Keep reminding people: Don't rent scooters and don't dive without DAN accident insurance!

[DandyDon]

I hate these stories. One of two tourists involved in Cozumel scooter accident dies - Riviera Maya News Rental companies will rent scooters to anyone I guess, and I question how well they maintain the scooters, but even the most experienced motorcycle drivers should not take scooters out on the island.

Then there was the diver on FB sharing his hyperbaric chamber story this week. Decades of diving, hundreds of dives, but he forgot to get DAN dive insurance. His home medical insurance won't pay the $30K. His daughter added a GoFundMe link. I am sorry he was hurt, but he knew the risks.

DAN also offers great Trip Insurance, and membership is not required. Most home medical policies do not cover outside of the US, but accidents and medical events happen. GoFundMe is a poor plan.

 

[Kimela]

On our most recent trip we watched the taxis pull up, and folks pour out and rent scooters. Those first few feet often seemed wobbly and I wondered if they'd make it back. We ride motorcycles, but it seems the island operates on a different set of rules that are unfamiliar and dangerous for us. Also, with the road construction going on right now it's difficult to tell where the coastal highway becomes a two lane instead of four lane highway. Dangerous.

 

[Chris Stock]

They do rent scooters to anyone, but I've been scootering all over the world. Be smart, go slow and you are good to go. Telling people NOT to rent them?

 

[DandyDon]

They do rent scooters to anyone, but I've been scootering all over the world. Be smart, go slow and you are good to go. Telling people NOT to rent them?

Going slow won't help much if a car hits you, or a garbage truck runs a wheel over you - which has happened here, then there are the confusing one-way streets in town, scooter blinkers that don't work, bad brakes, etc. I hope everyone else will tell people not to rent them.

 

[Kimela]

They do rent scooters to anyone, but I've been scootering all over the world. Be smart, go slow and you are good to go. Telling people NOT to rent them?

Maybe sit for an hour and watch the traffic on Melgar to get a feel for how the locals - cars, taxis and other scooters - do things. You'll be in a better position to figure out how this environment may be different from other places. I'm sure each place you've been has done things slightly differently. When we ride we know we're taking a risk. Auto versus motorcycle = auto wins nearly 100% of the time. And remember, there are a lot of taxis in a hurry, inexperienced cruisers, and drinking vacationers you're sharing the road with.

One of the joys of riding a Harley is "Loud Pipes Save Lives". Not so much on a scooter. You do you - just trying to offer helpful advice.

 

[ggunn]

They do rent scooters to anyone, but I've been scootering all over the world. Be smart, go slow and you are good to go. Telling people NOT to rent them?

For most people, renting a scooter on Cozumel is, in my opinion of course, a bad idea. Scooter crashes are the single most common reason for ER visits by gringos on Cozumel by quite a large margin. Four people close to me have been injured on rental motos in Mexico; one of them died and another sustained injuries he will never fully recover from. Every time I am on the island I see tourists on scooters driving recklessly, and many of them have been drinking. Many have also never driven a two wheeled motorized vehicle.

My advice is the same as Don's, and we are not alone.

 

[drrich2]

To each their own, but it's a risk that's been publicized on ScubaBoard before. @Dave Dillehay posted back in 2015:

Every day there are scooter accidents in Cozumel and many fatal. Combine that with bar hopping and you have a serious chance of joining the statistics. I have been in Cozumel now for 23 years and would never let a friend rent one…when you can get a car for $40.

In that same thread, @ggunn noted:

You pays your money and you takes your chances. Scooter accidents are by far the most common reason for a tourist's visit to the emergency room on Cozumel, and climbing aboard a scooter after you have been drinking, especially if piloting a scooter is a new experience for you, is IMO an exceedingly bad idea. My brother launched a scooter into a ditch on Cozumel and spent the evening getting sewed up, and my dentist was killed on a rented scooter in Mexico. The skipper of the boat we fish from there and the son of a friend who runs a restaurant there were both in serious accidents on scooters, and my friend's son was killed.

 

[MMM]

Coming back from yoga a couple of days ago, I had a flock of 5 tourists wobbling straight at me and my car, coming the wrong way on a busy, downtown one way street. Locals were yelling and the guy at the front waved, indicating he understood. So he turned right at his next intersection...only to be proceeding the wrong way on THAT street. The rider at the back of the line seemed to grasp the problem and he too turned right at the next intersection. At least he was going the right direction for that street. I too turned there and watched him wobble in front of me as he kept crossing in and out of the correct lane since he hadn't a clue what lane he should be riding in. He finally pulled over to try to figure things out. Hope they made it back to the boat in one piece.

I regularly see tourist scooters riding in lanes designated solely for bicycles, and often in the wrong direction. They take road hazard to a whole new level.

 

[MMM]

Also, with the road construction going on right now it's difficult to tell where the coastal highway becomes a two lane instead of four lane highway. Dangerous.

Yep. It is not marked at all.

 

[brsnow]

There are all sorts of things people do on the island they probably shouldn’t.