A woman was strangled by a scarf in a mobility scooter in New-Zealand. She was riding with with her mobility scooter in cold weather somewhere with a very thick coat and a scarf when the scarf became stuck in the rear wheel the scarf became firmer around her neck and even with the help of witnesses she died. It was not only a great tragedy, but it represents something important: it is not safe. If you want to think of a solution which works you first have to determine the problem to build it up. So if you think of a reason you probably would think because the scarf ended up in the rear wheel and the mobility scooter didn’t stop. You could either solve the problem by designing a different mobility scooter or a different scarf. To start first with designing a mobility scooter that will be fail-safe in related events. If you make the mobility scooter smart by placing a couple of sensors in and around the tire so that it stops when clothing gets stuck. My previous solution is maybe too expensive for some customers so that is why I have thought of another alternative solution this one is much cheaper, simpeler and maybe more effective: the second solution is to place permanent shells around all the tires so that clothing or whatever doesn’t get stuck in the wheels. If you want to make the scarf fail-safe you
have to design it in a way that it doesn’t get firmer if it is in tension and kills you like a python. You can make the scarf less firm by making an achilles heel by reducing the firmness of the wire each 2 inches so that when it does get stuck it just tears and it doesn’t get firm around your neck, but you have to prevent that it becomes too weak because it could tear just when you are not in that situation so you have to find balance.
The link where you can read the story.