Workshops are being held in New South Wales to teach mobility scooter to safely use roads and footpaths.

In a bid to curb growing accident rates, the workshops aim to highlight road safety obligations and general scooter safety.

The first sessions are being held by the Yass Valley Council.

Yass Council road safety officer Melissa Weller told the ABC this week that Australia-wide there were “62 deaths over a five-year period”.

She said authorities acknowledge that some drivers find mobility scooters to be a menace on roads.

But, she said, mobility scooters are a lifeline for many users, particularly in outer city suburbs or regional areas that have limited public transport.

Yass Highway Patrol Senior Constable Mat Carroll said it can be a grey area.

“They are deemed as pedestrians while on the mobility scooters, so they also have an obligation to ensure that they obey the road rules as well,” he told reporters.

Mobility scooters do not require drivers to have a licence or registration for their vehicle, but they cannot drink and ride.

The scooters legally cannot exceed a weight of 110 kilograms, or travel faster than a brisk pedestrian walking pace, deemed to be about 10 kilometres per hour.

“You see them going up and down the street, people using them to go shopping. Then yeah [speeding by mobility scooter] users can be a concern,” Senior Constable Carroll said.

In NSW, if there is no footpath or obstacles on the pavement like glass and rubbish, scooter users have a right to be on the road-side shoulder and on cycle ways.

Senior Constable Carroll said this should be kept to an absolute minimum.

“I think no they shouldn't be on the road, in my personal view they should stay off the road and on the footpaths instead,” he said.

“It is like the push-bike argument with bicycle riders and registration and licences.”