The scooter is plated with an image of James Dean and the words "Live Fast".
Hardly a rebel without a cause, nonetheless this 80-year-old Mosgiel resident enjoys the freedom her "wheels" give her.
But as the United Kingdom reviews the road safety of mobility scooters, the New Zealand Government says the devices could be in its sights, too.
One of the main considerations is whether people should undergo compulsory training before being allowed to ride mobility scooters.
A Ministry of Transport spokesman said New Zealand had not considered compulsory driving courses for mobility-scooter riders, but as the number of elderly people increased, the Government was considering focusing on their safety on roads and footpaths.
Any work would be part of the next, as yet undeveloped, action plan within the 2010-20 national road safety strategy, he said.
Mrs Norman said she had never had a driver's licence, and had not driven before getting a mobility scooter about eight years ago.
Riding the scooter around town was "a bit nerve-racking" at first, she admitted, and some driver training would probably be "to people's advantage".
Mosgiel man Jim Gallagher (83), who worked for 30 years as a traffic officer with the Ministry of Transport, said mobility-scooter training was an "excellent idea", although he did not think there was any need for a licensing regime.
He had had his scooter for only a short time, but noticed plenty of scooter riders who could benefit from some lessons.
In New Zealand, there is no compulsory assessment to see if someone is fit to operate a mobility scooter and no licence is required but, unlike the UK, there are road-safety rules and riders can be charged with careless driving.
In 2006, in what was believed to be the first prosecution of a mobility-scooter rider in New Zealand, an 89-year-old Picton woman was charged with careless use of a mobility scooter causing injury after she knocked down a pedestrian.
The woman was disqualified from holding a driver's licence, although she had never had one, discharged without conviction and ordered to pay $2000 reparation.
Because no registration is required, it is unknown how many mobility scooters, which can travel at up to 15kmh and weigh more than 100kg, are on the roads.
The one set of data collected shows that between 2005 and 2009, nine people died in collisions between mobility scooters and vehicles.
In total, 109 injury collisions with vehicles were reported, including 19 in which people were seriously injured.
Mobility-scooter driver training in New Zealand is only available through sporadic courses run regionally, usually by organisations such as Age Concern.
Age Concern chief executive Susan Davidson said Age Concern had held scooter-safety days in Dunedin, which a few people had attended. A factsheet on safe scooter operation, including some safe-driving tips, was available from Age Concern and on the Ministry of Transport's website.
Dr Dorothy Begg, of the University of Otago's injury prevention research unit, said the Government needed to have a better picture of what it was dealing with before any policy was put in place.
The available statistics did not talk about crashes with pedestrians, single mobility-scooter crashes or the circumstances of the crashes.
"I think it is just something that's starting to come on the radar. And as the population ages, it will certainly be something to keep an eye on."
REQUIREMENTS
Mobility scooter drivers are legally required to. -
• Operate the mobility scooter or power chair in a careful and considerate manner.
• Use the footpath when one is readily accessible.
• Stay close to the side of the road where a footpath is not readily accessible.
• Not travel at a speed that endangers others, when on the footpath.
• Not ride, or let any person ride, the device in a way that may cause the driver or the person injury.
• If involved in a crash, stop to see if anyone is injured, help anyone who is injured and report the crash to the police within 24 hours.
