Equipment and protection

Like other riding sports, electric skateboarding isn't without dangers, especially as you usually ride on pavement. Even if you're not riding at high speeds, a fall on pavement will often result in severe skin wounds if you're not wearing proper equipment.

The idea of this article isn't to scare you, but to make sure you can enjoy riding your board and be prepared for any situation.

Wear the damn equipment

I know it's not fun, we all know it. Wearing a helmet and other protective gear isn't sexy or cool. But come on, you're riding an esk8, one of the newest way of transportation, eco-friendly. You can sacrifice a bit of style and wear at least a helmet. If you don't like knee pads, wear longer shorts. If you don't like big gloves, use cycling gloves. What you need is abrasive resistance.

If you're thinking of going to serious speeds (30+km/h), you should totally go for motorcycle equipment: helmets (check those too), gloves, pants... Better have too much protection than not enough. Motorcycle equipment is made to resist severe abrasion against pavement and will do a good job of keeping you in one piece after a fall.

The danger comes from others too

Even if for an experienced rider, it's hard to avoid accidents when people aren't paying attention to you.

Cars, bikes, buses or even pedestrians... they all do not expect a skater to be "fast" (an esk8 can often reach 20-30km/h) and they will make false assumptions that can easily lead to dangerous situations.

To try to avoid any incidents, the first thing is to make sure to be seen. Wear bright colors, make eye contact with others. By night, use lights, either on your boards or directly on you (backpack or helmet), see this topic for examples.

Make some noise. Having any kind of horn is tricky but feasible, see this forum topic for ideas. When riding on walkways or bike lanes, you can use a bike bell attached to your fingers, or finger bell, which is a real thing.

Always assume the worst. This rule is often taught to motorcycle learners, and it's one of the most important rule to keep in mind when riding. It saves lives on a motorcycle, it saves skin on an esk8.

"I don't care, I'm tough"

Then go read this, that, or this.