Woman run over by mobility scooter tries to sue Deepwater Plaza
A Judge recommends mobility scooters be insured, speed limited to 3km/h in shops and riders undergo medical testing after a woman was hit and seriously injured in a shopping centre.
Central Coast
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A Judge has recommended mobility scooters be insured, speed limited to 3km/h in shops and riders undergo a medical test to see if they are fit to operate them.
A 71-year-old woman suffered a badly broken leg when she was run down at Deepwater Plaza by a rider who was “in a rush”.
The injured woman, of Kellyville Ridge, was with her husband looking for shoes for their grandchildren when she went to use the amenities.
They were visiting the Central Coast and it was her first time she had been to Deepwater Plaza.
As she walked out of the amenities corridor and turned left into the main thoroughfare about 12.15pm on July 2016, she was struck by a woman riding a mobility scooter and became trapped underneath.
The rider told a security guard she was in a rush to see her dad in hospital, her peripheral vision was not that good after a stroke and she didn’t see the woman “until it was too late”.
The injured woman filed a civil lawsuit against the shopping centre operator, Dexus Funds Management, in the NSW District Court claiming it had failed in its duty of care.
Her lawyers argued there was a hoarding protruding out from a shop on the corner of the corridor, which was under renovation, and this obscured her view to her right.
They also argued the shopping centre had failed to install a convex mirror for people exiting the corridor to see what was coming and was negligent in erecting signage urging motorised scooters to exercise caution and lower their speed to 3km/h.
The court heard she was rushed to Gosford Hospital and later taken to a Sydney hospital for extensive surgery in which she had a metal rod inserted in her right femur.
It also heard she had suffered excruciating pain and limited movement since the accident, which rendered her unable to work in the family business.
She also developed depression, which her son told the court left her “withdrawn, sad and did not talk in relation to her grandchildren”.
She sought damages of $611,605.
While District Court Judge Matthew Dicker found the injured woman to be a truthful and honest witness, it was the scooter rider’s “careless control” which caused the accident.
“Practically, people are expected to exercise due care for their own safety and the safety of others,” he said.
“[The plaintiff] did that by looking to her right before proceeding left. On the evidence before me, [the scooter rider] did not exercise the same care and caution in relation to other persons using the shopping centre.
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“Taking into account all of these matters, in my view there was no breach of duty of care by the defendant.”
In a further blow, he ordered the injured woman to pay the shopping centre’s legal costs.
But not before recommending people driving a mobility scooter undergo a medical test “to ensure they have the physical ability and vision necessary safely to control a scooter”, require drivers to be insured and allow their speed to be limited to 3km/h in shopping centres.