Escooters falling at 30mph or faster

[stef1808]

What happens if you fall at that speed? I ride mine out of the UK and cruise at 30mph. It has small wheels and few times have felt unbalanced but never felt in danger of crashing although it has got me thinking...

considering getting a fast one as a scooter(moped?) replacement, about 50mph although with proper suspension and brakes. Is the extra 20mph that much worst

[Xcore]

Road rash and on lookers wince.

[SAS Tom]

It probably hurts when you fall at that speed

[GroundEffect]

Just buy a proper electric scooter?

You're risking death the other way. Seriously.

[colin_p]

Go for it, I'd get the fastest one possible.

[sherman]

If you dont wear a helmet at that speed most likely bad things will happen. It will be the equvilent of being knocked over by a car.
Its not the fall that will hurt but the faceplant onto the tarmac when you dead stop against a pebble.

[wiliferus]

I used to ride motorbikes. I dropped one at 30mph and even with the proper kit it feckin hurt and I had some black and blue bruises for ages.
30mph is 30mph, doesn’t matter whether you fall off a scooter or a Honda Blackbird, the stopping is the same.
Sod doing 50mph on a glorified skateboard.

[ambuletz]

i think the fact it's an escooter is largely irrelevant

it really depends on how you fall. If you high side and go flying forward it doesn't really matter whether you've come off a escooter, bicycle, 125cc bike or 1000cc bike or quad at 30mph. an 'off' is an off.

[stef1808]

I can accept the consequences of road rash from falling at 30.. nothing more than that ideally.

[Nickbrapp]

Same as when people fall off a moped at 30

Road rash, broken bones, potentially road rash bad enough to scrape down to the bone, concision etc.

[stef1808]

My fellow petrolheads are making me scared
Maybe should listen

[hxc_]

Where exactly are you riding an escooter legally at 30mph?

[rlg43p]

stef1808 said:

Is the extra 20mph that much worst

Yes, much worse!!

Precisely 2.7 times as bad.

The kinetic energy of a body increases as a factor of the square of the speed (velocity) of the body. So at 60mph you have 4x the energy of 30mph.

So at 50mph you have 2.7x the energy you would have at 30mph. You have to dissipate all that energy in coming to a stop. Translate that into 2.7x as much damage to your skin, skull etc.

This is the same reason as to why hitting a pedestrian in a car at 40mph is so much more serious than at 20 or even 30mph.

[Rozzers]

Anything over 15.5 mph is illegal in a UK public space, assuming they are permitted at all

[eldar]

stef1808 said:

What happens if you fall at that speed? I ride mine out of the UK and cruise at 30mph. It has small wheels and few times have felt unbalanced but never felt in danger of crashing although it has got me thinking...

considering getting a fast one as a scooter(moped?) replacement, about 50mph although with proper suspension and brakes. Is the extra 20mph that much worst

At best, a few bruises, worst case death, dismemberment and approbation of a few extreme Phers.

You'll be ok. If you die, you wont realise you have, so crack on.

[Sway]

Absolute insanity riding a microscooter at 30mph, let alone 50!

I say this as someone who used to throw myself down steep hills on skateboards routinely in my youth!

[Krikkit]

30 kmh felt fast on one I hired the other year, never mind another 50%!

I'd want to wear proper gloves and a lid if going that fast.

[abzmike]

Aside from hurting yourself in the fall, a number of other thngs coudl happen... You get hit by another vehicle as you fall into their path out of control, you crash into someone else's property and damage it (but you'll be insured for that, won't you?) or you crash into another innocent bystander at 30mph. None of these are good outcomes.

[PH User]

Does this question really need to be asked? Surely you can imagine what might happen if you fall off at 30mph.

[stef1808]

This is escalating fast. Am now starting to think a regular cycle helmet won't cut it