BERLIN: Whether it's your own or just a rental, riding and braking on an electric scooter can be tricky - but the following tips should make it safer and easier.
The best way to ride an e-scooter is to stand as far back as possible on the scooter with your knees slightly bent, according to Germany's ADAC car association.
That doesn't only keep your centre of balance further back and slightly lower down, it also makes it easier to balance and to react as needed. All these measures should help stop you from flying over the handlebar, if anything goes amiss.
Wuen it comes to braking, you need to pay attention to whether you're braking on the front or rear wheel. Brake too hard on the front wheel and you can send the scooter flying forwards. You can brake much harder on the rear wheel, and add the front brake as necessary.
If you're still new to scooting, it's best to practice braking in an area without much traffic and an even surface.
That's also a good opportunity to practice hand signals to indicate which way you plan to turn. That can sometimes be a wobbly business on the scooter, according to the experts at ADAC.
Their advice is to stand with your feet next to each other on the board, and only take a hand off the handlebars when you're signalling Ideally you'll also only be indicating when you're driving straight ahead and on even roads, as turning with one hand on a bumpy road is a risky business.
It might not be mandatory, but the experts also recommend wearing a helmet when you're riding an e-scooter, too.
