Las Vegas electric scooter shop owner shares safety tips after deadly crashes

LAS VEGAS ( KLAS ) — The owner of an electric scooter shop in Las Vegas is offering safety tips after crashes left two scooter riders dead earlier in the week.

Joe Cantalicio said drivers they need to put in more effort to pay attention on the road, with more and more scooters joining traffic. As for riders, there are different levels of safety to consider.

Cantalicio’s shop, WheelZen Rides , is less than a block away from where one of the crashes took place. He saw first responders arrive, but didn’t find out a scooter rider, a woman from Barstow, died until Friday morning.

“Anytime you hear something like that, you feel for that individual, especially when somebody’s within your community of riders,” Cantalicio said. “It’s just like sports you know, athletes die and things happen, it hits home a little bit.”

Earlier in the week, another scooter rider was killed in an Monday morning crash in Henderson.

Cantalicio makes it one of his goals to educate anyone who comes into his shop on how to be safe on personal electric vehicles (PEVs). He said that when you’re riding in the road, follow the flow and laws of traffic, and make sure your PEV is properly maintained.

“On a two-wheeled vehicle or a one-wheel vehicle, if you lose pressure and what not, it can turn into a disaster. It can send you wobbling off into a curb or worse, into oncoming traffic,” Cantalicio said.

He also said safety gear is critical: always wear a helmet and consider higher levels of protective gear for faster machines. No matter what level of safety gear you’re wearing, Cantalicio said one of the most important things to consider is that when you ride, you’re invisible.

“Even if that driver’s looking right at you or you think they are, nine times out of ten, they’re probably not seeing you anyway,” Cantalicio said.

With the top speeds of scooters ranging anywhere from neighborhood to highway limits, it is important to know what you’re getting onto. Cantalicio runs classes during the colder months on PEV safety.

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