One issue I've noticed with these new forms of electric wheeled transport (longboard, transverse and longitudinal one-wheelers) is that the people riding them often don't come from a sports background. They aren't "safe" devices exactly - it takes skill to pilot them, and when things inevitably go awry, it takes good reflexes to avoid damage.
Novices to action sports often throw their arms out to catch themselves when they bail instead of rolling through the fall. They also don't know how to navigate obstacles via strategic weighting and unweighting of their implement.
The energies involved are also substantial -- to put it bluntly, some of these things fuckin' rip, which is super fun, but also makes safety gear a good idea. You can take a lot of trauma and abrasion bailing at 25mph+, potentially life-changing or fatal in the worst cases. There's a reason why downhill longboarders and an increasing number of electric wheel riders wear a fullface and leathers.
I bailed at 8mph on an electric longboard and broke my elbow, severely sprained my shoulder and wrist. I even lost some rotation and dexterity in my hand. It's one of those my arm is never going to be the same type injuries. I was 40 but skated and bmxed into my mid-20s and still felt pretty comfortable with my abilities on the ground (gave up on ramps long ago). I knew this was a risk given the speeds and even got an "off road" model (bigger wheels) to help make pebbles and such a non-issue. Even still, concrete is not flat, you'll eventually come across a missing cobblestone, etc. IMO it's a matter of when not if you'll take a spill.
That said, I think the electric unicycles are much more dangerous. But at least they make it clear that it's not a toy. I passed on the Onewheel because of the random ejection complains I've seen online (which is likely fueling this regulation as it's been known for several years now). While wrecking was not fun, at least I did it to myself. I'd be really upset if I felt like the board did it to me.
> Even still, concrete is not flat, you'll eventually come across a missing cobblestone, etc. IMO it's a matter of when not if you'll take a spill.
As a former skateboarder in my teens I tried longboarding just for the fun of it later in life (around my 30s) and this is exactly why I stopped. Given time enough you will eat pavement, it's just a matter of when and how.
I decided to stop when I took a fall from a gap between concrete slabs that wasn't visible, I remembered to roll but still mangled my knee and somehow my thumbs and was out of commission on a 2 weeks recovery. It fucking sucked, the pain was much longer lasting than when I was a teen, the lost mobility made me unable to work for more than a week. I have responsibilities now, I can't be taking weeks off work due to a stupid fall from something that was supposed to be fun.
The electric unicycles always scared me though and I never tried them. I've seen 2 accidents happening in front of me when I was biking and both were really gnarly, even for my standards with action sports. Calling an ambulance for a stranger passed out after they lost control going over 25km/h and hit a parked car was really not fun.
Is there something more inherent that makes an electric unicycles more dangerous, other than they make them go ridiculous speeds?
I would have thought the larger wheel on an EUC made it more stable and the higher power makes it not have to nosedive. I kind of prefer e-bikes because they are well… normal.
I think it really comes down to the fact that these single wheelers don't support the operator without power. You can stand on skateboard, slow down, and come to a complete halt and it's still working as intended. On a bike you will eventually topple from one side or the other, but the way a bikes works means the rider is supported in a natural position for a long time.
When the one-wheeler loses power it just nosedives, the front hits the ground and they halt immediately.
I wonder if they could save some of the danger by placing small, unpowered wheels in the front and back so when they dip they can at least keep moving.
This - the product has horrible human factors engineering in the low power scenario:
The rider will always be ahead of his/her center gravity when the board starts decelerating unexpectedly, and it's irrelevant whether it's the front digging in, or the thing just decelerating when approaching low battery.
The small wheels on the front and back are an add-on, called fangs (https://land-surf.com/products/fangs%e2%84%a2-2-1). I’ve had them on my Onewheel for years and I’m not sure they’ve ever actually saved me on a nosedive. The front of the board comes down with a lot of force very quickly and even if the little wheels do keep the board rolling, the rider has been rapidly shoved forward and will likely go over the front anyway.
Even on my longboard I really brace myself when letting off the throttle at speed. The regenerative brakes provide a jolt. Also it’s possible to accidentally hit the brake which would likely be a wipe out. It could be because I’m heavier now than my younger days. Forward momentum is a bitch on these speeds.
Unfortunately electric longboards have a pretty common failure mode where they instantly and suddenly brake with full force. I've had it happen once (although i was going slow enough not to bail) and seen it many times.
Isn't the question about one wheel(skateboard with gokart wheel) vs electric unicycle (single bigger wheel between the legs closer driving position to real unicycle)? Not about one wheel vs other more typical vehicles. Both have one wheel but they are two completely different things.
EUC's are safer. (Unless you're going ridiculous speeds, like you said.)
They are more stable unless something catastrophic happens (power cuts out), and if worst comes to worst you fall down in a more "natural" posture, like a running man would. Falling sideways from a bike or scooter is way worse.
It's unstable by design and can't really brake hard without getting rid of the rider really fast. If a careless rider/driver/pedestrian gets in your way, you'll likely be able to stop your e-bike in time as opposed to crashing on a monowheel.
I’ve only watched some videos but the balance part of the unicycle seems to have a big learning curve. The speed is what worries me the most. I’m thinking anything with a motor should probably have a seat.
> That said, I think the electric unicycles are much more dangerous.
Not really. They seem that way because they require skill to ride, but people hurt themselves on electric scooters much more frequently. (People judge "danger" based on how hard something seems to pilot, not on objective measures of failure. Tiny slippery wheels and points of failure in the frame make the electric scooter a much more dangerous vehicle by default.)
I think this is because of the “clearly not a toy aspect”. Riders often are wearing full motorcycle helmets, pads, and rash guard gear. It people geared up that way on other boards/scooters there would be less injuries too. I had no protective gear which was a mistake. I didn’t fully appreciate how speed would compound the impact if I took a spill. Honestly thought it very unlikely I would fall at all the day I did. I was taking a ride on a route I already knew very well.
I also think the initial difficulty of unicycles acts as a good filter so that people with subpar abilities simply don’t try. The rentable scooters are dangerous because people that shouldn’t be on them have a false sense of ability because it seems easy. Until they get to speed or take their eye off the road or something.
My partner was hospitalized for nearly a week and had to have facial reconstructive surgery and nearly lost all her teeth after she got hit by someone on a scooter going 25mph while we were walking
Be careful out there if you combine speed + unprotected mode of transportation
Created a new account to warn everyone to be more aware around street corners. I once tried to catch a train so I rode a scooter on the sidewalk which I normally don't. Seeing no cars, I didn't slow too much at a street corner, and ran into someone. Luckily the top speed on the scooter was 15mph and I slowed to probably 13mph, but still, the force was too much and the person failed pretty hard. I swear to never do that again. Please pay extra care around street corners, and tell your kids to do so.
Thanks for sharing. As a longtime bicyclist, I've been shocked by the increase, over the past decade, of reckless behaviors on the streets due to electric mobility riders. I'm glad to see some are learning, though sad to see it's only at the cost of someone getting hurt ...
While we're on the topic, street corners or not, the warning should extend to all sidewalk riding. Driveways and pedestrian gates don't usually have enough clearance around them that you would be able to see what's coming. (At least in the US where sidewalks aren't typically set up with a dedicated bike lane)
This highlights another big issue. You were riding your vehicle on the footpath. Vehicles of all types should be on roads, not a footpath which is for people on foot. But in many countries for decades the road has been an incredibly hostile place for any mode of transport other than a car. As usual the person with the smaller mode of transport suffers the biggest injustice, in your case the pedestrian.
Of course the type of person to ride a scooter on the sidewalk and hit someone will spin it as a lesson to others. It’s too bad you weren’t sued so you could learn to accept so e responsibility.
Maybe. But even so, I do think the comment might cause some readers to behave more safely. Someone saying "I did this thing and it had a bad outcome, don't be like me" has more impact that someone saying "Don't do this thing."
I for one think the future where we all walk around in cyberpunk body armour to protect ourselves from wayward idiots on powered transportation they are unable to control would be kind of sick
That was sort of the premise of the book "The Circle" by Dave Eggers (not going to mention the film adaptation because it was so bad I pretend it doesn’t exist). It didn’t turn out too well in the end.
I'm not sure that would actually work out. First, some accidents are just accidents on both sides.
Second: We've seen the effect of bodycams on cops. They aren't exactly helping folks prosecute bad cops if they are even on and working and unobstructed. If we can't do it with cops, we probably aren't going to do real well with the general public.
There are other ways to help folks - Things like robust universal (taxpayer funded) health care and paid time off work for sickness and injury that doesn't take weeks to get. This takes the burden off an accident victims and doesn't punish folks on the wrong side of an actual accident nor make lifelong debt for someone using non-car, non-bus transportation.
Around here, I've seen idiots on one wheelers doing 25+ on trails that explicitly ban powered vehicles. The riders were in full cross country motorcycle gear, and doing dumb tricks amidst pedestrians, strollers and bikes.
Someone in that crowd will literally kill someone at some point. They'd better hope I'm not on the jury at their reckless homicide trial.
Very true. If you've never been able to cruise on a skateboard, you might not realize how much damage an unexpected pebble or sidewalk crack will do.
Riding is a constant balance of scanning the pavement for inconsistencies and making corrections to mitigate them. I don't know if that's even possible at 20+ mph.
Your latter point is why I'm not really sold on electric longboards. Your control authority on a longboard is pretty low, and you need a lot of control authority to react to surprise obstacles/maintain stability after encountering one. Sure, DH longboarders exceed 25mph regularly, but they ride in semi-controlled environments (scout the descent for gravel etc before hitting it) and are exceptionally skilled.
Putting random noobs on electric longboards is a recipe for road rash and broken bones. A few years ago, three people in my office got Boosted boards, and I believe we saw two instances of pretty bad road rash and a broken bone among them.
The danger is in the perception. It took me about 10 hours of dedicated practice (over a few weeks) before I felt comfortable using a longboard as a transportation device off of public roads - eg: on a closed campus. When I have seen people pickup an electric longboard they feel safe in a half hour, but obviously don't have any reflexes to back that up.
I rode a Boosted Board for the best part of 1 year on the streets of Brooklyn. I ended up selling it; although I absolutely loved the experience, I knew one day I would rip my face off if I encountered even a small pothole.
Practically speaking yes, but this isn't an unsolvable problem. I ride Originals spring trucks, which use a cam and a spring instead of the urethane bushing in most skate trucks. It takes effort to keep them steady at speed for sure, but paired with soft wheels they feel like pure telepathy in terms of control authority.
> Electronic skateboards have bigger wheels then skateboard-cruiser which has bugger wheels then skateboard.
i've powered a regular street deck with hard poly wheels, what you said is by no means any kind of guarantee. Lots of hacked together monstrosities out there.
Larger and softer wheels work great for mitigating pebbles, sticks, bumps or cracks. I roll over some pretty gnarly terrain with 60mm 78a wheels. You could even to an extent at certain speeds roll of the sidewalk entirely and roll back on quickly and not eat it with these wheels.
It is totally possible. Generally on a One Wheel if it's a small pebble or sidewalk crack you roll over it. If it's bigger and you jump while going over it normally the board will hit the crack or whatever and bounce up into your feet. I was going down a hill near top speed on a one wheel when I saw part of the pavement was cut out, maybe a 2-3 inch groove. Did this, road through the intersection to the otherside and then sat on the curb until I stopped shaking. Probably the closest I've ever been to dying on a One Wheel.
When I went to university, I was going there in rollers, there was a nice slope where I could go relatively fast, in the morning, almost no traffic, good visibility, relatively smooth surface. All it took was a small peeble to launch me a few meters (tens?) flying away. The fall was much more impressive than the damage, I consider myself lucky and was basically the last time I used them. I realized how dangerous it was in comparison to just biking.
They're more stable than you think. I've ridden an eboard for around 1500km this year, and although I've taken some hard crashes (always wear protection, I lost the skin on my hands once and never again) they have been down to me overestimating my grip or underestimating the obstacle. Every time I've hit a rock I've just gone over it.
A lot of it is also the different, more forward leaning, stance you assume on an eboard.
This is ignored so often, it is scary. I have been longboarding pretty frequently and extensively up until 2 years ago. I've had my fair share of crashes and plenty of scars to serve as a reminder, but generally I always was a pretty safe and relatively skilled rider. But I also had multiple fun but stupidly risky experiences on my longboard, but no experiences comes close to the fear I felt when joining my friend on an electric longboard riding through fairly dense urban traffic.
Having that experience, I don't understand how people seriously treat longboards (or similar modes that heavily depend on the riders ability to balance well) as a serious option in traffic. Bikes? Yes. E-Scooters? Probably yes. Longboards or Onewheels? Hell no.
I see a lot of people with no business in traffic commuting on bikes too. Especially with the advent of divvy or whatever your local equivalent is. Usually people with their own bikes are more than capable.
For a fun observation, go to your local Harley Davidson and watch people that haven't ridden a bicycle in 20 plus years try and learn how to ride a motorcycle, with the expectation that they'll be ready to take their licensing test in 2 days. And many of them won't even bother with that...or they'll take the test on a scooter instead of a motorcycle with gears.
The test is not hard either. Nothing like what our European counterparts have to go through.
> I see a lot of people with no business in traffic commuting on bikes too.
Bikes should not be forced to drive in traffic anyways.
> Especially with the advent of divvy or whatever your local equivalent is.
We’ve had bike sharing like this for years at this point and it works like a charm. In fact, it’s offered by the local transportation agencies. I haven’t noticed any differences between bike sharing users and others in terms of cycling ability.
> The test is not hard either. Nothing like what our European counterparts have to go through.
I got my motorcycle license last year. When I started to take riding lessons it was the first time that I sat in a motorcycle, it took me about 5 months to get my license (here in Germany). I don’t understand how a few hours of dedicated training is seen as sufficient for safe traffic participation in the U.S.
One Wheel in traffic isn't too bad. As long as you stick to lower speed (25 mph) roads. It's actually nice because it's super easy to go slow on a One Wheel if you have to hop on the sidewalk (bike lanes don't always work). I could pretty easily go 3mph on a One Wheel, much easier then I could on a bike.
I'm not sure this logic applies to the OneWheel. They aren't self balancing like a SegWay where the average person can get on and be fine zooming around within a couple minutes. The OneWheel only does about half the balancing work, you have to do the rest, and learning to ride one can take days or longer. During that time you'll fall many, many times. It also doesn't take much to eat shit on it even as a skilled rider (1). You'd have to be a complete moron not to anticipate it throwing you at any moment.
Also the OneWheel, at least the Pint, can only go up to 15mph, and only on perfect conditions on the most aggressive settings.
(1) I had several weeks under my belt before my last incident and still ate asphalt because the cutout in the sidewalk I was going down as a little steeper than I had thought. The board was angled down just a smidge too far because of this, caught a lip where the asphalt met the sidewalk, and "physics took control".
EDIT: Addendum: That isn't to say parent comment is wrong about other boards/etc, or that the CPSC is wrong.
"The OneWheel only does about half the balancing work" -- It's more like 99% of the work and I defy anyone to stay balanced and keep riding free wheel if the power suddenly cuts out. The OneWheel's balancing algorithm is so good it gives the the illusion of competence after less than an hour.
> I defy anyone to stay balanced and keep riding free wheel if the power suddenly cuts out.
Does the wheel actually freewheel if the power cuts? I've not played with one (yet), but with the reports of them dipping forward, I was curious if the wheel/motor actually locked up.
I think it's because as the rider is leaning forward to indicate a desire for forward motion, the board drives the motor to move you forward, but also counters the natural tendency of the front lip to just touch the floor.
If the motor cuts off while you are leaning forward, the lip will immediately hid the floor and stop you. And your muscle memory isn't expecting that kind of balancing, having been used to the board "fighting you back" on leaning forward too much.
It's considered bad form to lean weight onto the front. You should have most of the weight on your back leg and push down with your front foot to accelerate. At least among the people I road with. If most of your weight is leaned backwards it's easier to just fall flat to the ground if you need to stop. Had the front of my board clipped by a car turning into a parking lot and this saved me.
indeed you should use your hips instead of head/shoulders to weight the board, but it doesn't actually move more weight to the back (think about it, to go forward, the board needs to feel more weight on the front, for which it compensates by accelerating = increase speed + levels the board)
the weight distribution doesn't change, but your body had much more control over the distribution.
That's a better way to put it. I tend to phrase it like I do because ideally your natural reaction should always be to lean back on the one wheel which for me in position ends up feeling like I'm standing one footed and pushing down with the other.
Steering with your backfoot takes some getting used to if you've never board sported before. I've not snowboarded but I've been told it's like that?
Also skid plates are a life saver. You're going to have to do a drag stop at some point, might as well do it on a something easily removable.
That’s interesting. I’ve spent years snowboarding, used to skate as a kid, little bit of surfing, and they all have transferable skills. The thing that I found so different about the OW is the LACK of rear foot push since you only have a single contact point with the ground. Like other person said, I move hips to control speed, squat to turn heel-side, but I don’t feel like the foot control is anything like board sports that have more contact with ground/snow/water. Maybe I do it subconsciously with super tight turns for trails but not with flow and carving.
Did you replace your rear pad and/or? I put one of those like... skateboard style ones on the back, might be changing what I'm doing to steer/the feel of it. Board control is for sure different. The only conscious change I made to my riding style was intentionally keeping my hips further back. It's also been about a year since I sold mine so I might be misremembering.
No, I haven’t changed my footpads, haven’t even sent out for my GT recall pad, yet, which I need to do. Do you like the new pad in terms of control? Got link?
Riding an electric skateboard up and down the hills of San Francisco was one of the most dangerous and exhilarating things I've done, and was only made possible by the years of skateboarding and snowboarding experience I was lucky to have. I completely agree with your take, it was akin to a full day of snowboarding in terms of the athletic load it put on my body, and constant danger I seemed to be in. There are so many opportunities to hurt yourself and only a few ways to safely navigate the random situations you encounter. I'm glad I got out without serious injury.
The amount of people I see on e-scooters with absolutely horrid body positioning, unaware they can use their body weight to stop much quicker scares me.
That and the lack of helmets.
I ride mine as safely as I can, and have 5000 kilometres done so far. I’ve had to drop the scooter and bail a couple of times, but mine maxes at out at 25km/h for good reason. Faster than that on tiny wheels is a horrible idea.
This is absolutely the case. When Onewheels were new they were mostly ridden by people who came from other boardsports. They knew the danger and treated them with the due respect, including taking the time to learn how to properly operate them.
In the last couple of years they've been wholesale adopted by techies who treat them like toys. The consequences are inevitable.
Knowing how to fall is such an incredibly important life skill, it's baffling to watch people who never learned it.
As a ski instructor, you could instantly tell from their first fall the kids who would get it and stick with it from the ones who would be sitting in the lodge pouting after an hour.
I know how to fall (intellectually). How do I translate that into the real world? I took a nasty fall on my MTB this summer, broke my shoulder. Everything was instinctual and a blur.
Can we somehow retrain our innate responses?
I know it's not helpful, but from a lifetime of doing really stupid things in action sports, starting young is a lot of it. Falling like anything takes practice, and falling when your 12 is so much less painful than falling when your 35.
Anyone who grew up in the skatepark/terrain park knows the experience of learning new tricks and progression. It's thousands of falls building up the muscle memory to land the trick. Over time, it just sticks (or you hurt yourself bad enough you quit).
Cant really do this when you're old. It just takes less to cause damage, unless you're in excellent shape from doing active and dynamic movements over years of work.
Now to try and be helpful - Martial arts, wrestling and doing low weight dynamic movement exercises will help you train. Also, if you want your whole body to be sore, pick up a skateboard, strap as many pads as possible, and go learn how to ride a bowl at your local skatepark. Guaranteed you'll get lots of fall practice :)
I skied when I was young and later rollerbladed on ramps and street and did adult gymnastics classes for fun. Definitely learned to roll out of a crash and body awareness in the air. You just get used to rolling instead of trying to stop yourself.
I used to ride a racing bike to work and had to slam the brakes on suddenly once when an idiot in a car suddenly turned in front of me. I went over the handlebars, but instinctively did a forward somersault/roll and was pretty much unhurt except a slight graze. It happened so fast that I have no idea how I did it. In the air I must have recognized that my body was spinning and I just tucked into it until I was the right way up again.
So I think the answer is just practice. Do silly shit until you learn how to land it. A foam pit makes it less painful. :-)
> I know how to fall (intellectually). How do I translate that into the real world?
As a martial arts instructor, here's my advice:
The first month or so of aikido classes is a great way to learn rolling. Start on your knees, on a padded floor, arc your arms/"hold a ball", & practice rolling diagonally (eg right shoulder to left hip, etc)
1. Keep arms in a curve: the arms pattern your fall, rather that 'push the ground'
2. Point your nose into your armpit. Don't let your head touch the ground
3. Protect your clavicles. Super easy to break, especially if you hit the ground with a stiff arm. Clavicles take MUCH longer the heal than wrists, & hurt worse too
4. DON'T learn rolling from gymnastics, if your goal is to survive crashes on concrete. Gymnasts practice on thick padded floors & don't mind that their head touches the floor. Bad idea when there's no padded floor.
This is great advice - it is true to me as well. I would ask You to also consider mention rolling across the upper back unless You don't endorse it and then I would like to hear [read] that too - i.e., one backside shoulder across to the other with your #2. It has saved me many times.
Practice. In mountain bike terms, that means lots of slower/easier terrain, with occasional “soft” falls. If there are skills areas in any of your trail networks, those are great. Trail running can help - you’ll eventually trip and you’re closer to the ground and going a bit slower, so you have a bit more time to react (tuck and roll, hopefully).
That said, broken collar-bones (along with separated shoulders) are one of the most common serious cycling injury. I’m one of the very few of my friends who hasn’t broken one. And several friends have broken or separated each shoulder multiple times.
Ouch. That’s not a common break, IME, but either an outstretched arm or direct trauma can cause it.
I’ve mildly separated both shoulders a few times over the years. Thankfully no major separations or breaks - just some MRIs and PT (plus a few concussions). I did break my forearm when I was 5 - fell jumping a fence, reached out, and snap. Classic broken arm.
Folks are saying to practice your fall-possibility-sport where a fall won't hurt as much. I say take it a step further and do focused practice of falling and rolling intentionally. There are a lot of videos on YouTube about how to do so.
When I started long boarding at ~38, I practiced throwing myself into a roll first from a crouch, then standing, then standing on the board - onto grass of course. It helped a lot when I did inevitably have unplanned falls on the pavement.
I have had reflexes learned from contact improvisation kick in during a couple random low speed falls from standing or walking/tripping. I had a feeling of "ah I have been here before" as I fell. Maybe not relevant to oneboard speeds, but relevant if you trip on a toy or kid in your house, or slip on some ice outside.
Practice at home (outside on grass is nice) starting from on your knees work up to on your feet. The real test is to have a partner push you over. Spend time strengthening the neck to avoid concussions.
Casual ice hockey might be a good start. It’s certainly possible to get hurt, but with shin pads and gloves, a good sliding fall on the smooth ice will be totally painless.
The most instinctual thing we can change is avoiding panic - and the negative things it causes. Like looking down instead of ahead. Or trying to stop yourself.
No, it's not!
When you surf, you get used to punching through the surface and then holding your breath and dealing with the water movement.
You have to consciously remind yourself to not do the equivalent of going head first through the face of the wave or stretching out your toes when bailing of the board.
Why can't life skills, especially ones that could be lead to injury, be explained instead of each person having to make the mistake before they learn it?
A lot of people just fall. Like a sack of potatoes. Their inner ear senses a point of no return, and they just let gravity take over from there.
Other people sense the fall, and react, but they are still just trying to stop the fall from happening, so they break their wrists on impact.
But usually anyone with any kind of athletic experience or decent kinematic awareness understands that the fall is happening and the point is to direct it. The elbows tuck, the neck lowers, and they guard the body while directing the inevitable fall.
Judo and parkour both actively teach falling and body-awareness. Gymnastics does, though it’s not generally as formal/explicit - you just get the body awareness from beginner-level tumbling.
Agree. Near a building under construction I was on my Boosted board riding along probably around 6-8 mph and couldn't see a water hose that was strung across the road, and went flying off. I was in protective gear and probably would have otherwise had some kind of head trauma. I've skiied and bicycle regularly so those played in to me not breaking anything.
I wasn't brave enough to turn the speed maximum up beyond the regular setting.
Yup - and by the time you don all the safety gear appropriate for motorcycle riding it's just not quite as much fun anymore, is it? Seriously though, you should at least be wearing a 3/4 helmet when riding these things and it wouldn't hurt to wear a riding jacket. It's all fun and games until you inevitably fall.
Heck, i went over the handlebars of a razor scooter in Palm Springs (bad place to ride anything with small wheels) in my early 40’s. Thankfully, i just came out bloodied (i still have the scars). I would hate to try to do that with something at a higher speed.
funny, I was about to build and electric skateboard, then I thought: "hum, I'm an out of shape 100+ kg slob, maybe 1) I shouldn't take a heavy fall from a standing position 2) use my muscles for transportation".
So I got a non-electric bike, because I'm too lazy to walk.
Hmm, I don't think people using bikes are too lazy to walk. Then you'd use an electric bike. People using a bike are too busy to have time for walking. Using a bike is just as much effort, just condensed over a shorter period of time.
To be fair: I simply cannot ride a bike in my area - I moved to a mountainous area about 10 years ago. I'm fine on flat stretches, obviously OK downhill, but uphill is a struggle. A half a mile uphill is no joke. I walk because I can't realistically ride a bike. An e-bike would allow for slightly faster transportation and the ability to go up somewhat steep inclines. Since the ones around here are all electric-assisted (you still have to pedal), it means that I'd at least get some movement out of it.
I genuinely do not believe any OneWheel riders are in this category. Loads of things aren't safe and we still let people ride them. I don't have a OneWheel, but my friends and I have beat those light-up speed signs enough times on bikes, longboards, skateboards, you name it.
It's fun as fuck, and maybe you can die so you should wear a helmet but preventing people from playing with death is bullshittery.
Novices to action sports often throw their arms out to catch themselves when they bail instead of rolling through the fall. They also don't know how to navigate obstacles via strategic weighting and unweighting of their implement.
The energies involved are also substantial -- to put it bluntly, some of these things fuckin' rip, which is super fun, but also makes safety gear a good idea. You can take a lot of trauma and abrasion bailing at 25mph+, potentially life-changing or fatal in the worst cases. There's a reason why downhill longboarders and an increasing number of electric wheel riders wear a fullface and leathers.