As a major urban rider, I have found myself doing all of these things that you have learned. It is pretty much natural behavior when a person is circumspect and interested in being a good actor on our shared roadways.
Now imagine how cities would look in 10 years if we start teaching kids all of this right now. I was thinking of opening a business where I'd go to schools to teach kids safe riding on a variety of PEVs.
Another type you can encounter in public: dogs. Dogs can be apathetic towards EUCs or they can intensely pursue them. I always feel a bit wary around dogs while riding, even though I personally love dogs and am a dog owner myself.
In my experience, dogs hate them. I suspect the motors have a high pitched whine that is too high for us to detect but annoys dogs. Most dog walkers are good and will control their animal when they see you coming, just as they would for a bike, but if you come up behind them they might not have time, and on trails and fields the dog might be off the lead. Just slow down and be cautious. Also dogs are very unpredictable, especially when excitedly out on a walk so could run in front of you with zero notice.
@@shia_labeouf Yeah that's always been my theory as well. Something about the PWM signal to the motor drives them crazy, but I've also had many dogs who couldn't care less. I actually had someone's small dog run out into traffic to try to catch me once. I had to stop traffic until they could get them back.
Be kind, be considerate of others, be patient and do not be ruled by your emotions. I have avoided many accidents by this philosophy. I'm a truck driver in my work life and I know the types of things people do to endanger others. The number 1 thing that puts people in danger is impatience, usually due to anger.
I got hit in the face by a tree branch last week. I put some awesome spider lights on my Sherman. I always carry a backpack. So I bought a reflective sleeve for it. I stick a small blinking bicycle light on the sleeve. Make sure the headlight on your EUC doesn't blind others. I put a filter in front of my MSP headlight. My MSP is also tilted to the back. So the headlight aims upwards. Don't ride to close to the curb. Your footplates will clip on the curb. Choose the right helmet. Some helmets will block a lot of sound from the environment. Choose a helmet with good viewing angle. Choose the right tire pressure for stability. The more comfortable you ride, the more attention you can give to your surroundings. Do not ride the beeps in traffic. Be careful for dogs. Like humans they are unpredictable.
Great info! I wish bicycle infrastructure was as prevalent in the rest of the world as it is in Europe and Asia. I actually think cars don't belong in dense areas of cities. They take a lot of scarce space, cause noise, pollution and the slow speeds make them more frustrated and aggressive. Recommendation for power pads? I juts got a V12.
i dont understand why people praise cycling roads in europe they are never even surfaces , alot of bumps and some places too much traffic for a 2-3 meter space, granpas riding 15 kmh, biker25, e bikers 45 its total chaos, id rather have asfalt
omg i'm so glad i'm not alone in looking into urban planning in the context of giving people back space taken by cars!!! i freaking love adam something, not just bikes, and climate town!! i totally also recommend our changing climate and second thought!! very similar in topics to climate town and adam something, respectively.
I recently posted a comment in a video from a RU-vid content creator from New York City and received criticism about leaving people alone and driving freely their EUC's In that comment I mentioned that everyone should respect each other's spaces and stop acting like they are trying to show off, changing lanes all the time, driving fast with pedestrians nearby, or driving too close to vehicles like cars, or not respecting the traffic lights. But unfortunately, I realize that here in America most EUC drivers feel different, that they are going beyond the rules, or going against society or something like that. At the end of the video from that content creator, he says "put yourself among the elite, class or elite, the secret avengers, those who run through the city with impunity, without limitations, the street warriors" and you will be able to notice the type of mentality these people have, and why other drivers of any vehicle or pedestrians see us as criminals. Thank you for support the other side of EUC drivers
Yea we need more talk about this. I see more and more people riding like they are on motorcycles. A lot of riders have no idea just how dangerous this is. We are not cars yet we play with them all day. Wear your gear and ride as if nobody sees you. Also a lot of people really don't understand how dangerous it is crashing anything at speeds 35mph+
Great Adam, you are the best out there regarding euc's. Thanks to you I discovered this thing that became one of my biggest passions and now I'm buying my second euc. Keep up the good work please, community is getting bigger and bigger and we all need you!
Really good idea to do this video. Some really good thoughts. I love my car, I love driving. I also like cycling and my EUC's. What I don't like is the increasing intolerance people shown for one form of transport over another. The trick is to all get on together, pedestrians, cyclists and ourselves are always going to be more vulnerable than cars and trucks. Not even considering people riding horses for the moment. That doesn't mean we should stand aside, or cars and trucks should stand aside. What it does mean there is a need to recognize the dangers to ourselves and to others. Live and let live. We are capable of a mistake from time to time as well. On our side of the fence I see people who think they are iron man, on the car side people who think well they are not getting hurt anyway. It's not just safety either. We can give quite a fright coming up on people quickly and can antagonize people by breezing through traffic lights, frequent transitions between road and pavement, or breaking traffic law generally. Even the GoPro's can be seen as a threat regarding them being, rather than us always in the wrong. When people ask, I say because I like posting in RU-vid, not that its for evidence at all. A persons car is personal space, people do not like it being used as a leaning post at lights, or threatened by close encounters as bikes or other thing squeeze through tight places (Even vans and lorries). Otherwise, treat everyone as an assassin - people are unobservant, frustrated (in traffic), don't like you in general though some previous experience, or have beliefs and ideas that don't encompass us at all, they do unexpected things in our presence generally and have little or no understanding of the capabilities and limitations of our machines.
Nice information. Unfortunately there wasnt a video when I was starting. Anyway, in Austria it is forbidden to use Flashing front light and it makes sense. 1. its hard to estimate speed and location of such cyclist. 2. Its very annoying.
not purely EUC. But if you are quite nice about stuff, slowing around people, letting people cross, etc, etc (like when you slowed down around the dogs). All this makes people be fine with it. not just for you, but for the whole community!
I always ride completely gearless and for few years. 2 weeks ago I was hit by a van on road shoulder while riding my v12 HT at 30mph. I broke my elbow at the olecranon and didn't know. I rode home and saw the amount of swelling but no pain. Went to urgency center and xray showed half inch gap between the bone. Stabilized for surgery week later which I had last weekend. Everything you mentioned was spot on and you can not account for morons. Most common is lack of signal use. I started riding several years ago with Gotway MCM5 V2, I currently have KS 16X and the V12HT. This is my primary mode of transportation so i am basically forced to still ride even while wearing my arm sling 😅. This was a very informative and important video so Thank you for helping us all with this crucial and possibly life saving information 🙏
Thanks for your video. Yesterday I fell alone in V12 after having lost control caused by the high edge of the paint on the pedestrian crossings. It hurt but I'm OK. AplineStar Elbow Pads did not work as well as expected, during the contact with the soil they rotated on the arm exposing the bare part
Another great video, also. it is obvious that you care about EUC, and bicycle riders, and , their experience. I am impressed at the co-adhesion , between riders and motorists there in Warsaw, and, other areas if Europe. I am sure the same goes for countries in Asia. I live in Philadelphia, PA, USA. There is ZERO mutual respect between rider and motorist, at least here in Philly. I have become interested in the EUC's. However, I believe it would be dangerous to mingle with traffic through most surface streets. Anyway, love your videos! Got me thinking about a wheel !! 👍 Thank you, Mike from the states.
Hey, thanks for the tips. Thinking of putting a rotating flashing bulb on the top of the helmet:)) just need to find one with batteries. Adam, get a LASIK and forget about glasses. 700eu and quality of life increases significantly. Had to wear glasses for 25 years, but already 4 years without them is really something.
In my state in the US, pretty much all the bike paths are shared with the road. The worst time is when the bike path goes straight but a right turn lane crosses over to the other side of the bike path. That leaves your bike lane between 2 car lanes, and when people need to get across the bike lane they ALWAYS speed up and cut you off, instead of just slowing down. Its pretty bad
Having moved from Minsk to Warsaw, drivers in Warsaw are generally very nice. In 5 months i've met road rage\bullying maybe 3 times (and one of them was kinda understandable\deserved, the driver had a bad day (his car was all in bird poop) and i was going against the direction on a small street), abut I've been riding on the street a lot.
Your insight is helpful across the entire PEV experience. Thanks for always creating relevant and informative content. Your efforts will truly make for a smart integration of PEVs into society, all around the world.
Much of this applies to motorcycles as well.. I’ve ridden them exclusively for the past several years.. it mostly just boils down to “be considerate, ride predictably, stay alert, leave plenty of room, maintain good sight lines, consider others sight lines, never assume that others are gonna follow the rules”
I think you're missing one important element. If we say that one needs to drive safely on a sidewalk, an irresponsible rider can interpret it as "riding as fast as I can without crashing into people". The thing about commuting is that is one of the major tasks we spend our life on. It's second only to working and sleeping. That means it's very important to keep it healthy, which basically boils down to lowering stress. A fast rider is intimidating to a pedestrian. So if a person on a sidewalk sees you, make sure that you take that into consideration. The purpose of riding slowly is to not make pedestrians feel threatened in the only space that is designated for them.
Adam, if you haven't already, check out The War on Cars podcast. Its a New York City based poscast bout car depencency and how dangerous they are, and promotes public transit and cycling, while also adressing their flaws and what we need to do to improve them I've been wanting to reach out to them about an episode on micro mobility such as EUC, Onewheel, Eskate, but I don't exactly have a very large following lol
Another excellent video, Adam. I watched a 'riding tips' video the other day and it was quite good, but was surprised to see that the husband, wife, and kids (they all rode) wore almost no safety gear. That's nuts. In the US, many of our larger cities are ranked for bicycle friendliness. My old city, Portland, OR had one of the highest ratings and I have no idea what the new city is, but it has got to be very low. The infrastructure was not set up for bikes (or unicycles) AT ALL and this makes it much more challenging to get places without a car.
Hi adam great content, i feel like you are slowly becoming more aware of your "ambassador" status in euc community and act in consequence. More responsible behaviour on the road and you make sure of safety of euc more than before. I have to say i like this, this is way to follow. I have also a personal request , i'm trying to find one of these big curved mirror you can attach to your hand to see behind while riding. i have a small one but it's not really doing the job, do you have a link?Thank you, greetings from france
Oh you sweet summer child... Imagine everything bad you have to put up with on the roads but you are driving not an EUC but a 37ton tram on a slippery rails. Trust me, trams are the most ninja-stealth things in cities. No amounts of bright coloring and LEDs help them really.
Its crazy in the times we are in that pevs have not been encouraged 80% of people can do atleast half of the daily journeys without a car Scooter school runs to encourage safe use with the younger generations would reduce morning traffic by 50 % And again reduce poulution in citys and near schools that daily have hundreds of cars sitting around them morning and afternoon
You should found an Institute about Electric Traffic. In the Case of Germany you can found an Institute even if you have 1 Room, a Chair an a Desk. Thats it. You can create Law Options for yourself and give them to the EU Government.. Just thinking. You are the best Person for this just in my Opinion.
The dooring part i firmly believe some people just don't care. It even happens in street where it's tight both ways plus parking with no bike lane forcing you to use it and dooring happen very often.
Rule #1 of operating any vehicle among other vehicles, or even walking, BE CONSISTENT AND PREDICTABLE. The moment people try to take a shortcut, ignore rules, don’t consider the people around them, avoidable accidents happen.
Wasn’t sure if you mentioned it, but it’s a big problem and dangerous in the US, bicycles, etc, riding the opposite direction of traffic. Not only will traffic turn in front of you at an increased crossing speed, but traffic entering the roadway will tend to NOT look in the opposite direction when entering the lane closest to them because, why would they, there shouldn’t be any traffic coming that way. It’s a big cause of accidents involving bicycles or small vehicles in the US.
Cool video! We also need to organize against horse riders making park/city councils banning onewheels, EUCs from off-road trails in their park but not bikes which has bigger community to push against this idiocy.
Good vid, Adam so important!! Speaking of liability, in Poland or Europe are EUC riders considered motorists and hence required to carry a Driver’s License, and driver’s insurance to cover mishaps such as hitting a biker (which you mentioned) or God forbid, a pedestrian ?
Excellent video! I’m a careful rider, but have been run off the road by both cars and busses. Keep in mind that you are practically INVISIBLE, even with a blinking lamp. This is real life frogger. (Edit: definitely use blinking lamps; they are much better than nothing.)
Ill keep my car and truck, I currently ride a Esk8 and onewheel with plans maybe next year for EUC. These can not will not replace my vehicles, vehicles are not the enemy of life- People are!
I'm obviously a fan of EUC's but cars are never going to go away because trucks are never going to go away. Trucks are the blood vessels of humanity and contrary to the misconception of some people, are not replaceable by trains. We all just have to share the roadways with respect and consideration for everyone on it. Each vehicle type has a place, even those very silly One Wheel's. ;-)
As someone who has ridden e skate on the roads in the uk, I can confirm people in cars do not care at all. I've had so many people pass me very closely, it's scary and uncomfortable every time.
Love EUC and how this is evolving, but I found troubling this level of entitlement, you are sharing the road with a lot of vehicles that have been around for a while, people are already used to it, and there are laws and legislation to regulate the transit. EUC has to be respectful about being in an environment that is not designed for them, especially when they are using the infrastructure in whatever way they like, jumping to be a pedestrian, a bike, or a car at any point, at an increasingly absurd speed and with no license to regulate who can do it and what they need to know. We can’t expect the word to adapt to us, and as much empowering feeling that this vehicle can give you, we need to keep it safe and humble, or is going to be an uphill battle to regulate
Those people that ride on the road/highway might want to check out fireman Dan's RU-vid channel. I learned a ton from motorcyclists and basically just assume every car is out to kill you. 🙃 Preplan a good escape route in case you have to jump off the road safely.
@@mr_wrongway yea the newer eucs can go 50 mph and that's borderline motorcycle speeds without any brakes. Super dangerous since the braking distance is not on par with a car and you could cutout/death wobble if you don't know what you are doing. I understand why people enjoy riding on trails along more than the city. I rarely go out in the city now for leisure rides unless I absolutely have to/work commute.
From my experiences riding motorcycles, not the same I know, but I do know that I had to always expect cars to do the wrong thing and think ahead of escapes. I also know that even though MCs are fully legal, licensed, require a special drivers license, etc. there are a number of people who's opinion is that MC should not be allowed on the road. I am sure there are even more people who feel the same about bicycles or any kind of PEV. So one needs to be extra careful for that reason. In the MC world, there is a saying: "There are Bold riders and there are Old riders but there are no Bold, Old riders." In truth, the statistics for MC deaths is that somewhere around 90% of all MC deaths are riders with less than 1 year experience. I always ride like I am invisible. Re: reflective vests. One of the things not to do with safety so much, is that, at least here, public perception (including police) of people who ride with bright florescent lime or orange vests with a reflective X front and back, is that they are "safety nuts" and not worth bothering with or being mad at. They are less watched. Some times looking like a "goof ball" (insert whatever word works for you there) has it's pluses. Also, in the long run, when it comes to local by,laws, a perception of certain types of riders as being safety conscious is always a good thing. Because here, as there is no overall law about this, legality is based on the municipality who will enact bylaws against anything they get complaints about.... complaints have more power than anything else.
Also when you ride on the street please no carving! It feels fun and natural, but from a cars point of view, you look highly unstable and might fall in front, so they will try to overtake you. 2 always wear reflective gear. It's ugly, but saves you a lot of headaches. People just naturally respect you. In my town they are to people who ride euc me everyone greets and waves by and the other dude always getting reported for dangerous riding. It's up to us to get recognized as a safe mode of transportation rather than a new sense to everyone involvec.
i do all of these safety myself when I'm riding but in NYC your going to have arguments here even if you try to avoid it. chasing cars down over here wont work especially the bronx side you don't know if they have a pistol.
I own a V11, in what settings would I find the voice announcements, "light on, light off" etc, right now, I got the original beeps to indicate such things. On euc world, what site would I find the sound clips that the EUC would make during a ride? The motorcycle rattle is not my fav, Tron would do. I also pimped my ride with the light strip as well. Awesome!
Protip from me... Dont blind drivers... All who ride at night on bicycles or EUCs knows the pain when cardrivers derp along with long lights in your face because they dont pay attention to oncoming people who will have a hard time orienting self while balancing and not in a sofa... Anyway, long story short... A friend turned his turbomode on his flashlight wich produce 12000 lumen in a short burst, and it blinded the car coming in hot with long lights, making the car driver blind and flipping the car with a 5 year old kid in it... All parties was okay but of course shocked.... The stoic thing is so important for all, all we can do as soft riders is make us self as visible via reflexes and lightshows and using our big brains. :) And like you say my good sir, do some constructive activism. I like your way, I will work on my own stoicism on this as i do tend to ride in a rushed manner at times.
If your unicycle has speakers, playing something loud goes a long way to make sure people know you are coming. To hell with appearances, safety first. My favorite while riding is rammstein.
@@albertocarrilho5839 it's not THAT loud by any standards. EUCs aren't boomboxes and definitely aren't even close to motorcycles. If a fella 10m in front of me can barely hear me when I'm blasting on full volume, that's enough.
A word on cars. Here in the United States, where we have *more* guns than people and nearly half of the privately-owned guns worldwide, cars, which we have *fewer* of than people, still kill more people than guns do. Something to think about.
Статистику о числе погибших нужно оценивать в сравнении с количеством соответствующих участников движения. Если погибших в столкновении с мотоциклистами меньше чем с автомобилями, то это не значит что мотоциклисты безопаснее. Потому что их количество намного меньше и отношение погибших к количеству мотоциклистов больше чем отношение погибших количеству автомобилистов
Really good vid. Well done. If i had to add id say dont got between cars queued at traffic lights. Just stop and line up like a car would. Indercate with hand signals. Extra slow for dogs and kids. I have a anti dog siren on my arm but so far i either out run them or stop and just stand still. Until they check you out. Wave to people like your a celeb. Dont hard carve in traffic it looks dangerous and stupid to them.
