Top Ten Rolling Rules of the Road (Plus One)
by Noelle Robichon
Rule 1
Learn to inline drive; get your inline skating permit before you drive! Before skating on trails, traffic or any hills, master ALL of the skills in Robichon's® Outdoor Skate Basics levels I, II and III, and stay on controlled, flat, traffic, and debris-free ground until you are comfortable stopping, starting, turning and dealing with mild terrain variations such as up and down hills. Some other mild terrain variation examples include: uneven pavements (e.g. trail to street pavement changes and vice versa), timing mats in marathons, minor cracks and pavement blemishes, railroad tracks, grass, grass in trail asphalt, pebbles and small rocks like gravel, rougher courser terrains, tar snakes, small potholes, wooden bridges, etc.
Examples of controlled areas are: roller rinks (outdoor and indoor), flat, smooth vacant parking lots (with permission, of course), and gymnasiums.
Places to start out: Start out on slow surfaces. First-timers should start out slowly and find their balance and bearing speed on grass or carpet before venturing onto the asphalt or roller rink. These surfaces prevent the new inline skate student’s wheels from rolling out from underneath her/him, often plummeting the new skater hard onto her/his bottom (“airbag”). The slow rolling surface allows new skaters a fair chance to learn to control the skates before they have a first bad experience that might make them never want to skate ever again.
Rule 2
Engine Block First: I wear a good-fitting helmet! My Robichon’s® Inline Skate Instructor tells me my head is so important that the first piece of equipment on my imaginary inline car is my helmet, and my helmet is the last piece of equipment I take off. Once I am sitting on my airbag, I unbuckle and remove my helmet. I’m not messing with my “Engine Block”!
Rule 3
Seat Belts – Buckled. I buckle my helmet. My helmet straps are the seat belt of my inline car; I practice keeping them buckled at all times when on my skates. Whenever I am skating, including standing on my inline skates, my helmet is buckled up. If I don’t clip it and I flip backwards, I could crack my headers on my engine block. Like I said, I am not messing with my engine block.
Rule 4
Overheating Prevention: When I get hot and my car starts to overheat, I sit down on my airbag, preferably in the shade, and then remove my helmet so I can release the heat from my overheating engine. Before standing up and rolling away, I always reposition my helmet back on my head and “buckle up” – it’s my seat belt for inline driving!
Rule 5
Merging: Before merging into traffic, I always look both ways for traffic so I do not crash into another vehicle. When I see traffic like bikes, walkers, inline skaters and runners, I yield to prevent fender benders. As soon as the road is clear of other vehicles, I merge with the flow of traffic.
Rule 6
Rear-End Prevention: I am responsible for the vehicle in front of me. I need to skate aware of my surroundings. When I see another car in front of me, I need to stop or slow so I don’t rear-end them. If I rear-end cars, I need to work on skating aware and play a little more of Robichon’s® Red Light Green Light.
Rule 7
Passing: When another vehicle’s pace obstructs or annoys me, I look both ways for oncoming or incoming traffic and say “passing!” loud enough for the other cars to hear me. Then I look all ways again and pass, skating “skinny” or asymmetrically so I do not kick the other driver’s wheels.
Rule 8
Fender Benders: When I fall, I get out of the flow of traffic and off of the road as soon as I can. If I fall and am not hurt, I move myself to the roadside so I do not get hit by another vehicle while tending to my “chassis”- making sure all my protective gear is repositioned properly. If I stay in the middle of a road, I obstruct the road and risk getting hit! To get up in the middle of the trail, I get up sideways (or perpendicular to the trail).
Rule 9
Skate Skinny: When I skate on trails, I skate on the right side – skating skinny or asymmetrically to create space if another vehicle passes me. By skating skinny or asymmetrically I am able to prevent my wheels from jamming into bike wheels.
Rule 10
Full Protective Gear: I wear all of my protective gear: helmet and elbow, knee and wrist guards until I know how to perform high-powered stops at faster speeds, create tight quarter turns (parallel) around corners, and can deal with hills on trails and streets. Even after I learn Robichon’s® high-speed stops and learn to skate with ease on hilly terrains, I might wear full protective gear when I get new equipment or am on new uncertain terrains.
Rule 11
New Engines: When I upgrade my skates, wheels, or bearings, they roll faster than I am used to, so I always start out on grass or carpet - as if I were a new skater - to find my balance and bearings. When I find my balance on my new skates on the carpet, I gradually work my way back to the slick flat asphalt and mild hills. When I am comfortable stopping on my new skates on flats at medium speeds, I then skate on baby slopes, testing to see if I can stop on the baby slope first, then gradually moving to higher grade slopes. I do not go on any hills until I know I can stop.
