6
7
What can you do?
Take your child to a stop sign near home. Explain what it
means by emphasizing the following points:
1).
Stop at all stop signs, regardless of what is happening.
2).
Look in all directions for trafic.
3).
Watch for oncoming cars making left turns.
4).
Watch for cars behind you making right turns.
5).
Wait for any cross trafic to clear.
6).
Proceed when safe.
In order to make this lesson stick, you may have to change
your own driving habits. If you creep through intersections
controlled by stop signs, you are showing your child that
you don’t really believe what you preach. For your child’s
sake, stop at stop signs.
Turning Without Warning:
Another major accident type involves cyclists who make
unexpected left turns. They neither look behind for trafic,
nor do they signal. The key factor here is neglecting to
look to the rear: If the cyclist had looked, he/she would
have seen the danger coming up from behind.
What can you do?
Of course, you ought to teach your child not to ride
across busy streets - at least until the child has had some
advanced training and is old enough to understand trafic.
But in the meantime, for residential street riding, you can
teach your child to always look and signal before turning
left. A big part of this lesson is teaching the child how to
look to the rear without swerving.
Take your child to a playground to practice riding along
a straight line while looking behind. Stand alongside and
hold up a different number of ingers on your hand after
the child rides by. Call his/her name. After 15 minutes of
practice, a ten year old should be able to look behind his/
herself and identify how many ingers you are holding up -
without swerving.
Night Time Riding
(See also page 10).
Most car/bicycle accidents happen at night where an over-
taking car hits a bike. (An overtaking car is one that comes
up from behind and passes the cyclist on the left.) These
overtaking accidents can be very serious.
What can you do?
First, you should keep your youngster from riding at night.
It requires special skills and equipment. Few children have
either. Secondly, make sure your child understands that
if he/she gets caught out after dark on a bike, the thing
to do is to call you for a ride home. One suggestions is to
tape “phone money” to the bike so that, in an emergency,
the child will be able to call home.
Following the Leader:
There is increased risk of car/bike
collision if children are following each other, because if the
irst one does something dangerous, those following may
do it too.
What can you do?
Teach your child to always assess the trafic situation for
him/herself. When a group is riding around, each cyclist
should stop for stop signs; each cyclist should look to the
rear before making left turns; and so on. One way to get
the message across is to play a game with the child similar
to ‘Simon Says’. In this game, however, the emphasis
should not be on doing what ‘Simon Says’, but rather have
the child make a decision based on the situation. The child
should learn to ignore what ‘Simon Says’. Children need to
learn to think for themselves to ride safely.
SUMMARY:
Teach your child early - the earlier the
better. Learning skills such as looking and avoiding
hazards takes time. Be prepared to repeat lessons
until your child understands what you’re trying to
get across. Be patient. Your efforts will be rewarded,
knowing that your child is aware of safe riding skills.
B. THE BASICS
1.
Always do the Mechanical Safety Check Before you get
on a bike.
2.
Be thoroughly familiar with the controls of your bicycle.
3.
Be careful to keep body parts and other objects away
from the sharp teeth of chainrings; the moving chain; the
turning pedals and cranks; and the spinning wheels of
your bicycle.
4.
Always wear a cycling helmet which meets the latest
Snell or ANSI standard.
5
. Always wear shoes that will stay on your feet and will
grip the pedals. Never ride barefoot or wearing sandals.
6.
Wear bright, visible clothing that is not so loose that it
can catch on moving parts of the bicycle or be snagged
by objects at the side of the road or trail.
7.
Don’t jump with your bike. Jumping a bike, particularly
a BMX bike, can be fun; but it puts incredible stress on
everything from your spokes to your pedals.
C. RULES OF THE ROAD
1.
Learn the local bicycle laws and regulations. Many
communities have special regulations about licensing of
bicycles, riding on sidewalks, laws regulating bike path
and trail use, and so on. Many states have helmet laws,
child carrier laws and special bicycle trafic laws. In the
U.S. and in most foreign countries, a bicyclist is required
to obey the same trafic laws as the driver of a car or
motorcycle. It’s your responsibility to know and obey the
laws.
2.
You are sharing the road or the path with others -
motorists, pedestrians and other cyclists. Respect their
rights, and be tolerant if they infringe on yours.
3.
Ride defensively. Assume that the people with whom
you are sharing the road are so absorbed with what
they are doing and where they are going that they are
oblivious to you.
4.
Look ahead of where you’re going, and be ready to
avoid:
• Vehicles slowing or turning in front of you, entering
the road or your lane ahead of you, or coming up
behind.
• Parked car doors opening in front of you.
• Pedestrians stepping out in front of you.
• Children playing near the road.
• Pot holes, sewer grating, railroad tracks, expansion
joints, road or sidewalk construction, debris and other
obstructions that could cause you to swerve into
trafic, catch your wheel or otherwise cause you to
lose control and have an accident.
BICYCLE
SAFETY
BICYCLE
SAFETY
