If you have a fear of dropping when riding a kick scooter, fear not, you’re not alone. Fear of dropping when riding a kick scooter is common, especially among young riders. You can overcome the fear of dropping when riding a kick scooter by:
- Protecting yourself
- Ensuring the kick scooter is well bolted
- Maintaining low speeds
- Practicing regularly
- Only taking less rowdy roads
1. Protecting yourself
The main cause of fear of dropping when riding a kick scooter is injuries. If you take away the injuries, then the fear should no longer exist. Get yourself protective gear and ensure you use them each time you ride your kick scooter. Protective gear doesn’t guarantee that you won’t get injured should you fall, but it reduces the odds. Thus, with the right protective gear, you can fall off your kick scooter, pick and dust yourself off, and get back on the kick scooter. You will need to use the protective gear continually until you are confident in your abilities on the kick scooter.
2. Ensuring the kick scooter is well bolted
In maintaining a kick scooter, you may need to loosen it and reassemble it when you’re done. With each use, there is also the issue of wear and tear. With each ride, the bolts on your kick scooter could get slightly loosened. This isn’t major and can go undetected, but it can result in a fall or collapse of the kick scooter. Schedule regular maintenance practices where you tighten all bolts to prevent such occurrences. With the proper maintenance, your kick scooter will not only be in great shape, but it will last longer as well.
3. Maintaining low speeds
The faster you ride, the greater the odds of you crashing or losing control and falling off the kick scooter. No law states that you have to move at great speeds on your kick scooter. Until you are a pro or very comfortable moving at high speeds, it is best to move slowly. When moving on the roads with cars and other vehicles, stick to pedestrian lanes to avoid being pressured into moving at faster speeds. When you are comfortable moving at your normal speed, you can take it up a notch, but do so under controlled conditions.
4. Practicing regularly
As the adage goes, ‘practice makes perfect’. The more you ride your kick scooter, the more comfortable you will be and the less scared you will be of dropping. With constant practice, you will be able to move at faster speeds, navigate tough terrains, and ride stylishly. All these are things that can cause dropping when you are new to riding a kick scooter. The more you practice, the better you will get. It is important to practice in a controlled environment to ensure you can progress at a steady pace without any external factors affecting you.
5. Only taking less rowdy roads
Whilst you are still learning to ride a kick scooter or scared of dropping, it is best to avoid major roads or crowded roads. The more comfortable you get riding a kick scooter, the less scared you will be of dropping. Once this is overcome, you can move to more crowded roads and or major roads. On less rowdy roads, you will have a chance to improve and ride your kick scooter with less external influence. You will also get more comfortable riding, thus eliminating the fear of dropping. You will develop speed, confidence, and greater control of your kick scooter in a controlled environment.
Common causes of kick scooter crashes
Crashes are the most common cause of dropping from a kick scooter. One of the best ways to eliminate the fear of dropping is to avoid crashes on your kick scooter. Sometimes, the factors that cause crashes are beyond our control, but there are some things we can do to help prevent it. Some of the most common causes of kick scooter crashes include:
1. Wrong kick scooter size
There are different kick scooter sizes and each one is built for a certain size of individuals. Using the wrong kick scooter size can cause you to lose control easily, leading to a crash.
A kick scooter that is too big for you to control causes control issues, whilst one that is too small has its own problems. For example, with a small scooter, there is a chance that your weight will cause the kick scooter to break apart.
Whether it’s too big or too small, the wrong kick scooter size has the potential to cause a crash. Always use the appropriate kick scooter for your weight and height to avoid such issues!
2. Kick scooter malfunction
This isn’t really down to you as your kick scooter can malfunction due to any number of reasons. On your end, however, you can keep your kick scooter functioning optimally with proper maintenance. During maintenance checks, you can figure out if any parts of your kick scooter are faulty and thus, replace them. Kick scooter malfunctions can lead to some pretty horrendous injuries so it is best to avoid them. In some cases, a simple bolt being tightened can help prevent a major health hazard, so maintenance checks are a necessity!
3. Wrong lane
Technically, a kick scooter is a vehicle, but that doesn’t mean it should be used on the vehicle lane. In most cases, a kick scooter is built solely to be used on the pedestrian lane, and kick scooter riders are considered pedestrians. Cars and other vehicles are some of the most common and most dangerous threats to a kick scooter. When a kick scooter rider moves on the major roads, they are exposed to fast traffic and scary vehicles. In many cases, fast traffic can cause a kick scooter rider to lose control, leading to a crash or an accident. It is best to stick to the pedestrian lane to avoid such a scenario.
4. Road hazards
There are many factors that are beyond the rider’s control that are termed, ‘road hazards’. From potholes to street vendors to curves and turns on the road, the rider must avoid road hazards. In some cases, these hazards come at the rider quickly and it is too late by the time the rider realizes their presence. This can lead to the kick scooter rider attempting a tricky turn or a swerve to avoid the road hazard. Such evasive action has been found to be one of the major causes of crashes. In a bid to avoid one crash, the kick scooter rider inadvertently creates one.
Safety apparatus to protect yourself
Despite all the actions you take to prevent a crash, sometimes, a crash may find you. In such a scenario, it is better to be prepared and protected. Protective gear won’t avoid crashes, but they help in preventing major injuries if the rider is involved in a crash. There are many safety apparatus the rider can employ to prevent injuries and each one helps in its own way. Getting the full protective gear may be too expensive, so you simply need the basic protective gear. The most common safety apparatus for kick scooter riders include:
- Helmet
- Shin and knee guards
Common injuries sustained in kick scooter crashes
Whilst there are a wide variety of injuries that can be sustained depending on the kind of crash, some injuries are common. In most cases of kick scooter crashes, the injuries sustained revolve around certain body parts. Some of the most common kick scooters crash injuries are:
1. Head injuries
Head injuries are common with kick scooter crashes, which is why helmets are a necessary part of a kick scooter rider’s attire. In some countries, it is illegal to operate a kick scooter without a helmet. The helmet can be the difference between a minor head injury, and brain damage. With a helmet, head injuries can be mild and may simply be a mild concussion, but without a helmet, riders may be rendered unconscious or even worse.
2. Broken bones
This can occur in almost any part of the body, depending on the contact point. The most common bones involved are the arms and legs. Knee, shoulder, shin, and arm guards can help prevent any major broken bones in a kick scooter crash.
3. Spine injuries
A spinal cord injury is the most dreaded kind of injury and in some cases, the rider is not at fault. The best way to avoid this kind of injury is to limit your speed on the kick scooter. Spine injuries arise from the forceful collision of the spine with the ground or any hard surface. At slow speeds, collision is usually mild and the injury is mild as well.
Conclusion
With the right preparation, safety apparatus as well as precautions employed, as a kick scooter rider you need not be scared of dropping. The more comfortable you are on the kick scooter, the lower the chances of you dropping off. As a result, constant practice is necessary to improve the your ability, eliminating the fear of dropping off. Once this is achieved, you become a safety-savvy confident kick scooter rider!