page 53 • DENAGO
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 traffic.
3. Watch for oncoming cars making left turns.
4. Watch for cars behind you making right turns.
5. Wait for any cross traffic 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.
c. Turning Without Warning (FIG 3)
Another major accident type involves cyclists
who make unexpected left turns. They neither
look behind for traffic, 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 traffic.
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 or a safe area away from traffic or obstructions to practice
riding along a straight line while looking behind. Stand alongside and hold up a different number
of fingers 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 fingers you are
holding up - without swerving.
d. Riding at Dawn, at Dusk or at Night (See also Section 2.E.).
Most car/Ebike accidents happen at night where an overtaking car hits a Ebike.
(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 dawn, dusk or 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 at dusk or after dark on a Ebike, the thing to do is to call you for a ride home.
One suggestion is to have your child carry a cell phone, and as an added precaution,
tape a phone number to the Ebike so that, in an emergency, an adult will be able to call home.
