Two Maryland players suffer injuries from on-campus scooters

A. Isaac Senior Editor

scooter2 303x214 Two Maryland players suffer injuries from on campus scooters

Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen has an awfully good reason to be upset about on-campus scooters. Two of his players this year have had season ending injuries because of accidents and now, he wants them banned permanently from the school.

“A couple parents have already called me and said they are taking scooters away from their kids,” Friedgen said. “If I had the authority to do it, I would. I don’t think I have the authority, so I have to rely on the support of parents.”

Friedgen addressed the issue on Tuesday, three days after cornerback Dexter McDougle, a redshirt freshman, suffered a broken collarbone in a single-scooter accident Saturday night. McDougle was expected to undergo surgery this week and likely have a plate inserted.

I realize this is probably a sensitive issue for the folks in Terrapin country, especially since one player almost died as a result of one of the accidents. But can we, at the very least, put the blame on the people operating these mechanized vehicles? First off, they’re not wearing helmets, which in this day and age is almost unthinkable and inevitably, a Ben Roethlisberger concussion waiting to happen. Secondly, a scooter is not the size of a freakin Harley and therefore, having two people ride one is beyond stupid. In this most recent incident, that’s exactly what occurred after the driver simply hit a bump in the road. Fortunately, there was only a broken collarbone out of the ordeal but in the future, I’d suggest a less “Darwin-esque” approach to scooters.

Friedgen wants a scooter ban after 2nd player injured [Washington Post]

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