Why did you crash your electric scooter? What we can learn from it?

justin · 2021-08-06T17:58:05+00:00

Why did you crash your scooter? I wanted to start a thread for riders on the forum to share about crash experiences. We know that if you own a scooter for l...

Why did you crash your electric scooter? What we can learn from it?

justin

C41006 Good on you! I remember you asking about the Wolf, so I’m guess that’s what you’re pairing with this gear.

For some scooters, this would definitely be overkill, but you gotta match the gear with the power and this makes sense to me.

TimothyButler

I crashed my an Unagi (I own one now) the first time I road one. was a friend’s scooter and was so excited to hop on it that I took off and didn’t realize how to operate the brakes. I bailed on it by stepping off at speed and ate asphalt … scraped hands, torn jacked, etc. head was okay because I had a helmet on but that never touched the ground.

lesson for new riders out there: make sure you know what and where the brake are and test them before you take off.

I ended up buying an Unagi though, so you can tell that despite the first bad experience I still loved it.

CENTURION

Only been on the scooter a week or so, but they feel very similar to some of the 20″ wheel e-bikes I’ve ridden, and had incidents in the past. The cause for the last one I had that sent me to the ER for elbow stitches, was due to semi-wet mud on the edge of the pavement. This stuff is similar to “grease,” my front wheel snapped on it at low speed, and sent me to the pavement. I wear elbow pads on the scooter, but it gave me a pretty good shoulder sprain as well, and took a few months to get back to normal. I stay clear of the sides of the trails now riding anything. It would be nice to find some shoulder protection for the bikes and scooters, the side tip-overs are especially hard on the shoulders and collar bones. 😄

SamKanter

I was going about 20 MPH, moved my hand on bars to hit horn trigger, and scooter slid out from under me. I fell hard on my shoulder, but armored jacket totally protected me with no injury. Later I noticed that there was a big rip in my armored moto pants; I hadn’t even noticed that I had hit my knee due to armoring - the rip would have been in my knee.

Moral of story: All The Gear All The Time. Speed has nothing to do with it - when you go down, you can be injured badly. Since then i moved horn trigger to more ergonomic place. It’s an Airzound - the loudest horn available.

Sahel

From my crash, I have learned to be more careful while driving on a road during the rain, or after it, when it’s still wet. There have been worrying reports of catastrophic accidents, injuries, and even deaths involving e-scooters as their popularity has grown. Some cities have designated these scooters as a “public nuisance” or outright banned them. They are currently banned in New York, though legislation to amend this has been proposed. There is a cool guide on riderly.com about how to safely ride your scooter around the city.

CENTURION

Any electric vehicle I have ordered is almost always “pre-crashed” from the delivery service, Last e-bike looked like it was ran over, pedals, chain ring guard were mangled. Most recent e-scooter has damage on almost every corner of the box (it looks like it took a tumble somewhere along its journey, there’s small dents all over the bars, deck etc.) I’m waiting for the electronics to fail on that one. I was pleasantly surprised when I purchased by Ninebot from the big box electronics store, the box and scooter were pristine. 😀

Michael

About a year ago I had a head-on collision with an e-cyclist. The crash happened on the two-lane bike path near the Porte de Pantin Tram Station. The cyclist turned deliberately into my lane to avoid an obstacle. We collided head-to-head. He was not wearing a helmet… I was wearing a helmet. His head was badly injured, and I sprained my right wrist. The EMS came to treat him. The police disinterestedly agreed it was his fault. But, my steering tube, front fender, and front disk brake had to be replaced—he didn’t pay for that. So, the moral is: stay alert and never allow ego into your driving practice—even if you clearly have the right-of-way.

justin

Michael Glad to hear that you escaped without severe injury. Crashing into another scooter, bike, skateboard can be just as bad as getting hit by a car.

I’ve also noticed some ego / animosity from bicyclists when riding on the same bike paths … hoping this goes away as people see more of this technology on the road and understand that we’re all on the same team.

Michael

justin …Sorry to hear about your injuries. I hope they are on the mend.

Yes, even for those short trips we have to ride with total attention on the task.

Because of the increasing number of severe injuries (both scooter driver only injuries, scooter vs. auto injuries, and scooter vs. pedestrian injuries), and this year, several deaths including two scooter hit and runs, France has quickly changed the scooter laws. They are still changing, and are now a new class of motor vehicle (over a certain wattage and top speed). Most people break the laws, but the police are beginning to “control” (document verification) more and more scooter drivers. Driving without insurance can get you a 750 euro fine. As well as impounding of one’s expensive scooter. Same for driving without proper registration.

GTRXRider

Yep, pitted against cars due to deadly urban planning. Most people i´ve seen were positive towards it, car drivers at intersections either ignore you and see right through you, block bike paths all the same, so at least that´s a reason to not insist on right of way. Very few yell that scooters don´t belong on the road, so that is something, at least.

PaulAndrewAnderson

Skip to the last 3 minutes or so of this ride video. The title says it all, as does the crash. The Imgur photo links of the structural failure are there too.

justin

PaulAndrewAnderson WoW! Very scary when sudden failure happens … better for it to happen on the sidewalk than in the street (or in front of a car).

Manufacturers love these die-cast aluminum parts, but they tend to fracture suddenly and without warning when the fail.

Hoping you’re on the mend!

PaulAndrewAnderson

Just to follow up this issue (and I hope you all put the word out too); Xiaomi has stepped up to accept the design flaw of this stem latch, putting out what could be described as a recall, but is more of a repair offer. PS: I’m fine and Emove Cruising!
https://www.mi.com/us/support/scooter-safety-notice

ScooterDX

PaulAndrewAnderson

Glad you recovered OK and that you received a refund.

It was the latch/handle that failed, not the handlebar base or tube, correct?

Xiaomi has stepped up to accept the design flaw of this stem latch

Your video references the “Ninebot G30P” in the title but you reference Xiaomi in your post and your safety notice is in reference to a Xiaomi Mi M365. Can you please clarify?

Thanks.

ScooterDX

PaulAndrewAnderson

If it was a 30P and you have the serial number for your old scooter, please post it so others can know if their scooter was manufactured around the same time. Thanks.

shooflyshoo

I was riding my Mototec Fat Tire early on a Friday morning. Is was very cold out so, I was wearing a full face helmet, heavy leather riding jacket, long underwear under my jeans and what I thought were a good pair of riding gloves that I bought off amazon for $30. I was doing about 30mph, I saw a squirrel by the side of the road, at the last second he ran out and I had no time to react so, I went down. I broke my humorous in two places, bruised rib and messed up a couple of tendons in my hand. Seven weeks later, I am still recovering. What I have figured out is that impact is much more important than abrasion resistance on a scooter but neither can be ignored. When I get back to riding (hopefully in about 6 more weeks!). I have a jacket with CE rated armor in the shoulders, elbows, and back. I also have goat skin gloves with sliders on the palm and pinky so my hands will just slide on the pavement. I also bought riding jeans that have kevlar and armor on the knees and hips. I was only going 30mph but got pretty messed up. My medical bills are crazy and about 13 weeks of suffering. I don’t think that it is possible to wear too much protective gear. I can’t even imagine what would have happened if I was not wearing a full motorcycle helmet. Don’t take any chances, it is not worth it.

Max99

All accidents with ninebot max.
1 accident) Driving on a road forward parallel to 2cm higher road tiles and then turning my wheel to them and my wheel refusing to climb this pathetic 2cm higher ground and slipping and making me off balance. Its not my fault - the bicycle would have done it no problem but scooter wheels are too short AND too narrow. Didnt crashed much i managed to fall down safely.

2 accident) Walking with scooter and raising it off the ground to carry it over 15cm border - rear wheel hitting my ankle, that stuff hurts!

3 accident) Riding brand new bicycle road and then hitting large hole due to road not being finished in that hole - the rest of the road was finished just the hole was left unfinished in a very weird way! Almost braking my hand, it took months to heal up

4 accident with no crashes) Random slips of front wheel due to its narrowness on bad road - even 3 or 5cm gaps between road tiles can make driving unsafe. The ESG should bash all scooters and force to make all scooters have wide wheels. The normal wheel width should be 15cm not 7cm.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN: Im not going to say what is possible to learn from this. YOU do the learning by imagining these situations i was in!

IM NOT BASHING ESG: The only real learning I can say is ESG is too polite towards scooter manufacturers by giving glowing scores AND at the same time giving an “aura” that those scooters are safe and good ENOUGH thus boosting the “confidence” in people thus making those people to drive unsafely with no experience.

One example is ESG braking distance. Their proffesional driver can stop the scooter safely in short distance but most people WONT be able to stop that fast creating the fasade that you - and average person can stop the scooter just as quickly. The ESG could have a disclaimer “just because Paul can brake scooter as a proffessional, doesnt mean that You random buyer can do that too”. Something like that!

FidoDido

I crashed because I did hesitate , there was bunch of ppl walking and not much space to go thru between them and the cars parked 😆 so I did slow down to about 18Kmh but I panic a bit and somehow turn left then right and had to fall down ( new rider here ) so I did put my hand on the parked car and pushed myself to crash sort of safely.

I had my helmet on but my pads was in my jacket at the tailor being done , as I couldn’t find any decent jackets locally so I had to purchase 3DO pads CE lvl2 online and get an addidas jacket to the tailor to make them fit.

What I learned is this , be patient not worth risking it because you are excited to drive your new scooter and wait for the equipments , I did drove my scooter for few days so this crash was my 3-4th day. Still have some pain here and there but all was fine nothing broken or any scars.

But now I am sure I want to ride with pads only and never hesitate either be patient and let them pass so i wait for them even if I have to stop

Or get the guts to hold the speed as is to make my scooter going straight etc..

DrScootLittle

@Max99

Good point about the braking distance. It’s the best braking distance the scooter is capable of. It’s also a resource to check to see if one’s personal braking distance can be improved upon.

I should point out, more often, that it’s important to calibrate your personal-best stopping distance. My favorite way to do this is to pick a landmark like a skidmark in the road, and then challenge myself to brake as late as I can, without overshooting the mark. This lets you know if you can stop as short as you think you can. It also gives you practice at emergency braking before you’re in an actual emergency.

A super important part of practicing hard braking is to always start small and work your way up to it. I will often loft the rear wheel when testing out brakes on a new scooter for the first time because I’m not being patient getting to know the limits.

40s

No a crash crash, but got a pesky flat riding on the sidewalk; there was a bricked part missing a whole brick and riffing over that took out the inner tubes air. Since then I geared up and take the streets.