Use your head and wear a helmet.
Ultimately, the best way to keep children safe whilst scooting is by ensuring they wear their helmet for every journey. In addition you should also make sure they are seen and heard too by using a scooter light and a bell for each journey. Once they have all the gear and you've given their scooter a mini MOT all they need before leaving the house is to reminded of the 5 top tips of safe scooting. Here's some advice to ensure that each and every scooting adventure that your child makes is a safe one:1. Never ever scoot on the road
Cars and lorries will not be expecting to see scooters amongst the traffic. Because of the size of scooter wheels, they’re more likely to catch on drain covers and pot holes. This can suddenly skew steering or even cause a fall into the road and towards traffic.
2. Stop, Look, Listen, Live
Always ensure that you come to a complete stop at kerbs and stand next to your scooter when waiting to cross. It is important to stand with both feet firmly on the ground, holding your scooter in both hands before applying the green cross code to avoid any nasty accidents. Never ride your scooter to travel across the road.
3. Be an A+ rider
Never scoot in a way that will frighten other pavement users. Think about the dangers of scooting past driveways and doorways, especially when there are high walls, fences and hedges stopping you from seeing what is on the other side. Travel at a sensible speed and don't ride too close to people walking in front of you.
Sometimes pavements can be busy with people walking and pushing pushchairs. Even if you are late, slow down and wait your turn.
4. Know when to stop
You should always be aware of how your scooter feels to ride over different surfaces; drain covers and uneven tarmac. The weather can also make scooting more hazardous with rain and ice being the worst culprits. Sometimes travelling downhill can also cause you to pick up speed unexpectedly; be aware of how fast you're travelling and if in doubt slow down and always use your brake to slow.
5. Save stunts for the skate park
It's very tempting to use the curbs of pavements to try out the latest tricks, but they are not always the safest places to do so. With a high percentage of cars parking curb- side and uneven pavements forcing a misjudged scooter rider into the road it is best to keep these sorts of stunts where they belong.
Scooting is liberating. At Micro Scooters we’re huge fans of getting as much use out of your scooter as you can after all they are built to make the most of urban environments. By following these top 5 tips for safe scooting means you're well on your way to ensuring every scooter journey that you make is a safe one. Hop on. Push off. Have fun.
We have some top tips for adult riders here along with guidance on whether adult scootersare allowed on pavements. Here you will find the blog post explaining all >>