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Apr 30, 2008 7:17 pm US/Central
High Gas Prices Driving Up Scooter Sales In Texas
Seema Mathur
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
The high cost of gasoline has some people looking for other modes of transportation. Some North Texans are checking out the two-wheel kind and we're not talking about bicycles - we're talking about scooters.
Getting from point A to point B is an increasing burden. "It's costing me more to run my business so it takes profit out my pocket," said driver Gary Capp.
To find relief from the rising numbers at the gas pump William Trent bought a scooter. "It cost me about $5 or $6 to fill my tank right now, which is good for about a week, versus the $40 to $45 it would cost me to fill my car," he said.
Apparently Trent is not alone. In the last few weeks sales at one Fort Worth Vespa store have boomed. General Manager Robert Brock says right now sales are up 20-percent from last year. "The cost of fuel, the cost of operation, that's really what intrigues a lot of scooter buyers today," he said.
But finding gas relief on two-wheels comes with a risk. Two wheel accidents make up about 9-percent of trauma brought to one Fort Worth hospital. Doctors there say about half of those injuries are life threatening.
"They're often thrown from the bikes or pinned between a car or a barricade on a freeway and so there's nothing to protect them," said emergency medicine director Dr. Kent Taub. "They can have severe injuries."
Trent significantly reduces risk by wearing a helmet. "I have ridden back and forth on I-30 at 80-miles per hour," he says.
One of the least expensive Vespa's costs just under $2,000 and gets 120 miles per gallon. One of the more expensive models runs about $7,000 and gets 68 miles per gallon.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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