The WoW Style

When you hear the term “motor scooter,” you probably get a particular vision in your head. You likely think of a small, motorized conveyance. A single person sits astride it as it weaves its way down the street, or possibly a second person perches behind the first with their hands interlaced around the driver’s body.

Motor scooters can be fun to operate, and they can get you to where you need to go, provided that you don’t try to take them on the highway or along any extremely busy thoroughfares. However, because they’re so small, it’s easy for cars to run into them if the drivers are not paying attention.

Let’s talk about motor scooters a little bit more, and we’ll also go over some reasons why accidents happen with these vehicles and what common injuries can result.

Are Motor Scooters Safe?

The question of whether motor scooters are safe often comes up with parents if their child wants to get one. Maybe you have a teenager who wants one to take to school if you don’t live very far away.

It’s even possible that you could want one yourself to get to work as an adult. If you work near your house or apartment, and you don’t want to spend money on a car, a motor scooter is much cheaper and easy to learn how to operate.

The issue with motor scooters is that in most cities and countries, you can operate one in traffic, yet they do not provide any real protection. Motor scooter accidents can be deadly because you don’t have the metal shell around you that you get with a car or truck.

You can wear a helmet, which should certainly help you to some degree. You can wear pads as well. However, any time you get on a motor scooter and decide to try your luck in a high-traffic area, you’re taking your life in your hands.

What Causes Motor Scooter Accidents?

As for what causes motor scooter accidents, several factors can come into play. One thing you should acknowledge and understand is that either another driver can cause a motor scooter accident, or the scooter’s operator can.

If you’re operating a motor scooter, and you decide to take it into traffic, you need to obey traffic laws the same way that a car’s driver would. You can’t zip in between vehicles and run red lights, or you’re asking for trouble.

You might also wreck your scooter if you consume alcohol or ingest drugs before you operate it. You need to refrain from doing that, just as you would if you were going to drive a car.

Poor road conditions can cause you to wreck your scooter, and rain or snow might also play a part. You could also allow a ringing smartphone to distract you, or perhaps a billboard grabs your attention at the wrong moment.

What About if Another Driver Causes the Accident?

The drivers around you may also cause your motor scooter accident. They might also ingest alcohol or drugs before they drive. They might allow a phone call to distract them, or maybe they are talking to someone in the car with them, and they don’t pay attention to the other vehicles on the road as well as they should.

Another issue is that because motor scooters are so much smaller than other vehicles, someone driving a car might not see you if you’re zooming through traffic. They may not pay you the attention that they should, and if they hit you, you can sustain a much more severe injury than a slight tap would achieve if you had a car’s protective shell around you.

What Injuries Can You Sustain?

If a car hits you while you’re operating your motor scooter, you can injure yourself severely. You might sustain a concussion or another traumatic brain injury variety. You might fall off the scooter and break some bones, or you can suffer road rash.

You can sustain facial injuries or cuts and bruises. You might injure your spine or your internal organs. You can also crush yourself between the scooter and another vehicle or a wall.

What Might You Do to Make Your Scooter Trips Safer?

If you insist on using a motor scooter, there are some actions you can take that will make a crash less likely. Only utilizing the scooter during optimal weather conditions is right at the top of that list. If you take other transportation methods when it’s raining or snowing, that’s a smart policy.

You can also never check your phone or let anything else distract you when you go out riding. Wait till you reach your destination to send a text or take a call.

Never consume alcohol or drugs before you ride. You should also keep a safe distance away from the vehicles in front of you and behind you. If someone tries to ride your bumper, attempt to distance yourself from them.

You should always wear a helmet, but consider wearing pads as well. You can also wear some brightly-colored gear, especially if you are riding around sunrise or sunset. You should also try to avoid riding at night or on unlit road stretches.

If you do decide to get a motor scooter, you will quickly find that they’re fun to operate because you can fly along at a decent rate of speed, and you can get to class or the store without having to shell out thousands of dollars for a car. If you don’t have that much money, but you’d prefer not to take trains or buses, this can be the ideal solution.

Make smart decisions when you operate your motor scooter. You don’t want to use it recklessly, or you won’t make it safely home to see your family at the day’s end. You must also make sure to keep your scooter in the garage or chain it up securely so no one decides to steal it.