The bitmap drawing below shows an early model scooter type wheelchair's turning radius:
Earlier Scooter Wheelchair Turing Radius
In their operation, scooter type wheelchairs bear the closest resemblence to motor vehicles in the way they are manuevered. The front wheel -- wheels in the case of a four-wheeled model -- steers the wheelchair. In the case of a rear-wheel-drive model, the rear wheels often operate in such a way that one of the rear wheels moves the scooter in a forward direction while the other moves the scooter when rearward movement is desired.
As is the case with a motor vehicle, the center point of the turning radius is the intersection of an imaginary line through the rear axle with another imaginary line through the front axle at its tightest possible turn. Therefore, the center of the scooter type wheelchair's turning radius is a point aligned with the rear axle of the wheelchair to the side of the wheelchair toward the center of the turn.
The outer edge of a scooter wheelchair's turning radius is defined by the outermost front corner of the scooter wheelchair on the outside of the current turn.
As can be seen from the drawing, scooter type wheelchairs have the largest turning radiuses of all of the wheelchair types.
Copyright (c.) 2007-Present -- Michael and Brenda Swanson