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Before venturing out for the first time, try to find a quiet shard path, trail or park to get used to your e-bike. Practice riding around corners and in a straight-line, get used to how your bike accelerates, slows, turns and stops safely. Practise riding a straight line while indicating with each arm too.
If you are venturing out onto the roads, follow our 7 tips on staying safe on your e-bike.
While in theory everyone should be able to ride anywhere, there are some types of road which are best avoided, especially at certain times of the day. During the morning and evening rush to-and- from work, busy roads and junctions are best avoided if possible. Using shared paths, trails or bike paths wherever you can is a great way to reduce riding in traffic, this will also improve your journey through making your ride more relaxing and enjoyable. If you are riding a new route, try to do it at a quieter time such a weekend first. Use online mapping or route share apps to find the most used and nicest routes.
Always ride wearing a helmet. It is a legal requirement in Australia. It is extra important in Australia because of our low levels of dedicated bike rider infrastructure and we share the roads with bigger and bigger vehicles.
Making drivers see you by adding lights to your bike and wearing brighter clothes is important. In an ideal world, this wouldn’t be necessary, other road users should just look out for fellow human beings who happen to ride bikes. However, drivers have never been so distracted as they are today, with mobile phone use and in-car-entertainment more distracting than ever before. Extra care around junctions is important, always keep watching for hazards and don’t assume a driver has seen you – try to make eye contact with drivers to check they have seen you.
Try to avoid any sudden movements. A sudden swerve out into the road for a hole in the road or broken glass is hard for passing motorists to anticipate. Try to look at the road ahead to anticipate potential issues and check it’s safe to alter your road position smoothly. When turning into another road always signal your intention to other traffic, try to have eye contact with drivers to make sure they have seen you.
If you have to ride on roads with larger vehicles such as trucks and buses, be aware of their blind- spots around the cab. Never overtake a large vehicle on the inside and never assume that they have seen you. If in doubt, hang back and give the larger vehicle extra space.
In rainy or dark conditions, it is harder for other traffic to see you. Only ride if you have to. Wear brighter clothing and use front and rear lights. Some surfaces become slippery when wet, watch out for painted sections of road, fuel spills, grates and rail or tram tracks – all can be super slippery in the rain.
When passing parked cars, try to leave at least 1 metre of space between yourself and the car. As well as not seeing bike riders while driving, motorists sometimes do not look out for bike riders when they are opening their car doors too!
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