11
• Protective eyewear, to protect against airborne dirt,
dust
and bugs — tinted when the sun is bright, clear when it’s not.
6.
Don’t jump with your bike. Jumping a bike, particularly a
BMX or mountain bike, can be fun; but it puts incredible stress on
everything from your spokes to your pedals. Riders who insist on
jumping their bikes risk serious damage, to their bicycles as well as
to themselves.
7.
Ride at a speed appropriate for conditions. Increased
speed means higher risk.
B. Riding Safety
1.
Observe all local bicycle laws and regulations. Observe
regulations about licensing of bicycles, riding on sidewalks, laws
regulating bike path and trail use, and so on. Observe helmet laws,
child carrier laws and special bicycle traffic laws. 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.
3.
Ride defensively. Always assume that others
do not see you.
4.
Look ahead, and be ready to avoid:
• Vehicles slowing or turning, entering the road or your
lane ahead of you, or coming up behind you.
• Parked car doors opening.
• Pedestrians stepping out.
• Children or pets 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 traffic, catch your wheel
or otherwise cause you to lose control and have an accident.
• The many other hazards and distractions which can
occur on a bicycle ride.
5.
Ride in designated bike lanes, on designated bike paths or
as close to the edge of the road as is safely possible, in the
direction of the traffic flow or as directed by local laws.
6.
Stop at stop signs and traffic lights; slow down and look
both ways at street intersections. Remember that a bicycle
always
loses in a collision with a motor vehicle, so be prepared to yield
even if you have the right of way.
7.
Use approved hand signals for turning and stopping.
8.
Never ride with headphones. They mask traffic sounds and
emergency vehicle sirens, distract you from concentrating on
what’s going on around you, and their wires can tangle in the
moving parts of the bicycle, causing you to lose control.
9.
Never carry a passenger, unless it is a small child wearing
an approved helmet and secured in a correctly mounted child
carrier or a child-carrying trailer. Follow the child carrier or child-
