An invalid carriage was a low cost, low maintenance vehicle, designed specifically for people with physical disabilities. Examples are the Canta (vehicle) and Kenguru.
Makers of invalid carriages included AC Cars in England, Fend in West Germany, Simson DUO in East Germany, SMZ in the Soviet Union and Velorex in Czechoslovakia.
The Duo was made initially by VEB Fahrzeugbau und Ausrüstungen Brandis (VEB FAB) from 1973 until 1978, whereupon manufacture was transferred to VEB Robur, more famous for making trucks in Zittau. Because many of the components are common with the Simson, the Duo is often classified as a Simson. Production ceased in 1989.
In the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s, invalid carriages were provided as a subsidised, low cost vehicle to aid mobility of people with disabilities.
Vehicles supplied by the National Health Service had 3 wheels, were very lightweight, and therefore their suitability on roads amongst other traffic was often considered dubious on safety grounds. Invalid-carriages are banned from motorways.
In the United Kingdom today, people with disabilities can now obtain modified normal vehicles at low cost through the motability scheme.
Famous quotes containing the words invalid and/or carriage:
“The invalid is a parasite on society. In a certain state it is indecent to go on living. To vegetate on in cowardly dependence on physicians and medicaments after the meaning of life, the right to life, has been lost ought to entail the profound contempt of society.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“An earthly dog of the carriage breed;
Who, having failed of the modern speed,
Now asked asylum and I was stirred
To be the one so dog-preferred.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)