Common sense dictates that the first thing you need to learn when it comes to riding an electric scooter is how to ride safely and arrive safely.
Injuries and accidents can and may happen while you’re on the road. Where you are concerned, your safety comes first. Instilling these life saving habits into your daily routine will give you mindfulness and help you avoid potential danger while traveling.
Just follow this safety guide
for electric scooters. The few basic electric scooter safety tips will be of great help to you every time you ride, to ensure you stay safe. Once they become a part of your routine, the habit kicks in. It will only take a few seconds to do before you start your ride.
Ride as the manual instructs. Every page of your Mearth state of the art electric scooter user manual contains easy-to-understand tips and instructions.
Always wear a helmet. The helmet may be the difference between life and death. Yours. Never be lazy or careless when it comes to wearing it. Make wearing a helmet your number one habit.
Wear all the safety gear to help keep you safe. Next to the helmet, protect your body further by wearing elbow and knee pads as these items will cushion you from fractures, bruises, or other types of injury. Wear heavier boots that will protect your feet in case of a fall. A jacket will keep you from the cold. Gloves cover your hand and finger to protect you from possible injuries. Wear appropriate and comfortable goggles or glasses to keep away wind, dust, and other foreign particles from blurring your vision and avoid accidents. Wear a fluorescent vest that glows during the night and makes you visible to other drivers in dark places and avoids accidents. For the best quality gear, check out Mearth’s guide on the best electric scooter accessories.
Check your brake systems to be sure they work properly. Make sure all your brake systems work and function well. Do this every time on all of your braking systems before every ride because you never know when either one can malfunction. Rule of thumb: if neither one of your brakes on your scooter works, don’t ride.
Check that your tires are adequately inflated and in good shape. For pneumatic tires, always inspect the rear view of the deeply patterned inflated pneumatic tires to make sure your tires are inflated enough, and that there are no punctures or leaks from them (*check your manual on the correct tire pressure for scooters).
Charge your battery fully before riding. Make sure your battery is fully charged to get you where you need to go. If the battery level is too low, your e-scooter may not be able to get to the distance you want.
Check your lights to be sure they are working. Always turn on all your lights when riding at night. The brighter, the better. If some of your lights are broken, make sure to fix them, soonest. Mearth electric scooters have both head and tail lights and bottom lights as well.
Only ride by yourself. Manufacturers are pretty adamant that electric scooters are for one person only! Riding with another person will make the ride much more difficult to control, with the maximum load of the scooter being exceeded. A potential fall would be much worse for both riders. Always remember, just ride by yourself and stay focused on where you’re going.
Obey your local traffic laws. Don’t ignore traffic laws (or any other laws really), because to violate or disregard such commuter-safety rules can pose danger to you and others, not to mention a ticket.
Avoid heavy traffic. Even if an electric scooter is very maneuverable and can easily go through traffic, it’s not safe to go sneaking through rows of cars stuck at a red light. The more cars caught in heavy traffic, the bigger the chances of an accident happening.
Don’t ride too fast. While electric scooters come with different speed limitations, as fast as Australia’s local traffic law allows, don’t ride above the speed limit. Be responsible. Don’t ride so fast that it becomes unsafe, even if it’s within the city’s speed limit.
Signal as you turn carefully. Always signal then turn slowly and carefully, fully aware of the direction you are headed. Be alert all the time. Make sure you are aware of what direction you are headed in and what is coming at you.
Don’t drink or take drugs before riding. Never attempt riding your electric scooter under any influence, be it alcohol or drugs. It will cloud and slow down your reflexes to the point of getting into a mishap or accident. It is both unsafe and illegal.
Avoid riding in the rain, snow, or wet weather. The RS Pro series user manual has a page on ‘how to avoid getting your electric scooter wet’. The said user manual does not recommend riding in the rain, or any type of wet weather. This is a caveat, even if the scooters are waterproof or water-resistant. An electric scooter is an electric device that can easily break or malfunction when in contact with water. Safety and visibility issues — the road becomes slippery when it rains. There is also a tendency that rain will reduce one’s visibility on the road.
If you’re still intending to ride in the rain, wear a high visibility raincoat/jacket, additional electric scooter lights, waterproof and slip-resistant shoes, an e-scooter rain cover, and fenders to keep all the dirt from the road ending up on your legs and back. If you want to use your e-scooter for many years with minimal problems, heed this advice. After each use, you need to clean and dry your electric scooter after every ride. If you have some technical questions, here’s where you can learn a lot – how to maintain an electric scooter.
What about the risks? In conclusion, electric scooters are safe. Of course, as with any vehicle, accidents are possible, and they may happen now and then. There may also be possible health risks related to long years of use, but with conscious effort, you can help diminish those risks to maximize your scooter’s function and performance, and ensure your electric scooter riding safety.
