is the beer that good down under?

[Billw69]

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) - A man found asleep in a motorized wheelchair on a highway in northern Australia was charged with drunk driving, police said Monday.

Officers in a patrol car noticed the man slumped in the stationary chair about 10 a.m. Friday on an exit lane near the tourist city of Cairns, regional traffic Inspector Bob Waters said. Cars were swerving to get around him, Waters said.

The officers breath-tested the 64-year-old man, who registered a blood alcohol reading of 0.301 - more than six times the legal driving limit. He was charged with operating a vehicle while drunk and ordered to report to court on July 7, where he faces a stiff fine if convicted.

"The vehicles that we normally hear about with drink driving are the family car, the truck, the motorbike," Waters said. "But there are also other classes of vehicles that are subject to drink-driving laws," including horses, bicycles, and motorized wheelchairs.

The man, whose name was not released, told police he was making a nine-mile trip from his home to a friend's place, Waters said.

"He placed himself in a very dangerous situation," he said.

[aardvark]

reminds me that about 20 years ago  I had a client, severe mental retardation, wheel chair bound, escape.

I was supervising 7 group homes, got a call that Gary had escaped, the police found him heading North down sixth avenue in his wheel chair. They pulled him over because he didn't have one of those flags with the long pole they had at  the time for mopeds around here.

Seems the group home staff turned off the door alarm because Gary kept opening it.   Now he had got about a mile a way.

and yes, that night I called the dear wife, told her what happened  and that I had a group home to handle until the morning crew came in.  I fired the night crew on the spot and made sure their unemployment compensation was denied.    Same crew told me that the guy was doing something sexual to himself.  I remember telling them to close the door and when he was finished a nice shower and to bed and then the same crew called that he was sculpting something out of his feces.  I said for the  to seize the object and contact the art center first thing in the morning  as we had a work of art.

I have mellowed since I got back into teaching..

[kray1000]

The man, whose name was not released, told police he was making a nine-mile trip from his home to a friend's place, Waters said.

Nine miles?

Do these motorized wheelchairs run on car batteries?

[Bashy]

I beleive they can go a lot further than that now 1st search from google showed these
http://www.1800wheelchair.com/browse/335/Motorized-Wheelchair

[lulu836]

Nine miles?

Do these motorized wheelchairs run on car batteries?

Some that have respirators etc., on board use car batteries...........those that are for transportation only use a pair of small deep cycle gel cell rechargeable batteries and usually run 10 to 15 miles.

[jbrooks987]

The one my wife uses claims up to 25 miles per charge at up to 4 mph - but she (we?) haven't put the distance to the test as yet.  She did walk me home from one of our favorite eateries last summer, and I'll testify to the 4 mph speed - the chair lasted a whole lot longer than I did