UGA student, Raphael Arbelaez is recovering in the ICU after a scooter accident. The wreck happened at the intersection of Church and Broad street late yesterday afternoon. Arbelaez was riding his scooter and collided with an automobile. 

When accident’s involve scooters or motorcycles and cars, the most vulnerable person is of course, the person on the bike. You see them everywhere. Scooters. Athens transportation engineer, Steve Decker, says “I see a lot of scooters in town, and I see them weaving in and out of traffic, and that’s very unsafe. They need to understand they are a motor vehicle and should follow all laws.”

Top Dog Scooters here in Athens says they train everyone to whom they sell a scooter. They suggest every scooter owner attend a free safety seminar that the state DDS offers. But the seminar is not required by the law. The most important thing they can do is drive defensively.

Decker agrees, “When I ride a motorcycle, I ride like everyone that I pass, or beside me is going to run me over.”

Top Dog Scooters says they are very proactive about safety, but they cannot force anyone to attend the defensive driving classes. They can only emphasize to watch your surroundings while driving a scooter.

The safety packet each customer receives when they buy a scooter has a lot of information that would be helpful in Arbelaez’s case. He is still in critical condition, but his family does not want to talk about the extent of his injuries until they know more about the case.