Trike Ban

How does an organization like the San Diego Wild Animal Park with an experienced public relations staff err on the question of allowing adult tricycles on their trails? My take is that they must not understand what an adult tricycle means to someone who has difficulty walking. I don’t have difficulty walking, but the co-owner of my vacation place at Treasure Island does. Last year several of us chipped in to get her a shiny blue adult tricycle for her birthday. Having purchased a trike and having seen the effect the increased mobility it provides has on her, I think the Wild Animal Park was dead wrong in their decision last month.

According to a story in the San Diego Tribune, 78-year-old Doug Qua of Clairemont, CA, had been using an adult tricycle to get around on his visits to the park. His favorite attraction is the lions. But citing safety concerns—the park has some steep narrow trails—the park staff lumped the trike in with its policy on bicycles and told Mr. Qua it would no longer be allowed. They weren’t just worried about him. Apparently they thought he would make the trails unsafe for other visitors. They offered him instead the use of an electric wheel chair. Unfortunately due to a disease Mr. Qua is unable to use his thumbs and thus cannot operate a wheel chair. The park didn’t do the analysis required by the Disabilities Act of Mr. Qua’s individual situation before handing down its decision. Doesn’t matter. Mr. Qua doesn’t intend to sue them and, banned from the Wild Animal Park, plans to pedal his trike in other places.

My initial thought was that the park didn’t know what they are banning. Either that or they were being overly cautious due to fear of accidents and lawsuits. But adult tricycles aren’t bicycles. They don’t go fast, they have a good braking system, and they are stable and safe (that’s the whole idea). Despite the walking difficulties some members of our aging baby boomer population have, adult tricycles are uncommon in public places. For one thing they aren’t easy to transport. There’s little chance of a fleet of trikes making it unsafe for other people in the park. As for the steep narrow trails, all the staff needed to do was to mark them on the map and ask Mr. Qua to avoid them.

Whatever their reasoning, the park missed the human factor in all of this. I asked my co-owner how such a ban would make her feel. “It would be just one more thing they would be taking away from me,” she said. Personally I would always side with a disabled person who is out in public and is trying to be as independent as possible. The rest of us accommodate people who have difficulty walking. The park should have found a way to accommodate Mr. Qua.