Bicycling is fun for kids, and a big step in growing up. Contrary to popular belief, a bicycle is not a toy -- rather, it is the first vehicle that a child
learns to drive. Having their own transportation gives them mobility and a taste of independence. But, without proper training
and supervision, kids can get into
serious trouble on their bicycles.
Does education benefit children? Most parents think so or they wouldn't spend many, many dollars for music
lessons, dance lessons, gymnastics classes, etc.
BACA's purpose is to help you with the knowledge and tools to begin your child's bicycle education experience with the attitudes and skills that will
help make them safer riders today and for years to come.
As with its adult education program, BACA uses the Smart Cycling Curriculum developed by the
League of American Bicyclists. Our
League Cycling Instructors (LCIs) are trained in teaching bicycling to children as well as to adults, and with the
cooperation of local National Bike Dealers Association bike shops, we can provide classes to certify bike shop employees,
school faculty, and other volunteers as Youth Instructors to teach the League's new bike rodeo course.
Cycling Skills
for Parents
One of the
first steps in bike education is to reach out first to
the parents. After all, these are the people whom
children are most likely to look up to, and emulate.
Some parents are afraid to allow their children ride to
school, stores or other places because there are so many
cars on the roads. However, car-bike crashes are
rare -- only about one crash in six involves motor
vehicles. (Most are falls or collisions with fixed
objects, like trees.) Cycling is
much safer than you may
think. But we can do much better. The crash rate for
experienced cyclists is 4-5 times lower than the
average. We all need to learn from these experts. We
must teach children how to avoid accidents – especially
the kinds of accidents that endanger them most.
We parents need to teach our
children. This means
we must know enough about bicycling to teach correct
techniques. Many of the things we were all taught as
kids are wrong and some are actually
dangerous.
Compare how society teaches cycling with swimming.
Red Cross water safety instructors must first be
competent swimmers, and then they take classes and pass
certification exams. What are the qualifications of the
people that teach your kids “bicycle safety”? Are they
cyclists themselves? Have these teachers themselves
taken cycling instruction? If not, watch out!
A common misunderstanding about cycling is the extent
and source of danger. People believe there is great
danger in getting run down by cars passing from behind.
Cars are fast and noisy and we cannot see them coming,
so the fear is natural. But it is mistaken. Hit from
behind accidents represent less than one-half of one
percent of urban, daylight cycling crashes.
About 90% of car-bike collisions involve turning and
crossing traffic. (Just like
with car
crashes.) Most of the rest are caused by wrong way
riders or by swerving in front of traffic. Most dangers
are right in front of you where you can see and avoid
them if you are aware.
This video, "A Kid's Eye
View," is one of the tools we use in
teaching parents and other adults to talk to their
children about bicycling, and things to look out for
when you're riding with kids:
Children act differently in traffic than adults. Children are children, not small adults. It's important
to understand their limitations in understanding traffic.
Specifically, children:
Have a narrower field of vision than adults, about 1/3 less.
Cannot easily judge a car's speed and distance.
Assume that if they can see a car, its driver must be able to see them. However,
children are easily hidden from view by parked cars
and other objects.
Cannot readily tell the direction a sound is coming from.
May be impatient and
impulsive.
Concentrate on only one
thing at a time. This is likely not to be traffic.
Have a limited sense of danger.
Often mix fantasy with reality.
Imitate the (often bad) behavior of others, especially older children and adults.
BACA offers an introductory workshop for school
districts and parents organizations participating (or
anticipating participation in the Safe Routes to School
program. In this hour-long class, "Cycling
Skills for Parents," certified cycling
instructors explain how to teach a child to ride a bike.
Topics covered include how to perform a bicycle safety
check, helmet fitting and bike sizing, basic traffic and
safety tips, and techniques to help your children learn
to ride. Includes the
10-minute 'Kids Eye View' video and a brochure for
parents. Designed for parents of children who are
starting to ride who want to know how to guide their
young riders, also suitable as an introduction for
parents, PTA members, and school staff as an
introduction to the bicycling skills taught in the Safe
Routes to School bike safety program.
"Bicycling
123" is a fairly new program that the
League of American Bicyclists developed in
coordination with the National Bicycle Dealers
Association (NBDA), and released at the Interbike
exposition in September, 2009. The program is designed
to work in partnership between the League and local bike
shops to provide basic handling and traffic skills
instruction to children as well as new and returning
adult riders.
The core of
the Youth program is the Cycling
Skills for Children clinic. This is a
fairly straightforward class, suitable for children of
nearly all ages, that focuses on bike handling and basic
traffic skills, especially on the behaviors that most
often get young cyclists hurt or into trouble. Cycling
Skills Clinic is a bike rodeo format, but we still use a
lot of the skills and methods taught in the League's
more advanced traffic classes. A really neat feature is
that the clinic is almost wholly hands-on with the
bikes, outside, with a minimal amount of lining them up
for a lecture. The kids really enjoy the skill drills,
and it's been a good tool to help get parents involved
and get them "on message" as well. Done right, this is a
very high-energy, fun course for all participants.
The key
feature of the Cycling Skills for Children clinic is
that each station in the Clinic is aimed at a particular
type of behavior which commonly cause child cyclists to
get into crashes or collisions. For example, the leading
causes of traffic deaths for young cyclists are 1)
riding out of a driveway without looking or yielding to
traffic on the street; 2) riding the wrong way, against
the flow of traffic, 3) turning or swerving left without
scanning behind for overtaking traffic, and 4) crashes
at intersections due to disobeying traffic signals or
failure to yield to crossing traffic. Additionally, the
vast majority of children’s non-fatal crashes arise from
simply falling off the bike, or running into a road
surface hazard or a fixed object. The Cycling Skills
for Children Clinic addresses these issues by starting
with a focus on a safe, functional bicycle and proper
helmet wear, basic bicycle handling skills to reduce the
chances of a fall or single-rider crash, by teaching
correct traffic skills, specifically entering the
roadway, where to ride, obedience to traffic signs and
signals, and negotiating left and right turns as well as
straight-through passage at intersection. Each skill is
practiced a minimum of three successful repetitions in
order to form good riding habits. Finally the Clinic
allows practice under supervision in simulated traffic
to allow the kids to integrate what they have learned at
each station in the clinic.
A similar
course, "Bicycling 123: Cycling Skills for Adults" is
available for older (teen-age and older) children as
well as adults (parents and guardians) who want to
return to riding or improve their bike skills and
confidence. Bicycling 123 classes require the
sponsorship on an NBDA-member bike shop; BACA's
instructors have already secured this sponsorship and
are able to offer either the skills clinics or
instructor workshops upon request.
Click on
this link
for an overview of this clinic.
In September 2010, at the Pro
Bike Pro Walk exposition, the League of American
Bicyclists published their revisions to their
youth education program. Formerly entitled
"Kids II", the new curriculum is specifically
tailored to support the educational requirements
of the Safe Routes to School program.
The
Safe Routes to School Traffic Safety Program
is a comprehensive traffic safety education
curriculum developed by the League of American
Bicyclists, geared for older elementary and
middle school-aged children. The course
consists of 10 1-hour lessons, divided into
three teaching levels ranging from in-class
activities to on-street walking trips and
bicycle rides. Each successive teaching level
covers bicycle & walking safety in greater
depth, teaches more advanced concepts, and
focuses on hands-on, experiential learning.
Meant to give a basic understanding of the
responsibility of road users, and bicyclists in
particular. This course is NOT like a bike
rodeo; but is similar to the adult Traffic
Skills 101 for younger riders. Students are
taught all of the basic skills a bicycle rider
must know to start using a bicycle safely and
they are drilled until they show competency. The
course includes a test at the end. Examples of
some of the things the students learn are:
Helmet use and care;
Bike maintenance (including fixing a flat
tire);
Basic bike skills such as getting on and off
and mounting the bike to ride;
Basic bicycle handling skills such as riding
in a straight line, balancing with control
and scanning behind for cars without
swerving;
Exiting a driveway;
Hand signals and communication with other
drivers;
Road position for both riding straight and
turning;
Safe pedestrian skills for sidewalks,
roadways without pedestrian facilities, and
street crossings using both crosswalks and
unmarked intersections;
Many more skills that could best be
described as defensive driving.
Ten ways to
help children become better pedestrians and cyclists:
1. Give your child only as much independence and
responsibility as s/he can handle safely. Throughout
childhood, children slowly develop the cognitive,
perceptual and sensory skills necessary to be safe in
traffic.
2. Remember that each child is unique. Do not base
rules for one child on those for siblings, cousins or
neighbors. Children of the same age may require
different levels of supervision in traffic.
3. Evaluate your child's behavior out of traffic. Is
s/he impulsive? Does s/he stop to think before acting?
Distractable? Can s/he sustain attention on something
important? Is s/he a risk-taker? It is likely that your
child's behavior in traffic will resemble behavior out
of traffic.
4. Consider any limitations your child has and how
these might influence his or her behavior in traffic.
For example, does your child have vision problems?
Hearing impairment? Cognitive or judgment limitations?
Physical handicaps?
5. Give your child practice in traffic. Frequent
supervised experiences can help children develop good
traffic safety habits.
6. Teach your child the rules of walking and
bicycling safety as you encounter traffic situations.
Ask your children to repeat rules back to you.
7. Do not assume your child will follow the rules
just because s/he can verbalize them. Let your child
lead you in traffic to help you assess how well s/he
follows the rules. Set up situations with your child in
which you shadow him/her (walk 10-15 feet behind) to
allow semi-independence.
8. Grant independence in small steps to see how your
child handles it. For example, let your child progress
from playing in front of the house to playing on the
block, to walking around the block, to crossing one
street, etc.
9. Always model appropriate traffic safety practices
yourself, whether you are walking, bicycling or driving!
Children learn from important people around them.
10. Be a careful driver, watch for children who may
not yet have developed good traffic safety habits. Their
safety is in your hands.
Bike Helmets &
Helmet Safety:
A good introduction to the use and
fitting of bike helmets is the NHTSA's video,
Ride Smart
-- It's Time to Start! Aimed specifically at young
folks, this video includes not only the basics of
fitting and wearing a helmet, but footage of two common
experiments used to show how helmets work to protect
your head from brain injury -- the "egg drop" experiment
as well as a model gelatin brain...
Another good example is NHTSA's
companion video, Bike Safe -- Bike Smart! which briefly
covers bike helmets, as well as other safety practices:
Copyright
Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas 2003-2011 -
info@bacar.org
Site design by Crystal Hunnicutt / Artwork
courtesy of Jason Jones
