the scooter for running errands in the city of Burlington. She has her full

licence but tried to get information for her son who returning to Canada and wanted a licence for

his scooter. After speaking with the ministry, the solution she cam up for her son was borrow a

more powerful scooter than his vintage Vespa so she could handle the highway speeds on his test.


“Laws haven’t been updated for scooters here,” she said. “It’s not like Florence or some

other European city. You have to work and figure your way around getting an M licence here.”

I ended up figuring another way to get my M licence, but it cost me $350, far more than the government $75 fee for the test. It’s a safety course approved by the government for motorcycles and scooters with engines of 100 to 230 cc that allows students to try the test after a day of safety training. The main advantage:  highway driving is tested on an expressway where the maximum speed is 80 k.

The course certainly wasn’t a waste of money. The instructor, Sharon, was a big woman with a big motorcycle who handed out good advice along with safety tips. “Scooters are small, even smaller than motorcycles,” she said. “Riders have to be vigilant.” Throughout the day, she insisted on absolute attention to riding in blocking positions, constantly checking mirrors and consciously looking both ways before making any kind of move.

“In Canada, we are behind the time when it comes to scooters,” Sharon told me. In Europe where lane splitting is common (the practice is illegal here) “cars are accustomed to scooters. Drivers there watch out for scooters and realize that lane splitting keeps traffic moving faster.”

But Sharon also pushed for fearlessness. “You own the road, but you have to claim it,” she said.

Nowhere was that more evident than on the highway where hesitating is just about as deadly

as speed. For most of the riders taking the test that day, it was their first time on an expressway;

some said it would be their last. Riding in the rain on the expressway felt okay - in fact even  a

little exhilirating, but I've never gone back. I have the licence now and that's enough.

The whole process was actually more complicated than I’ve described but at least I’m now finished with the crazy system. As I drove the other day on the 401 ensconced in my car, listening to my radio, wishing I could be on my scooter, I knew what’s crazier is that I now have a licence which legally allows me to get on a big Harley - if I had a death wish – and head out on any highway in Ontario. What kind of system is that?

Here's a link to a good course in Southern Ontario: http://www.ridertraining.ca/