EScooters are great and could potentially change the way we travel. However, safety is paramount and here are some tips to ensure you keep safe.

1. Wear the Right Protective Equipment

First things first, you need to wear the right equipment. To protect yourself while operating a scooter, you should be wearing the right gear. At a minimum, you should be wearing a protective helmet. If you have one, a bike helmet can suffice.

There are plenty of other benefits you gain from wearing a helmet that might not be safety-related including:

– Protection From Sun

A lot of helmets will block harmful UV rays. That way, you don’t have to worry about your eyes getting exposed to harmful sunlight.

– Keeps Your Head Warm

Another benefit is the fact that your helmet will act as a layer of insulation. This can help to keep your head warm during the colder months.

You should also be looking to invest in other protective gear outside of a helmet including but not limited to kneepads and even elbow pads.

2. Ride Slower

Another good tip that you can use when you are trying to keep your riding as safe as possible would be riding slower. You want to maintain a slower speed especially when you are in a crowded area. If you’re in an area with a lot of pedestrians and vehicles, you want to maintain a slower speed to give you more time to react. Maintaining a speed of around 12 miles per hour is typically considered safe by most city standards.

You also want to keep from accelerating too quickly from a complete stop. This is one of the major causes of escooter accidents. Because these scooters have powerful motors, they can cause you to lose balance or it can result in the scooter slipping out of your hands if you don’t have a firm grip. A lot of these accelerating accidents occur at slower speeds which make them much less dangerous as long as you are wearing the proper protective gear. That being said, if you are in the middle of an intersection and you fall, things can get very dangerous very quickly.

3. Brake with Enough Space

Another key thing you should be doing is using your brakes early. You need to give yourself enough time to stop if you are coming up to an obstacle. You don’t want to break at the last second or it will force you to do a sudden stop. This can be a very useful tip when you find yourself riding an electric scooter during inclement weather.

You will find a lot of scooters have different braking systems. One of the more common systems you will find on a scooter is electromagnetic and disc brakes. The disc brake is the one that is typically much better and more effective than the electromagnetic one. However, it won’t be capable of recovering the energy required to charge your scooter. These brakes are capable of recovering some of the energy that is otherwise lost with braking. Because of this, they typically have more range to them. If you have one of these, you need to learn how to effectively use the wheel brake that it comes with. It’s a much more capable brake. You need to get accustomed to using it which should take some time. Once you get a feel for how aggressive it is, you shouldn’t have trouble using it regularly.

4. Slow Turns are Safe Turns

This is true when you are riding a car, bike, or electric scooter. You don’t know what’s around each corner. Because of this, you don’t want to take sharp and fast turns. This could cause you to not only slip and lose traction with the road, but it could result in you running into something that isn’t visible around the corner. When approaching a turn, always maintain a steady and safe speed. Also, try to avoid braking and accelerating while you are turning because it could result in you losing traction.

5. Don’t Ride your Scooter on Busy Roads

Ideally, you want to attempt to avoid the busiest roads. Keeping yourself off of the busiest roads is one of the best ways to keep yourself safe while riding an electric scooter. If you find yourself on a busy road, you will be much more susceptible to getting into an accident. If you do find yourself on one of these roads, you need to adhere to all of the laws of the road.

6. Maintain your Scooter

While your electric scooter is much easier to maintain than a traditional vehicle, it still requires maintenance. A lot of owners gloss over this and run into trouble because of it. You want to swap out used parts when they get worn down and regularly check your scooter for failing parts. Here are some of the regular checks you should complete:

– Ensure screws are tight

– Lubricate moving parts as instructed in the manual

– Check the tire pressure occasionally

– Lock the scooter after unfolding

– Don’t alter the battery of your scooter

One of the most important things you need to do is maintain properly inflated tires. The tire pressure of your scooter is essential for safety. Your scooter’s brakes will work much more efficiently and effectively when properly inflated.