Category: Legal & Safe

Celebrities are just like us!

They sweet-talk their way out of scooter DUIs! So after you’re pulled over for weaving around Miami Beach at 4:11 AM, try telling the arresting officer “F**k you, I’m not drunk,” then later bragging “I’m friends with most cops in the city and they told me the guy who got me isn’t even liked by his colleagues. He’s a 400-pound f**k unfit for duty” Oh, wait, that only works for Mickey Rourke.

Oh, goody, more from fashion.ie:

Mickey had a passenger with him on the Vespa, but there’s no way anyone was getting a hold of her to testify. He doesn’t even know who the hell she was: Rourke said the mysterious blond riding on the back of the Vespa at the time of his arrest couldn’t have been used as a witness at a trial. “Don’t ask me her name,” Rourke says. “I have no idea who she was. I met her in a bar and never saw her again.”

And he’s looking good in the NY Post.

Can your bike’s “face” improve visibility?

Neat story on how some motorcycles are designed to resemble a human face:

[Honda’s tests] found that motorcycles that resemble a human face – especially an angry one evoked with diagonal headlights – are “significantly” more visible to other drivers. Measurements taken with functional magnetic resonance imaging confirm that a more lifelike front-end design “elicits a response similar to that when a human face is seen,”

So, in conclusion, The Blur rules, and Andretti’s “Happy Cyclops” just isn’t going to cut it. (Thanks for the great link, Chandler!)

Awareness Test

Britain’s “THINK” motorcycle safety campaign just keeps topping itself: “An Awareness Test.” Mindblowing. Even if this makes an impact on drivers, how many scooterists and motorcyclists push their luck (and luck is very often the only thing keeping us alive) by not wearing safe gear, riding drunk, disobeying traffic laws, and/or showing off?

Ford blocks publication of Mustang club calendar

This story about a Mustang Club being told by Ford that they were not allowed to publish photos of their own cars just seems like some sort of silly mix-up, but it’s probably only a matter of time before Piaggio tries the same thing. When Piaggio returned to the U.S., they sued several long-time Vespa shops, including dealers that had been around since the last Vespa invasion, for using “Vespa” in their name. They’ve also blocked several Café Press users and other folks selling Vespa merchandise. Every company has every right to defend their intellectual property, and block people from cashing in on their trademarks and copyrighted designs, but to crack down on a club of enthusiasts for publishing photographs of their own vehicles and preventing them from using a brand name to describe events or clubs is ridiculous. Sure, Harley-Davidson has lost some cash over the years to the underground biker community, but it’s that same underground biker community that’s kept their brand alive through thick and thin for a hundred years. The same could be said of Vespa enthusiasts, but in Piaggio’s never ending search for profits, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a similar crackdown soon.

Update: The matter has been resolved. Thanks, Becky! But this still doesn’t bode well for clubs and enthusiasts, I think we can expect more battles in the future.

Josh Rogers hospitalized after crash

Scoot! Magazine publisher Josh Rogers was hit by a Lexus yesterday on Vespa Club Los Gatos’ monthly ride. He was airlifted to the hospital with a broken femur and his TGB Laser was totalled. He’s doing well, all things considered, but we’re very sorry to see him down and wish him a speedy recovery. Here’s more info at scootmagazine.com and some info on a fundraiser. Donations can be sent to http://scooter-relief.org/”>Scooter-Relief.org.

Denver hit-and-run rider identified

Colin from Sportique has identified the Buddy 125 rider that was injured in a hit-and-run accident in Denver this weekend:

The girl who was a victim of the hit-and-run in Denver on her Buddy 125 was Paula Barlow. She is a sweetheart and rides every day in all weather. She is banged up bad and the dude that hit her is still on the loose.

Paula has been a Sportique regular for many many years. She is a trip. Her first scooter was one of those Puegeot big-wheel scoots from the late nineties. She has had several others of the past ten or so years including a Kymco Cobra, a Kymco People and a Buddy 50. Her Buddy 125 was the bike she finally settled on and she loved the thing to pieces. Her scooter had virtually become her identity. Every time Paula came into the Scooter shop she flirted with all the guys there up one side and down the other. She’s hilarious.

Please her send well-wishes from ALL OVER THE PLACE! Paula will really appreciate it. She has not got many friends or family to show her support right now….let’s be her scooter family. In fact, when I called her house her neighbor was tending to her affairs. Send postcards or whatever to:

Paula Barlow
c/o Denver Health
777 Bannock St
Pavilion A, room 202
Denver, Co 80204

Thanks, Colin. It looks like Modern Buddy is collecting donations to buy her some scooter magazines and flowers. Get well soon, Paula.

Scooter hit-and-run in Denver

We see a lot of scooter accident reports, but this one’s particularly disturbing: A Denver scooterist was struck by a Chevrolet Tracker on Colfax Ave. last night. She was thrown from the bike while the driver continued to drive another block with her scooter trapped under his vehicle. He eventually pulled over, removed evidence from his car, and fled the scene. One report claimed the fleeing driver took the woman’s purse from the scooter and stuffed it in a storm drain.