What are the basic bicycle safety rules every child should learn?
Well, every time you go out on a bike, it's really important that you go over the bike safety rules for your child, whether you're riding with them or if they're going to ride in the neighborhood. But the basics are, get to know the laws in your own community. Some communities allow children to ride on the sidewalk. Get to know those basic laws. You can get that from your local police department or from your councilperson, whoever you feel is knowledgeable about that. Track it down and find out what is allowed by law. Now the basics that parents need to talk to their children about is stopping at all the traffic signs and traffic signals and making sure your child understands what those traffic signs and traffic signals mean. Also, the basics, if your child is going to ride on the sidewalk, make sure they're aware of people backing in and out of driveways. Make sure that if they're riding their bikes on the sidewalk, that they are being aware that pedestrians have the right of way and they have to ride responsibly. But the biggest reason that parents need to be aware of what their child is doing, if a child's riding on the sidewalk, they cannot go directly into the street. They have to stop, get off their bike, and walk across the street in the crosswalk. That's why it's called a crosswalk. Children have to make sure that they don't ride into the street, whether it's from the driveway or from the sidewalk. They have to get off and walk. But those are rules that a parent needs to be going over with their child every single time they go out; just a quick reminder. if your child doesn't seem to be able to grasp a lot of that, you need to supervise them. It's my recommendation that parents should supervise their children up until the age ten. But if your kid is ten years old and still doesn't understand the basics of traffic safety, you need to be with them, or take and ride your bike somewhere else: take it to the park, take it to a bike lane. take it to a bike path. Ride away from cars until you, as the parent, feel like your child understands and respects traffic and has a true understanding of the principles of traffic safety.
