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Bicycle Safety: Parents, Guardians, Kids

Bicycling is a fun activity but requires safety precautions as a bicycle is a vehicle. The document provides tips for safe bicycling including wearing a helmet, properly adjusting the bicycle, checking equipment, being visible to others, following traffic laws, and yielding to other vehicles. It emphasizes that bicyclists have the same rights and responsibilities on the road as motorists and should ride with traffic, obey signs and signals, signal turns, and watch for hazards.

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95 views2 pages

Bicycle Safety: Parents, Guardians, Kids

Bicycling is a fun activity but requires safety precautions as a bicycle is a vehicle. The document provides tips for safe bicycling including wearing a helmet, properly adjusting the bicycle, checking equipment, being visible to others, following traffic laws, and yielding to other vehicles. It emphasizes that bicyclists have the same rights and responsibilities on the road as motorists and should ride with traffic, obey signs and signals, signal turns, and watch for hazards.

Uploaded by

Kennedy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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TIPS FOR

PARENTS, BICYCLE SAFETY


GUARDIANS, Bicycling is fun, healthy, and a great family activity.
AND KIDS But a bicycle isn’t a toy; it’s a vehicle!
So DRIVE your bicycle and follow these tips.

Safe Riding Tips


Before riding, make sure you, your family, and the bicycles are
ready to ride. Be a “Roll Model” for other adults and children.
Remember to:
■■ Wear a Bicycle Helmet. Everyone – at every age – should
wear bicycle helmets. For more guidance on fitting a helmet, see
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fitting Your
Bike Helmet.
■■ Adjust Your Bicycle to Fit. Stand over your bicycle. There
should be 1 to 2 inches between the rider and the top tube (bar)
if using a road bike and 3 to 4 inches if using a mountain bike.
The seat should be level front to back, and the height should be
adjusted to allow a slight bend at the knee when the leg is fully
extended. The handlebar height should be level with the seat.
■■ Check Your Equipment. Before riding, inflate tires properly and
check that the brakes work.
■■ See and Be Seen. Whether daytime, dawn, dusk, bad weather,
or at night, make yourself visible to others. Wear neon, fluorescent
or other bright colors when riding, to be most easily seen. Wear
something that reflects light, such as reflective tape or markings,
or flashing lights. Remember, just because you can see a driver doesn’t
mean the driver can see you.
■■ Control the Bicycle. Ride with two hands on the handlebars, except when signaling a turn. Place books and
other items in a bicycle carrier or backpack.
■■ Watch for and Avoid Road Hazards. Look for hazards such as potholes, broken glass, gravel, puddles,
leaves, and dogs. All these hazards can cause a crash. If you are riding with friends and you are in the lead, yell
out and point to the hazard to alert the riders behind you.
■■ Avoid Riding at Night. It’s hard for road users to see bicyclists at dusk, dawn, and nighttime. Use reflectors
on the front and rear of your bicycle. White lights and red rear reflectors or lights are required by law in all States.

Many bicycle-related crashes resulting in injury or death are associated with bicyclist behavior and are in your
control, including such things as not wearing a bicycle helmet, riding into a street without stopping, turning left
or swerving into traffic that is coming from behind, running a stop sign, and riding the wrong way in traffic. To
maximize your safety, always wear a helmet and follow the rules of the road.
Rules of the Road - Bicycling on the Road
In all States, bicycles on the roadway are considered vehicles, and bicyclists are the drivers, with the same rights
and responsibilities as motorists to follow the rules of the road. When riding, always:
■■ Go With the Traffic Flow. Ride on the right in the same direction as other vehicles. Go with the flow – not
against it.
■■ Obey All Traffic Laws. A bicycle is a vehicle and you’re the driver. When you ride in the street, obey all traffic
signs, signals, and lane markings.
■■ Yield to Traffic. Almost always, drivers on a smaller road must yield (wait) for traffic on a major or larger road.
If there is no stop sign or traffic signal and you are coming from a smaller roadway (out of a driveway, from a
sidewalk, a bike path, etc.), you must slow down and look to see if the way is clear before proceeding. Yield to
pedestrians in a crosswalk.
■■ Be Predictable. Ride in a straight line, not in and out of cars. Signal your moves to others.
■■ Stay Alert at All Times. Use your eyes and ears. Watch out for potholes, cracks, wet leaves, storm grates,
railroad tracks, or anything that could make you lose control of your bike. Listen for traffic and avoid dangerous
situations; don’t use personal electronics when you ride.
■■ Look Before Turning. When turning left or right, always look behind you for a break in traffic, and then signal
before making the turn. Watch for left- or right-turning traffic.
■■ Watch for Parked Cars. Ride far enough out from the curb to avoid the unexpected from parked cars (like
doors opening, or cars pulling out).

Sidewalk versus Street Riding


The safest place to ride your bicycle is on the street, where bicycles are expected to follow the same rules of the
road and ride in the same direction as motorists. Sidewalks are designed for slower moving traffic like pedestrians.
■■ Children younger than 10 years old, however, are not consistently able to make the decisions
necessary to safely ride unsupervised in the street. Therefore, they are safer riding away from traffic.
■■ For anyone riding on a sidewalk:
• Check the law in your State or jurisdiction to make sure sidewalk riding is allowed.

• Watch for vehicles coming out of or turning into driveways.

• Stop at corners of sidewalks and streets to look for cars and to make sure the drivers see you before crossing.

• Enter a street at a corner and not between parked cars. Alert pedestrians that you are nearby, saying, “Passing
on your left,” or use a bell or horn.

For more information


on bicycle safety, visit
the NHTSA Web site at:
www.nhtsa.gov.
DOT HS 811 557
May 2012

8024b-050212-v3

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