Stay Out of Harm’s Way on Your Electric Scooter

So, you’re debating about buying an electric scooter but worried about how to stay safe while riding one. I know the fear of riding something open can be scary, we have all seen motorcycle accidents on the roads and the TV, but there are ways to prevent any harm to yourself or your electric scooter. 

Wear Your Helmet

The main worry is always head injuries when it comes to open transportation vehicles. There is a solution to prevent head injuries, it’s as simple as wearing a helmet. Helmets protect against a variety of head injuries and wearing one can prevent any if one ever falls off their electric scooter. Like in bikes or motorcycles, most head injuries are due to a failure to use a helmet. If you don’t own a helmet, you can simply purchase one in a shop like Varla scooters, scooter repair shops, or online stores. If you’re riding a foldable electric scooter and worry about lugging around a helmet, you can always purchase a collapsible helmet to save space.

Electric scooter accidents are not common, and serious accidents are even less common. Only 1 out of 5000 riders get into an accident, and only 0.02% of the riders get injured. The most common reason for injury is not wearing a helmet, as only 4% of patients admitted for electric scooter injuries wear a helmet.

What about riding an electric scooter under the influence? Just like a car, motorcycle, or other modes of transportation, you shouldn’t drive while drinking. If you can’t even walk straight, you shouldn’t ride any type of transportation vehicle, even an electric scooter, you would be driving in traffic and can cause an accident. Even if you decide to drive your foldable electric scooter on the sidewalk, you can hit a pedestrian by accident or ride your scooter in a wall or hard object. Safety is always first, call an uber or a friend to bring you home instead.

Conduct A Pre-Ride Safety Check

Another thing you can do to keep your person safe is to conduct a pre-ride safety check. Before stepping onboard an electric scooter, do a visual inspection by walking around the scooter and looking for any signs of damage or unusual wear. Check the wheels to make sure they have the proper amount of air in them, also check all lights and your battery is properly charged. If there are any issues you identify during your visual inspection, contact your local scooter repair shop to find out what your next steps are, or if there is an easy fix to your problem.

Take A Test Drive

When you first purchase your electric scooter, you’re probably excited and want to immediately ride it on the road. We suggest otherwise, always take your electric scooter for a test drive. Just because you rode a push scooter as a kid, or you currently ride a bike, doesn’t mean you’ll be an electric scooter natural. Electric scooters are less forgiving on bumps and holes than bikes because the wheels are smaller. After reading any supplied safety instructions, take your electric scooter to an empty area, like a parking lot, or driveway, practice starting and stopping, accelerating, decelerating, and maneuvering around obstacles.

Follow Your Local Traffic Laws

You should also follow your local traffic laws. The fastest way to end up in harm’s way is to ignore traffic laws in the place you live and ride.  In some places (especially in the US) electric scooters are illegal to ride in the streets, so make sure to investigate that before purchasing one. Make sure to do as much research as possible, it will save you from both hurting yourself and your scooter and getting into trouble with your local law enforcement. Traffic laws for electric scooters may be difficult to discover in your country or region but taking the time to research them will save you tons of trouble down the road.

Prepare Your Safty Gear

While riding your foldable electric scooter make sure to not only wear a helmet, but also other types of safety gear. The helmet is the one safety accessory that is critical, and you should never ride without it. However, there is a lot of other equipment you can get to make sure your rides are as safe as possible. Protect your body by wearing elbow and knee pads. In case of a fall, the pads will prevent you from fractures, bruises, and other types of injury. While riding an electric scooter you are open to the environment and weather changes. Wind, dust, sand, dirt, and even bug (gross I know) can get into your eyes while you’re whipping down the street, if your helmet doesn’t come with a visor, we suggest investing in goggles or glasses to protect your eyes from harm.

You should also be cautious of the type of clothing you wear, wearing thin clothes with a lot of exposed skin isn’t good if you fall off, you need proper protection, like heavy boots that will protect your feet. You should also wear long-sleeve shirts and jeans that would decrease scrapes and bruises, and a jacket is an extra layer of protection against the elements and can also protect you from scrapes as well. Don’t forget the gloves to protect your hands from scrapes if you fall.

Do Not Drive in Hard Weather

I know this next one might be hard to do, but try not to drive in the rain, snow, or wet weather. Pretty much every user manual of the electric scooter will suggest not riding in the rain or in any type of wet weather. There are two reasons for this, one the electric scooter is an electronic device, it is always wise to keep electronic devices away from water. The second reason is safety, riding in the rain can increase the slipperiness of the roads. It can create puddles that will be difficult to spot, and your electronic scooter can slip, causing you to fall off.

Accidents, while rare and not serious, can still happen. It pays to be prepared and to know what to do next. Do your research, and if you ever are in an accident make sure to remain calm. Whatever happened, you can react in a way to improve your situation, and potentially someone else’s too.