My first esk8 accident today

Ha I was trying to go straight

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Was riding my board in a bike lane about a year ago when a car turned without signalling or looking into a parking lot crossing right over the bike lane and I ran straight into it. At the time I had a single Carvon V2 Hub with a X-Car ESC so pretty much the worst combination for braking lol, even though I didn’t have much time to brake anyways. I ran into the front right wheel and went right over the hood, thankfully I had a helmet on and just hurt my knees and palms a little. It was totally there fault but I did do some damage to the car, broke the outer plastic part to the wheel rim and dented the side a little. It’s funny I still have the chip on the front of my deck from where it happened. Oh and it was the middle of the day and a VERY visible bike lane having completely yellow lanes and even being separated from the main road with a small barrier, about as safe as a bike lane can get, or at least I thought lol.

But by far the worst part about the incident, was the casualties… it’s sad to say, but I had just stopped at a Krispy Kreme and was carrying a box of a dozen fresh donuts when the incident occured. Approximately half the donuts where utterly destroyed while the rest suffered major injuries…

On a serious note though I was very thankful I had my helmet on and if I had wrist guards probably would have spared my hands a bit. Oh and I also fell off my board about a week or two ago cause it just like randomly turned off while I was accelerating. When I got the board my push button was literally just un-latched like something had bit the button and tunes it off, weird. And like @Jedi said, yeah I almost get hit almost anytime I ride my board, either a car turning, pulling out or just not paying attention.

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Sorry to hear that. Stay safe guys.

What I could advise you on is : do the same signaling with wide arms when you plan on turning or stuff, and be ready to brake at any intersection or try riding on the side where cars don’t / can’t turn.

At least it helps prevent some situations.

Btw @JdogAwesome how about you help me sort out my soft-latch switch wiring so we make a one for you ? Could be interesting not to bother again with random disconnection/unlatch.

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Speaking about power buttons…

I always thought that they are unsafe precisely because of this scenario. On my first built I had a spacecell battery with a power button, and it was so easy to turn it on and off by accident. So I was always paranoid about it.

Now I use

  1. XT90S plug (no power button, no anti spark switch)

  2. No fuse

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If you have a headlight, it helps to pan that beam of light across their eyeballs a few times.

Lateral motion i.e. weaving or carving quickly will help to be seen.

Without that lateral motion, you are completely invisible. You just blend into the background.

One or two swerves gives a driver more context or perspective, it greatly increases the chance that they will see you.

It works well in most cases, and can keep you from getting run over.

No weaving;

And the weave…

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I don’t usually carry my GoPro, but I wish I had been this summer.

I was downtown, just cruising, no specific destination. Out of nowhere a new camaro turns into the bike lane, turning left on red without stopping. I saw him coming and all I could do was dive. I did this Dukes of Hazzard style slide across his hood, landed on my feet. My board went under his car, and I guess I hit the brake, and stopped right beside me. After about a half a second I turned towards the guy, did finger guns and rode off into the sunset. Total accident but fuggin epic as hell :slight_smile:

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After experiencing riding a bicycle as my main form of transportation in SoCal, I’ve learned it’s best to assume every car has a blind and stupid as hell driver behind the wheel. It sucks, but people in cars believe they own the road and won’t give two shits about anyone who isn’t in one, which makes for very dangerous situations for the rest of us.

Ride defensively, stay aware, and like some people said, it’s probably a better mindset to think everyone is out to kill you, so do your best to not let them.

Hell, one time a bunch of drunk pedestrians tried to push me off my bike, with the goal of getting me to fall right in front of incoming traffic. True story.

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Grandpa who were the Dukes of Hazzard? .

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ROFL, if you’ve never seen the Dukes of Hazzard, well…you prolly haven’t missed much, but it was great. Good & wholesome, racist and sexist, had cool cars and big boobs, everything the late 70’s was famous for :slight_smile:

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These are some scary stories my dudes. I’ve had the mentality that every driver is dumb and out to kill you since I first got my drivers license. No matter how safe you ride though, you can only minimize the risk and it still ends up being more dangerous than biking/driving.

Wont stop me though, its too convenient and fun :yum:

Well to be fair this is the first time that’s ever happened in the 2 years of having a push button on my board lol.

@Vanarian I believe soft latching a Vedder switch has been talked about in another thread, idk if they ever did anything with it but yeah. And the switch I’m using is one of my own designs and it been chugging along well at 12S and 60A motor current so I’m good, thanks though!

I believe it was my thread you saw :blush:

I’m still trying to figure out how wiring goes so I snap it all on a PCB and voilà plug the anti spark on it.

But maybe switching 100kohm resistors for 117kohm is the problem.

On main topic how come people can be so dangerous toward riders? That’s scary. Next step is putting a gyrolight on your helmets!

i indicate on my board like i am on a pre-indicator motorcycle…

more gear? not sure, in my little town peeps freak out when i have a full face on

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I refuse to ride closer than 1 meter away from parked cars. I assume every one has its door open already

The only way that cars might see you is if you are shooting at them, and then they might not even notice you. It’s because people aren’t consciously driving. They drive so much that their body is subconsciously doing the motions without actually thinking. Brains are trained to see other cars. Be damned any motorcycles, bikes, skateboards, or unicycles --, run 'em all over

It happend to me often that people see me on the skate and they think, oh is a skate I have time, they do not expect that we are going that fast!

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This is one of the biggest problems. also part of what happened to jedi imo.

Motorcycle advice is really good when riding. My father has totalled 3 Honda Goldwings (big touring motorcycle) from people who “didn’t see him”, luckily only 1 broken collar bone. But learning from these accidents, the best advice I have is to:

  • always be as visible as possible (lights, reflectors, bright clothing)
  • make direct eye contact with a driver who’s crossing your path, otherwise assume they will kill you
  • ALWAYS wear protective gear. In case you do get hit, it WILL save your life.

These have saved me from some accidents hopefully they save others too :slight_smile:

Holy! I would have paid to witness this! Most epic almost death ever!

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All luck brother, all luck. :slight_smile:

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