No it's not a matter of clipping in and out, I have done that thousands of times without incident. It has happened just a few times when I am stopping while unclipped on one side and lose control to the opposite side. Yesterday I hit a patch of sand.Just trying to figure out if there is a way to better control the fall. I think trying to relax and taking the hit to the hip is what I tried to do. I don' t think I was very relaxed or tucked though. The huge bruise on my hip tells me that took the most impact. Natural instinct is to extend the arms but I learned the hard way not to do that. I feel like I should be able to gain control of the bike moving so slowly,but once I start to go I am gone