Keeping Your Child Safe on Their Bike This Summer
More than 70% of children ride bikes, and summertime is a great time to enjoy the great outdoors. However, a child is very vulnerable to biking accidents. To help protect them from unexpected injuries, let’s take a look at the methods to keeping your child safe on their bike this summer.
What Causes Biking Accidents?
A child’s stature is much smaller and shorter when compared to an adult. Their smaller size makes spotting them difficult, particularly for drivers in taller vehicles. Because of this, drivers might fail to react in time and cause an accident.
Children also have lower attention spans and slower reaction times. If a vehicle suddenly appears, the driver might not have enough time to react or they might freeze in place. This makes them particularly vulnerable as a result.
These accidents can even cause long-lasting injuries and effects. Because of this, you should take steps for ensuring the safety of your child.
Keeping Your Child Safe on Their Bike This Summer
To keep your child safe, you as a parent can help and teach them. Here are a few methods to protect your child when they go out biking.
- Make your child wear a helmet always when riding a bike. A well-made helmet can protect your child’s head, and head injuries are one of the most common injuries for bikers. It can save your child’s life. Helmets are very effective at protecting the head, reducing the risk of injury by 88 percent. However, very few children wear helmets, and this has led to increased injury rates.
- Reflective gear is another safety measure that can keep your child safe. It’s particularly effective at night or darker days when riders are harder to spot.
- Installing a light on your child’s bike will allow them to see better at night and drivers notice them sooner too. Your child will spot obstacles at night easier and avoid hitting them. A bright light is hard to miss.
- Bells might be a gimmick more than a safety tool to most, but they’re actually a good safety feature. It should be loud enough to alert someone around. You should also teach your child to ring it when they pass someone, so the other person isn’t caught unawares.
- Children don’t have the same thought process as adults, so they might not know what common sense on the road is. You should sit down with your child and teach them what they should or should not do. With your help, your child will remember what to do when outside biking in the summer.
By setting a good example yourself, your child is more likely to follow these safety measures. Prove to them that your advice is effective, and they’ll follow your lead.
What if My Child is Injured on Their Bike?
Has your child been injured while riding their bike here in sunny Florida? Don’t panic, because cyclists do have rights while riding their bike on the road. If your child has been involved in a biking accident then it’s important to take action right away. To learn more about you and your child’s rights, please contact our team of Plantation personal injury attorneys at Lyons & Snyder today for legal assistance. You can visit our website to learn more or call us at (954) 462-8035 to schedule a free, no-risk case evaluation with us.
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