The Essentials of Bike Safety

Learning to ride a bike is a incredible experience for any youngster, offering enjoyment, freedom and health and fitness.  This grows a child’s self-confidence and feeling of accomplishment.  Like the majority of physical activities with such wonderful reward, there is possibly the chance of injuries.  Giving your child an understanding of the fundamentals of bike safety is an essential step in the process of learning to ride a bike.

Always Wear Your Helmet

Head injuries account for more than 60% of bike related deaths involving younger bike riders.  Usually, youngsters don’t like donning a helmet.  To promote the use of helmets, let them select their own helmet and remind them that the reason they need to wear it is because you’d never want anything bad to take place.  If they don’t wear a helmet, they can’t ride their bike. End of story.

Like the Boy Scouts Say – Be Prepared

In the aged group under ten, most cycling mishaps are generally caused by some a mental miscue or error in judgment.  Children hurt themselves running into stationary objects such as cars in driverways or on the street  or mailboxes.  They collide into other kids or ride off the curb.  Stress that staying alert is even more important than following safety rules.  Remind them  you are always pleased when they choose to make smart decisions and ask them to be a leader whenever they are riding their bikes with friends.

As you grant new freedom for your child to roam on their bicycle, sit down and discuss  the new locations they will be permitted to ride.  Show hazard spots; parked cars that obscure vision, hectic traffic spots, steep hills and make sure they can explain how they will deal with each circumstance.

Learn the Traffic Rules

For nearly all grown ups, knowing and responding to traffic signs and regulations will be 2nd nature, but we usually forget that youngsters have yet to take driver’s education classes.  Show your young children the right direction to ride (with traffic), what to do at intersections along with the significance of the traffic signs in his or her neighborhood.

While you are riding along with your youngster in the car, quiz them on the various traffic signs and speak with them  about what they would do in the event that they were on their own bicycle instead of  in the vehicle.  Clearly show examples of drivers who are not paying adequate attention and use this to show the importance of keeping alert.

Learn the Right Way From the Start

Getting to the point where a child can be comfortable on a bike comes down to one fundamental skill – balance.  A lot of specialists suggest a great technique that does not require training wheels. This has been the approach in Europe for quite some time where many kids master riding a bike using balance bikes (also known as run bikes or walking bikes) that have no sprockets, pedals or chains and are powered by the child’s feet.

When teaching your child to ride, stress balance, not pedaling.  In the event that you do not have a balance bike, take away the pedals, drop the height of the seat as low as it can go and let the child to test out their balance by pushing the bike with their feet.

As they begin to learn their balance, shift them to the top of a gradual incline and have them coast down the hill, dragging their feet on the ground as they ride.  This should accelerate the learning process and help the health of your back as you will not always be the person pushing the bike all over the neighborhood.

Bike Gear Maintenance

It’s important to make sure that your daughter or son’s bicycle is in excellent, working condition.  Pay close attention the brakes, both back and front.  Brakes may degrade quickly when used frequently and children have a way of improvising stops whenever they do.  This might lead to a rapid deterioration of shoes as they become the primary braking mechanism.

Look at the tire pressure and rotation.  Make certain all the spokes are undamaged and the gears and gear shifters are working.  Check the seat, handlebars and tires to ensure nothing is loose.

Share the Ride

Riding together is the perfect way to practice bike safety and its a lot of fun. Get out there and ride today!