Cleveland UCD (Urban Conservation District)

Bicycle Safety

Teach Your Children to Ride a Bicycle Safely

Summer is a great time for you and your family to enjoy Cleveland Neighborhood on your bicycles! Please keep in mind these safety tips provided by the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute.

* Teach your family the five rules to avoid fatal crashes.

* Teach your family to wear a helmet.

* Help your family learn to balance and ride according to the five rules.

The Five Rules to Avoid Fatal Crashes

1. Never ride out into a street without stopping first.

2. Obey stop signs.

3. Check behind before swerving, turning or changing lanes.

4. Never follow another rider without applying the rules.

5. Before you get on your bike, put on a helmet.

Now The Fun Part: Time to Ride and Practice the Rules

Gear: Start with a helmet, gloves to protect the skin on their hands and perhaps even skaters' knee and elbow pads for the first rides. Adjust the bicycle for your child and be sure they can reach pedals, bars and brakes comfortably.

Brakes first! Show your kid how to stop the bike. Hold them up and gently move them forward as they use the brakes to stop until you are sure they know how.

Balance: Run alongside the bike, holding it up by the seat with one hand on the handlebars to show how you turn them to keep the bike upright.

Riding: Nobody learns without practice. Riding with your child is probably the best way to practice the rules. Go over the rules, then ride, stopping occasionally to review what they have just done and praise their good performance. Notice that if they are behind you, your rule about not following automatically will be severely challenged, even if you ride through a red light or directly into the path of a car! As with almost any other skill, practice is required to ingrain techniques. More than one session will be needed. But the result is worth your time.

Protect Yourself While Bike Riding at Night:

Because of a sharp increase in the number of bicyclist fatalities resulting from car-bike collisions at night, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a warning to bike riders to take necessary steps to make themselves and their bicycles more visible at night.

Use a headlight.

Be sure your bike has front and rear reflectors, pedal reflectors, and side rim or wheel reflectors.

Wear reflective clothing.

Always wear a CPSC-approved helmet.

Young children should not ride at night.

Avoid riding on dark, narrow roadways.