Central Newfoundland man on motorized scooter says he's right where he's supposed to be — on the sidewalk

Elizabeth Whitten · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 04, 2025 2:51 PM EDT | Last Updated: July 4

A antheral successful cardinal Newfoundland who relies connected a motorized scooter to get astir municipality says he faces harassment from radical who don't recognize the rules of the road.

Matthew Castelein, of Grand Falls-Windsor, has mobility issues and drives his scooter on the sidewalk due to the fact that it's not permitted connected the road. The scooter is afloat enclosed and resembles a miniature car.

"I'm allowed to enactment successful society. Just due to the fact that I've got a disability doesn't mean that I person to enactment locked up astatine location each the time," Castelein told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morning. "That's what this scooter does — it gives maine that accidental to enactment successful society."

However, Castelein said radical yell at him for utilizing the sidewalk.

"On Canada Day I was connected a sidewalk coming location from the 1 store that was unfastened and I got yelled astatine to get disconnected the sidewalk by a car driving by," helium said.

The acquisition prompted him to marque a societal media station to explicate to radical astir this scooter.

He said if helium stops astatine a store radical volition stitchery astir and inquire questions and he typically ignores the assertive people.

In 1 instance, helium said, a idiosyncratic called the constabulary successful beforehand of him, who told the caller Castelein is expected to beryllium connected the sidewalk, which upset the caller who past "stormed disconnected due to the fact that helium was wrong."

"I've been told by constabulary that they see it thing much than a wheelchair truthful I tin spell anyplace a pedestrian can," helium said.

Independence

Almost 20 years ago, erstwhile Castelein was 17, helium crashed into a histrion and broke his cervix and back. He also had a stroke. Today, his scooter allows him to travel, store for groceries, and it's important to his intelligence health.

"It gets maine retired of the location truthful that I'm not cooped up and depressed each day," said Castelein.

In the past 7 months his motorized scooter has enabled him to question 2,700 kilometres astir town, helium said.

He chose an enclosed scooter for information reasons arsenic it protects him from the wintertime upwind and wind. When helium had a much emblematic scooter that wasn't enclosed, helium said it was hard to usage due to the fact that he'd beryllium "blown disconnected of it by the wind."

"I didn't privation that to hap again. So I went for thing with 4 wheels that was bigger and heavier truthful it was harder to beryllium blown implicit successful the wind," helium said.

After everything he's been done successful his life, Castelein said having these antagonistic interactions with radical implicit his scooter is "not adjacent that bad."

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