Gran killed after mobility scooter sped down hill without emergency brakes
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A coroner has issued a warning over the lack of brakes of mobility scooters after a grandmother was killed by speeding traffic after being unable to stop herself from hurtling down a steep hill. Angela Carney, 65, was killed when she could not stop her scooter hurtling down the steep slope.
![[Police investigating a fatal road traffic collision last month have released the name of the woman who sadly died. The family of Angela Carney from Cleckheaton have paid tribute to her. Grandmother dies after speeding down hill on mobility scooter with no emergency brakes Coroner warns of future deaths among thousands of riders after Angela Carney could not stop her scooter from flying into oncoming traffic]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_236299753-e5dd-e1737130927585.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
The ‘loving’ grandmother had put her scooter into ‘freewheel’ mode, which allows the user to push or pull the vehicle manually. But as she descended the steep hill, Ms Carney was unable to turn freewheel mode off and the scooter did not have an emergency brake which allowed her to override it.
As a result, her scooter sped into a junction and into the path of a Nissan Navara pickup truck in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire. Ms Carney suffered ‘severe’ injuries from the incident and later died in hospital. During an inquest into Ms Carney’s death, senior coroner Mark Fleming said he fears more mobility scooter users will die due to older models not being fitted with emergency brakes.
Britain has previously been dubbed Europe’s ‘mobility scooter capital’ with an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 currently in use. Although newer scooters tend to be fitted with emergency brakes, many older models – such as the one Ms Carney used – do not.
A report into the incident from Mr Fleming said: ‘On the afternoon of [Sept 26], Angela left her home address on her 2005 model Monarch Compact special edition, four-wheel single-seater mobility scooter. ‘Before setting off she moved her scooter out of her front garden and onto the footpath on Westcliffe Road by activating the freewheel mode via a lever near the rear wheel.
