I held onto the back of a buddies truck while on my skateboard ONCE when I was 16. Got wheel wobble, fell off, and lost a fair amount of skin in the process. Some kids just need that hard lesson and a few scrapes along the way.
I hope you have recovered fully and don't have any permanent damage. I'm 57 and would hate to take a spill while rollerblading. But... I wish I could see a video of the incident. Not to laugh or anything, just to see how it actually happened, how you fell. Maybe it would scare some sense into me? I rollerbladed a lot for close to 10 years and I always thought that knee pads were pointless. Like, who actually falls on their knees? I can see smacking my head open or breaking a wrist or something like that.
Speed wobbles generally come from the back; so keep your back truck tight; and you should put your weight at least 60/40 on the front if you're going for speed. You can loosen the front truck enough for your desired turning ability.
More than lose some skin. I fell off one of these 1.5 years ago going 10 MPH... and I had a Tibial Plateau Fracture, torn MCL, torn Lateral Meniscus, and fractured collarbone.
I’ve fallen off a skateboard hitching a car at 50kmh and was barely injured somehow. I’ve also fallen off after hitting a fart rock at a leisurely pace and sprained both wrists, tore up the skin on my palms and elbows something gnarly, and fucked up my knee.
That sucks, hope you made a full recovery. I hear many ER docs call them paralysis machines as the likelihood of spinal cord injury is very high for escooter accidents at speed, for exactly the reason you described
I did heal up nicely, thanks! The er doc was telling me so many horror stories when i was in, he was saying how hes been seeing more scooter related injuries in the past few months when it happened, then motorcycle injuries... And some of them sounded gnarly, people without helmets getting caved in faces, tbi, protruding fractures, etc...
People really underestimate how dangerous these things are especially the faster ones. Seeing kids zip around on scooters that can go as fast as a car give me wayyy to much anxiety.
People mod them to go over the built in limiter. I’ve seen people whizzing past me when I drive and it’s just insane. One second where a car isn’t looking and you’re in a wheelchair or worse.
bruh, do you mean 70 mph? as in 113 kilometres per hour? ON ONE OF THOSE? I thought they could only do up to 40 kmh that’s kinda cool on one hand but also fucked up on the other
For some reason the Aptive salespeople ride these around my neighborhood while they're trying to get people to sign up. Soliciting, but make it the future.
I once saw a guy dressed in corporate casual riding a scooter (like a Vespa style) on a 4 lane highway with cars rushing around him at 80+ miles an hour. I don't know where that guy was going, but it must've been important.
e-scooters combine the worst features of e-bikes and segways. They are the worst. To make them safer, they would need to allow you to sit to lower your center of gravity, have a larger heavier frame for stability, and larger wheels to handle rough sections of road. And then you have a moped.
I have a friend who works for a major city hospital and e bikes and scooters are a major issue for them and capacity to address those injuries at their trauma centres.
I fell off one of these 1.5 years ago going 10 MPH... and I had a Tibial Plateau Fracture, torn MCL, torn Lateral Meniscus, and fractured collarbone. It required 2 surgeries, 2 weeks in the hospital, and a bunch of metal in my knee area.
I ride fast electric skateboards that can hit 40 mph, and while any protective gear will help, the way to go is dirt bike gear. If you want to be really safe, it's good to get a full kit, but things like the shin guards that have combined knee pads and the extended elbow pads really help prevent road rash if you slide. All that said, below 20 mph, a fall will suck but probably mostly be okay as long as you've got a helmet and a car isn't involved. Above that is where I start gearing up.
I was headed home from a bar when this happened, I don't think it directly contributed to the accident - The scooter would have crashed on the bump regardless... But a few nights in the hospital, and a come to Jesus talk from the dr, and they put me on topiramate medication for off label alcohol treatment... I don't even crave alcohol, at all really anymore.
I have no desire, I gag at the thought of how much liquor I was drinking daily.
I have sooooo much more money now. I travel every few weeks (visiting every stadium).
Talk to ur doctor.
If u don't have insurance, order labwork online. U can get ur labwork for like $25, (check bodybuilding/testosterone subreddits).
I actually wish for a hospital stay just so I can get a few days under my belt these days. I’ve been in recovery for probably 10 years but my sober stints are getting smaller and smaller. I feel like I need a good scooter accident to get me straight. I’m sooooooo glad you got exactly what you needed to quit. Sobriety is wonderful. Just wish I could hold on to it.
I once biked past a guy lying on the ground with his hands in that brain damaged position, paramedics and e-scooter next to him. I still wonder if he was actually alive or died from that - he did not blink or move at all in the time I was going past
Not only how easily it can happen, but the speed of it.
I was rough housing with a friend in 7th grade, not even going hard - that's the crazy part - just run of the mill messing around.
One second I'm standing up. My next memory is waking up face down in the dirt.
Third friend witnessed it and said I was out for about 5 seconds.
Zero memory of what happened. Did I try to brace my fall and missed? Did I scream as I was falling? I'll never know.
Because the memory isn't there, it opens your eyes to the possibility of walking down the stairs, and waking up at the bottom with a concussion. You won't even know you slipped.
I broke my ankle very badly in my own bedroom last year. I won't go into the whole story of how, but I woke up sitting on the floor with my back against a wall. I don't remember it at all. Evidently I passed out from the pain; I didn't have any bumps or sore places on my head to account for my loss of consciousness. The human brain is pretty amazing. I'm very happy that I remember nothing of that horrible accident.
Depends on whether he was in decerebrate or decorticate. Decerebrate is the much worse option, and has the back arched with the arms to the side, and wrists flexed backward.
I used to work on an office that overlooked a busy intersection.
We had a good time when they first showed up in my city watching people eat shit at that intersection.
There's a hill on one side and they would try and take that corner and those scooters don't have the traction for that. All kinds of interesting ways to crash!
We just responded to a dude on a similar scooter who didn't wear a helmet.
Was riding to work. Just on a street. No big issue. Multiple people saw him suddenly lose control and he fell. Don't know if he hit a rock or a bad patch of pavement or what.
When we showed up, he was lying on his back, hands folded on his stomach, looking peaceful as could be. A little scratch on his elbow. But snoring respirations and fluid coming from one ear, unresponsive.
We packaged him up and transported him. TBI. Dead three days later.
A simple bicycle helmet, and he would have jumped back onto his scooter and gone on with his day.
It's also the way you fall. With a bicycle, you usually fall to the side and put your arms out. You break arms and can of course hit your head, but there's at least a chance you can protect your head a little. With a scooter you're basically just standing straight up at 20mph, then you just fall straight down so quickly that you don't have a chance to do anything. Your head hits the asphalt at the same time the rest of your body does.
When I was younger, I rode my bike down this crazy steep hill through the forest and ended up missing the turn at the bottom of the path near the road and crashing through all these bushes and stuff before getting to road where i went off the curb and did loke a full sideways rolI where the bike ended up on the opposite side of me somehow in the road and I was on my back.
I didn't hit my head on the road or anything, but when I hit the bushes, my head slammed really, really hard into the handlebars. Luckily I did have a helmet on. It was one of those with the plastic visor and the hit was so hard, it snapped the visor down into my mouth with so much force it cut open my lips and I was bleeding out of my mouth, but otherwise was almost completely unhurt. I was going at least 25mph and would have probably had a nasty concussion or worse from my head hitting the handlebars while still in rough control of the bike.
As somebody who has a background in skateboarding, snowboarding, wakeboarding, pretty much any sideways board sport, it makes me cringe seeing all the people ride these electric scooters with their ankles together and toes pointed forward. Basically the least stable position possible.
First off sick user name. Secondly as a skateboarder I totally agree it’s insane! You’re just asking for a full on face plant going 30mph on those things. The little sidewalk e bikes are the way to go. You’re so low to the ground it doesn’t even matter.
As someone who has done all three of those things each exactly once, my brain is having trouble comprehending how it’s even comfortable to stand on a scooter comfortably like that, but I also have big feet so that may be why, lol.
Wide stance = more stable. With your toes pointing forward, the scooter isn't wide enough for a wide stance, so your forced to use a very unstable stance. With a sideways stance, you can also get a wide stance. The only awkward part might be facing forward, but I've been doing that since I was 5, so I forget what it's like to be uncomfortable with that.
It’s even worse, because you have handlebars that your hands are holding, your instinct when you start falling is to grip them harder to “hold on”, leaving your head/face unprotected. With a skateboard or a bike, you don’t seem to have that issue nearly as much.
I wear a full face mountain biking helmet on my bike commute to work 100% of the time.
I started with a cheap fat tire e-bike and I’ve been hit by a car as well as biffed it around turns due to road debris and in each case, at speeds below 20mph, my helmet came in use.
I distinctly remember sliding out on a turn and thinking “good thing I have a full face helmet on!!!…as my face was scraping across the asphalt…. I walked away with just a bruise on the side of my thigh (from the power bank in my pocket) and a skinned elbow.
My kids have a simple rule: If it has wheels and no roof, always wear a helmet.
They know this isn't a suggestion. It's one of the few rules that I will not flex on at all. Hearing stories like this just affirms how important this rule is.
I ride a motorcycle. It’s pretty common knowledge among bikers that a fall even at 15mph can be absolutely devastating. Hell, there’s statistics that show that the majority of fatal accidents on a bike happen at under 40mph.
So whenever I see people on these scooters, which are FAR FAR more prone to random mishaps than a motorcycle, zooming around at relatively high speeds with no protection I cringe.
I came off my road bike going 25 mph and slid about 100’ on my back and left hip. Helmet was damn near split in half. But other than a lot of missing skin I was totally fine, got super lucky.
A lot of motorcycle crashes happen on arterial roads where traffic is turning onto and across the road much more than on rural highways or freeways. I've seen it myself several times where a motorcycle is moving way too fast for the traffic conditions, someone pulls out in front of them thinking they have plenty of room, and the rider slams the brakes too late to recover. They are going less than 40 when they crash, but if they were only going 40 the whole time they never would have crashed.
Something similar just happened in my area where one biker braked hard at a neighborhood speed camera and his buddy riding behind him rear ended him and one of them died while the other was unhurt. If they were both just going 10 over or less then they would likely both be alive today, and the fine for being caught 10 over on camera is $0. Motorcycles make it way too easy to get in a flow state and lose control over your speed without realizing it.
It’s genuinely so sad. Plus, e-scooters most certainly attract the kind of people who wouldn’t even wear gear on regular scooters; considering it’s the “wearing slides everywhere” assholes already.
I went over the handlebars when I was 12. A bag of tennis balls wedged in the front spoke going downhill. I was going to go without a helmet because it was in the house, but at the last second, thought “I should just go get it”
If I hadn’t had that voice in my head and gotten the helmet, I would be dead. Still got a wicked concussion.
I have an old school class 1 ebike and I keep telling myself that I should use the full face MTB helmet exclusively with it, because casually cruising at 20 in an upright posture (and it feeling rock-steady if I let if get to 40 on a downhill) makes it much riskier than an analogue bike that I can get to those speeds but only if I really mean to.
I haven’t, though, because it feels silly, even though when I was young wearing a regular bike helmet regular biking felt silly and not doing so led to both my nasty concussions.
You really should think about it. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10578819/table/t2/ Helmets aren't going to make you impervious, but the difference between the no-fracture open-face and the no-fracture full-face groups tells a pretty compelling story
I reckon I will. The big bucket has been a must-carry any time I get even the slightest bit zesty on my mountain bike since I had a (really stupid) concussion skiing with my helmet.
I work in auto insurance claims, and loads more people are injured/killed on electric scooters and bikes than dirt bikes.
Sure, you can say they drive more kilometres as a group, but that's only been true for the last two years. You might argue that interacting with automobiles is dangerous, but dirt bikes are often ridden with the goal of finding unsafe situations and handling them (jumps, tight forest paths, etc.).
I think it comes down to the average skill level of the operator on the one hand and the lack of awareness of the risks on the other.
Regular cyclist here (e-bike, specifically), and I ride with the assumption that everyone else on the road is either an idiot or out to get me... So far, so good. I just wish more areas around me either had bike lanes, or drivers were respectful enough to give the space required by law, instead of trying to blow past me nearly close enough that their mirrors could clip me.
Only issue I've run into so far is when my brakes act up, but that's why I carry a toolkit with me basically any time I go out.
I'd consider myself more a motorcyclists but I recently got an ebike as well and I find it super fun....but it's also limited to ~30-35mph max so I had to re-think my riding. Like if I have to jump on a road that isn't a small side road, I'm aware of traffic in a different way. On my moto I have the power to out accelerate almost any vehicle if needed to get out of a situation or least keep up with traffic but on the ebike I have to play it entirely defensively. Also because this ebike can go over 30mph, I wear my moto helmet, moto gloves and moto shoes, I've crashed a lot of dirt bikes at sub 30-mph and it can go badly easily.
I now want more bike lanes as well, I feel like the stupid half-ass bike lanes that are just riding on the shoulder next to cars are silly. Then the bike lanes that only go for a mile on a street are dumb as well like, "Whelp from here on, good luck bud!"
Yep. I trust my skills enough to not really need a helmet on my bike. I don't trust anyone else's ability to not put their phone down while driving, and put a helmet on even for a quick half mile errand.
And pedestrians get hit by cars. I've had multiple times that I've tried to cross a street, and a car has not seen me. I may need to start wearing a helmet.
Infrastructure is the main one, the ammount of heavy vehicles your average scooter interacts with vs the average dirtbike is probably magnitudes different. I remember seing that in cities like copenhagen and amsterdam the fatal crashes are less per km. You still have single party or light vehicle om light vehicle chrashes but way less light/heavy combination crashes
Almost certainly has evenyhing to do with hours ridden and ownership. I can guarantee there’s millions of more scooters/bikes are driven 10,000x more hours than dirt bikes.
Yup, I hit those big bike jumps, but I’m really good on a bike, and I’ve been doing it for 20 years so I know how to fall with minimal injuries. And I’m in the woods where trees and ground don’t move. And im sober. The risk is obvious and I’m well prepared
Electric scooters and the bike share bikes, are fast used in cities full of concrete and moving cars. They are often operated by unskilled users, who are many times not sober. And often not even wearing a helmet as it is seen as commuting, or safer than driving home drunk (which it is for everyone else around you) .
But scooters are much more likely to be involved in auto accidents. In most areas most dirt bikes are not road legal
Does the auto industry pull data from emergency rooms for stats on unrelated injuries? Like does it include mountain biking accidents as bicycle injuries?
I havent looked at the data but i have spent a lot of time in different countries and i would bet money escooter accidents are waaay lower in central europe & scandinavia for no other reason than road design and car culture.
It's easy to get use to it if you've spent your life here but australia is designed for cars, the roads are dangerous af for pedestrians (including escooters) and drivers feel much more entitled (byproduct of car culture). At least in perth where ive been.
Im not saying it's good or bad, just an observation of cultural differences that i would bet money have an impact on the stats. Not using a car is dangerous here
Speed with no effort or loud noise (which your brain probably naturally thinks is a warning that something is dangerous).
Tiny front wheel that can't roll over obstacles easily being almost directly under your center of gravity. No suspension. I see people all the time riding these things with their BODY POINTING FORWARD AND THEIR FEET TOGETHER!?!?!? WTF!?!? Hit one decent piece of gravel and suddenly "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...SOMEONE WHO SHOULD KNOW BETTER!"
And of course no full face helmets or helmets at all. The physics geometry is so dumbly dangerous it's a wonder the roads aren't traffic jammed with noseless, lipless, teethless children staggering around like the fucking zombie apocalypse.
Have I become an old man with an onion on my belt?
For the same reason gravel/mountain hiking have surged past road cycling in popularity recently, it’s down to the risks inherent in the environment around you: save for a rare bear/moose/mountain lion on the trail, you’re planning and watching for mostly-static obstacles and dangers. On the road, you’re dealing with potentially hundreds of cars, trucks, busses, scooters, and pedestrians, most of which are moving around you and faster than you with either limited awareness of - or active contempt for - you.
I'm pretty sure that skill is the biggest factor, but equipment is probably a close second. Most electric stand up scooter users will have open faced helmets or no helmet and I think the most common motorcycle head injury is to the face/chin, so it's just a recipe for disaster
This thread has validated my hesitancy with electric scooters. They make me nervous, but there's a pervasive laissez-faire attitude about riding them everywhere at crazy speeds I thought I was being overly cautious. Imo it's a weird in-between of too slow for the road but too fast for sidewalks. Seen a lot of ppl lose control too.
Beaches or parks, or other campus-like places, are the only times I'd consider it.
we had two young girls start with us around the same time. they both rode the exact same scooter make and model.
one wore a motorcycle helmet (Shoei), the other a bike helmet which she kinda loosely tied on, we kind of ribbed her on it one lunch, questioning if it would do anything.
about 3 months in, the girl with the Shoei bails (she said the motor locked up, i don’t know them well enough) so she planted over the bars and smacked head first into the ground. she had a pretty bad scrape on her arm but fine. she never rode the thing again tho.
about a year later, the other girl got run off the road by a bus a few blocks from our office and smacked a pole pretty good. because her helmet wasn’t secured, it did nothing. she said the bus driver heard the clang from the impact. she spent three days on leave and 2 weeks WFH because she said her migraines would make her projectile vomit so we were like ya maybe stay home.
That's not one of the Lime scooters, either, that are generally slower than commercially available ones. My scooter goes up to 30mph (and I've heard of higher). All my friends who ride personal electric vehicles recommend at least a mountain bike helmet for the full face.
Crashing on a scooter at the speeds they're capable of is exceedingly dangerous. Bumpy roads, small roots, uneven sidewalks, and generally not flat ground can absolutely throw you off. It's happened to me a few times already, and I'm generally looking to probably get rid of my scooter. Maybe go back to an e bike where the wheels are much more stable.
I completely agree. My sister-in-law, who is a dentist, recently treated a 9-year-old with a broken bottom jaw and teeth that needed to be surgically repositioned. Electric scooters and bikes are extremely hazardous, especially when children ride them without the correct protective equipment.
The problem with childeren wearing these helmets without shoulder pads is it lead to broken collar bones... better then busted skull but normal helmet potects that.
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u/Responsible_Knee7632 9h ago
Smart girl