Cargo Bike Running Board Issue

[catch-twenty-two]

I'm not really sure how to describe this but I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced it. Occasionally when I push off to start my xtracycle (its got a custom ebike conversion kit) with a hooptie for my kids, my foot gets caught underneath the running board directly behind the pedal and the ground. This happened to me today and I really did a number on my foot. It seems like a serious design flaw, but maybe I'm missing something. Hopefully my beautiful art work below will make the problem clearer.

I'm wondering if there are any techniques people use to avoid this, or maybe modifications I can do to the running boards to keep this from happening in the future. I'm thinking about taking these off completely, although I think it would make it extremely difficult for my kids to get in.

Thanks

 

[indianajo]

I have a yubabike bodaboda. I have footplates even though I don't have children.
I never push off. I wind the pedal backwards until it is almost to the top, then stand on the pedal to take off. As the bike moves off I put the leg that was on the ground on the other pedal.
If you have PAS the bike will whack you in the back of the standing leg as you are winding the pedal backwards. You can turn the PAS level to 0 before starting up, then change to 1 while moving. I deleted the PAS pickup. I don't want to go 11 mph or accelerate at 500 watts every time.
I find the footplate useful for keeping the pannier out of the shifter. I added an extra strut on the shifter side.

 

[catch-twenty-two]

Thanks for the advice, I'll give that a shot. I'm not used to having that extra boost for launching, so your probably right I don't really even need to push off (if at all) as hard as I am accustomed to with a non-ebike.