While most people ride electric scooters during the day, some prefer nighttime rides. But if you fall in the night ride category, you need to know the electric scooter night riding guides for your safety.
There are many reasons why people find themselves riding their electric scooters at night. Sometimes it's staying at work until sunset, but for some, it could be just for the exhilarating experience. But regardless of your reasons, taking extra care when riding your electric scooters at night could help keep you safe from accidents and inconveniences.
So, to prevent any mishap, we provide an electric scooter night riding guide with tips and essential gear you need to help you ride safely.
Part 1. Prepare Essential Gears for Night Riding
Planning is the bedrock of success in every endeavor, especially when riding an e-scooter at night. If you will be engaging in night rides, you will need some essential gear to help keep you safe and protected from accidents. So what are these essential gears?
1. Front and Rear Lights
One of the biggest risks of riding an electric scooter at night is running into another vehicle, especially for rides in low-light areas or busy roads. One way to forestall this is to ensure your E-scooter's front and rear lights are optimal.
The electric scooters should have bright front and rear lights to alert incoming and outgoing vehicles to your presence. It also helps light your path, ensuring you successfully maneuver around potholes, bumps, and other obstacles.
2. Use LED Strips
Although LED strips are not powerful lighting options, they have a role, especially if you often ride at night. Placing LED strips that sparkle on your scooter deck or stem is another way to alert road users of your presence.
The amazing thing about these strips is that they come in different colors, allowing you the leverage to customize and style as you deem fit.
3. Wear Visible or Reflective Clothing
The rule of thumb for nighttime scooter riding is to remain visible. You want other road users to see you coming. Ditching dark-colored clothing in favor of visible ones is one way to do this. Another way to remain visible is by attaching reflective tape or reflectors to your clothes.
These reflectors help other drivers and road users see you regardless of the lighting condition of the location. It also helps them take preemptive steps to avoid hitting you. So, if you enjoy riding your e-scooter at night, consider getting reflective vests, jackets, or stickers.
4. Wear Protective Gear (e.g. helmet, gloves, elbow pads, knee pads, etc.)
Wearing protective gear when riding at night is the best option. These gears help keep bodily damage to a minimum when accidents occur. Besides, protective gears like helmets, gloves, elbow pads, and knee pads help reduce the risks of severe damage.
We know most scooter riders consider helmets protective gear for motorcyclists alone, but this is far from the truth. Helmets are essential for people riding vehicles on two wheels, including electric scooter riders. When hitting the road on your e-scooter, always wear protective gear regardless of the distance you want to travel.
Part 2. 7 Useful Tips for Riding an Electric Scooter at Night
Being a good driver, wearing protective gear, and getting visible are essential for nighttime scooter rides. However, riding an electric scooter at night requires more than your driving skills. Here is a great guide to e-scooter riding at night.
1. Find Out Your Local Laws for Night Rides
Most states have rules and regulations regarding electric scooter nighttime rides. So, before hitting the road at night with your e-scooter, it is important you first find out your state's local laws on nighttime rides. In some states, there is a ban on nighttime scooter rides, while some states only allow electric scooters with the necessary rear and front lights to ride at night.
Also, some states place speed limits on nighttime riding, and staying within the rules entails not exceeding the speed allowed.
2. Check Your Scooter's Battery Level
Checking your battery level is very important if you are heading out for a night ride. Batteries keep electric scooters running. They power the scooter motors and the lights. If your battery level is suboptimal, your lights will not shine as bright as they should, making rides unsafe.
Another reason you need to check your battery level is the danger of running out of power during nighttime rides. It could be troublesome and expose you to other dangers lurking on dark roads.
3. Avoid Unknown Routes and Plan Beforehand
Since even familiar routes become a tad complicated at night, it is best to avoid unfamiliar ones. If you plan on riding on a route at night, you should familiarize yourself with the same route during the day. Getting familiar with a route means having first-hand knowledge of the road condition, knowing where the potholes and bumps are, and information that could keep you safe.
4. Slow Down and Stay Focused
When driving at night, we often feel the urge to open the throttle and speed up. But this is not a safe practice! It is best to avoid speeding up and focus on the path ahead. Less speed could be the difference between a fatal accident and an easy maneuver. The reason is that when you ride your electric scooter slowly, you have a better reaction time, which means you get to avoid collisions with other road users.
5. Take a Fully Charged Mobile Phone
Taking a fully charged mobile phone with you whenever you go out riding at night. The phone will help you communicate with people when something unplanned happens on the road. It could spell the difference between getting swift assistance or remaining on the road for a long time when you have a flat tire or run out of battery.
Additionally, if you take an unfamiliar route and get lost, using your phone's map service could help you find yourself. So when heading out for a night ride, always take a fully charged phone with you!
6. Ride with a Partner
One safety tip to consider when taking your electric scooter for a night spin is finding a partner to go with you. This does not mean carrying a passenger but finding somebody with another electric scooter to head out with you. Riding with a partner comes with many benefits, including assistance when you run into trouble like a collision with another road user, a flat tire, or battery issues. In other words, you should try as much as possible not to ride electric scooters alone at night, especially when charting a new route or going to an area with few people. However, when riding with a partner, avoid riding side-by-side as this could cause traffic hazards or block the road. What’s more, consider giving the partner some space to avoid casting shadows that would reduce the visibility of the road ahead.
- X7 Max Folding Electric Scooter
- Detachable battery design allows for a fast battery change and convenient charge.
- 20 mph and 32-mile range make commuting effective and fun.
- Easy to be carried into metros and buses during commuting.
- The e-scooter stops smoothly with an effective braking distance of 5 meters.
- Larger tires absorb shock and unevenness to offer a comfortable riding experience.
Final Thoughts
Riding an electric scooter at night is often enjoyable since the road is often free of traffic and other commuters. Best enjoyed with a partner, it also allows you a different view of the route to the one you see during the day. However, riding at night while fun comes with risks, so we provided this electric scooter riding guide.
One way to mitigate these risks is by getting essential protective gear like helmets, LED strips, reflective clothing, etc. Also, ensure both your front and rear lights are bright enough.
Besides, plan your route, check your speed, and check your phone and scooter battery level, ensuring they are optimal before heading out for a nighttime ride.
