What kind of rider are you? How do you conduct your self around people? When police are around. When laws and rules are gray? Are you being an ambassador for esk8?
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Hey, so I’m not entirely sure if I’m getting replies to this thread started in the direction you want @Michaelinvegas. But Imma try 
So I am in Madison. Where cops DGAF. The first week I was riding in the city I would be very cautious around them, especially when riding on the streets and not sidewalks. I quickly realized that in Madison they won’t give you a second glance as long as you are in a bike lane. So the rule of thumb I have is as long as you are in the road, go the speed limit and be like a biker. If you do decide to hop on the sidewalk, now you need to be able to stop within 10 feet or so and if you are near pedestrains max speed should not be any faster than you would push the board. Remember, the speed that you are comfortable at around pedestrians is probably a lot faster than they are comfortable with. Take it easy and go faster once you have space. The last thing we want is to become a group that has to deal with Triggered Soccer Mom’s all the time because there are a bunch of us blasting around in walkways.
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Well, in my city in west aussie, I ride like a moped/motorbike and so far every police car I’ve been in front of or behind doesn’t care, there are no bike paths for me and there’s only 1 footpath between me and my work so I ride on the road, unlike cyclists though, I go the speed limit and wear much stronger armour so I’m not a nuisance to other vehicles, I cant ride on that footpath anyway because its outside a primary school, kids rush out onto the footpath like crazy, id rather take the same risks as a motorbike and get hit by a car than kill a little year 4, building a mountain board soon though so I can just zip through the parks and dirt. I don’t like to ride slow, otherwise I may as well be pushing.
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Always wear a helmet (remember I’m riding an experiment and controlling it with an experiment). I don’t fully trust regenerative braking, not that it’s ever failed me electronically but enough stopping force and you will rip through the drive belt mechanically. In the Chicago area don’t ride on sidewalks if going through a downtown area with businesses I will walk the couple of blocks through the downtown area (Oak Park for example they don’t want regular skateboard same with business district downtown). That all said I’ll go 20 down the street where it seems safer to do that then putts along but only time I’ve been stopped and shaken down was because I hopped up on a sidewalk when it started raining, overall cop was fine he gave me a quick talk said he wasn’t really worried about the board (he just wanted to search my bag to see if he could get me on anything more serious but I just had some basic tools for fixing the board and a lock I carry with me every where, so he let me go no ticket)
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This thread I guess is a reflection of yourself and sharing that with others how you go abt being a esk8 citizen. And that entails a lot. What you wear, how you ride, how you conduct yourself in public will have a huge impact on esk8 in the future in regards to laws and regulations…and how the non-esk8ing public perceives us as a whole and as individuals.
I’m not a single person telling how anyone should act, but as a community maybe we can influence a standard or a way to be that can help Esk8er’s stay out of trouble, and avoid esk8 being cast in a negative light.
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By the way thank you guys that put in their two cents…shows me that there many people out there really trying to shed a very positive light on out community.
The tips and stories are very relevant to each one of us…even to the seasoned riders. Serves as a reminder to some of us that we don’t own the hard ground in front of us.
Many thanks boys
Nice write up! However, what does being anti-social have to do with anything?
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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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