@chsknight Where did you get anti-social from?
I live in Lima Peru, there are only 3 or 4 e-boards around, tops. Police won’t ever stop you on the street, they are car/motorcycle hunters and stop them every 5 minutes to ask for papers, but for e-skaters, they will only stop you to ask where did I get it and how much it was.
I ride at max speed wherever it’s possible and safe, if I jump onto the car lane I try to keep up with the cars in order to avoid slowing down the traffic, if there’s some traffic I’ll definitely get to my destination first than with a car, once in a while you find morons in a rush that honk you from behind but you just need to give them right of way and let them win, you will pass them slowly at the next red light watch them and they’ll feel stupid.
Most people, stop and kindly give you the right of way, if that’s the case you just wave them back in a friendly manner, but several just don’t care so you need to stop on every corner no matter who has the right of way.
All in all, I’m in love with my, full of cyclepaths, city for e-boarding
I live in Southend, Essex, UK, I’ve not seen any other e-boards around when I’ve been skating, but quite a few people I speak to ask me if it’s a Boosted Board, which annoys me! lol I don’t wear any protective gear, purely because I haven’t bothered to go out and shell out for a helmet yet (but I will), and because I ride quite slowly. You might say “you can crack your head open going slow too!”, but I could crack my head open falling over a stick in the park as well… not going to wear a helmet constantly… lol. I regularly ride up and down the seafront/beach here where there’s quite a few pedestrians, all of them are intrigued with the board and not the least bit bothered about me riding there. There is a cycle path, but the surface is really bumpy, so I stick to the pavement/sidewalk. I’m courteous around people and especially children where I slow down to walking pace.
Well being social is part of a good esk8 citizen…I’m guilty of being antisocial sometimes on my esk8 cause I don’t wanna stop and talk abt my board sometimes…but I do a kinda I gotta go wave and bounce … leaving them with a billion questions probably…
Maybe if I had a store I’d stop more…but in his case I guess he means act accordingly based on where your at and who’s around you…so basically be chill and just blend in some how lol
Crazy cyclists hahahah
A sensitive topic around these parts but appreciate the honesty. I definitely don’t want to make this about helmet safety.
So, if others would like to delve in to that @RunPlayBack started a great thread a while back. A good read. And a good place to discuss that topic.
You sound like a typical casual rider which is many of the Esk8er’s out there. But def seem to adhere to a common practice of slowing down around children.
Yeah, I know I should, I guess I’m just one of those “It’ll never happen to me” idiots!
Thing is, I popped my knee out side-ways from a stand-still last year and it put me out of action for over 8 weeks! Still not properly healed to be honest. No amount of safety gear could’ve prevented that accident… I will definitely get a lid though… don’t go on at me! lol
I’m based out of Washington, DC. Like others have noted, I started off cautious around the police – my commute to work takes me right past my local police station with officers typically going in and out of the building and sitting in their cars. After the first week, they didn’t seem to care, and one finally even asked me about it.
Outside of cops, there are two other constituents that I interact with a lot – drivers and cyclists.
With drivers, I tend to be more cautious than when I’m on a bike because drivers are confused about my speed and my ability to slow down. I try to communicate with my hands a lot – for turning, for slowing down, waving cars to go ahead at intersections, and occasionally putting my hand out to tell them to stop if I think they’re going to hit me (which I’ve only had to use a couple of times, but it worked).
With cyclists, my goal is get along with them as we share bike lanes together. I want people to be excited about electric skateboards and not to start a movement to get them out of the bike lanes. For me, this means not tailgating cyclists, passing with at least 2-3 feet, letting people go ahead if they’re in a real hurry, and using hand signals for turning and braking.
Almost every day when I take it out, someone talks to me about it. As long as I’m not moving, I gladly stop and chat briefly.
Thanks for starting the thread, @Michaelinvegas.
You don’t want this!
I ride fixie, mountainbike and skateboards. So I typically do the same thing that I do on my bikes. I ride cautiously around cars and I’ll ride on the sidewalk more often on the skateboard since most people do not know what to expect of an electric skateboard rider. I am helmeted all the time when I got a trigger for speed.
And this is no doubt from being a bike rider
Lol go ride in Venice beach…the pedestrians rule the bike lane…lol
Yeah having to contend cyclists, they are a group that could help us or hurt us
Yeah that was pretty awful …not sure what the whole story there was
I’m also based out of Washington DC and have been riding an Evolve Carbon GT for the last couple of months around DC. There’s a considerable police presence around my area (and DC in general) so was worried about what they would do. Having said that, I have never been stopped by the police (this includes MPD, Park Police, and the Secret Service). They certainly notice but it’s more out of curiosity, as you don’t see many e-boards around these parts. I was riding (slowly) around the White House last week as a type of litmus test and still no response. Plenty of other people asking me about the board though. People are always asking about my board’s speed, range and cost. Doing my best for the eSk8 community!
I also ride slowly around pedestrians and if I sniff a cop I’ll slow right down to a snails pace…then speed up again when the coast is clear I ride the streets (and bike lanes where possible) since the sidewalks are a face plant waiting to happen. No issues with any cars yet but they do get confused so I also have to wave them along at intersections. I always wear a helmet because shit happens. I tend to wear my knee pads and fingerless tactical-style gloves when riding (you need full dexterity with the evolve remote), and if I’m riding an unfamiliar location I’ll also don the elbow pads.
Stay safe!
DC people - Do you use any of the trails like the Capital Crescent? Seems like the cycling community, of which I am a part, would throw a fit.
It Sao Paulo man, one seriously dangerous city. I sleep with both my eyes open when I am there
I live in California, and I see police on nearly every ride. So far I haven’t been stopped, and I’ve been near them in a variety of situations such as being passed by while in the bike lane, pulled up next to at a stop light (once while I was in the bike lane and once in the lane itself), waiting at a crosswalk, and passed while on the sidewalk.
When my daughter is riding with me we just wave, sometimes the cops wave to her before she even notices lol. That being said I haven’t been near them doing over 20mph. My area and riding style may have something to do with it. I generally follow bicycle rules when on main roads, so bike lane if available (unless littered/unsafe then I take sidewalk), any road posted under 35mph speed limit I’ll hit.
I mean as long as you’re not making other drivers unsafe there really should be no reason to pull you over. Live and let live
Thought I’d share this police encounter. While riding downtown, I saw two bicycle cops ahead of me, waiting at a red light. I didn’t want any trouble, so I pulled over before the light. Checked my phone, snapped some pics, waiting for them to ride off, they did. So I proceeded a couple blocks, then I hear a loud “Hey!” I looked over to see the cops on the sidewalk, standing next to their bikes. They were too close to ignore them, too close to evade. As I looked towards them, I expected them to yell “pull over” or “come here.” Instead, the cop enthusiastically yelled “I want one!” I gave them a thumbs up and kept truckin’.
They’re not all assholes.
Happened to me once, older cop that said he still skates so I told him get an esk8 and join our group I’m still waiting haha
I rode Capital crescent with a couple guys from here, and it was awesome. It was a cool day, and I think we started around 10am in Bethesda. We tried to be considerate and not bomb down flying past people. It’s a great 8 mile run with only two intersections.
I’d do it again, but would try to keep to the morning to avoid crowds.