Bike Safety Speech

When you’re a young child getting your bike and receiving your parents’ permission to ride off into the sunset it seems to be the equivalent of when your 16 years old and you get your driver’s license. It’s your form of freedom and independence. When leaving with your two wheels of freedom on your bike everyone knows the rules and has had their parents stamp them into their heads; wear your helmet, look both ways before crossing the street and be safe. Great rules to always have but they do start to get drowned out as they are always said and quit often heard less and less as you respond, “Yes mom I know.” With this article we can discuss three areas that will increase the safety for everyone riding a bike and something new for parents

Growing up I was always told to stay on the sidewalk because it’s safer. That makes sense, no cars on the sidewalk so I don’t have to worry about them and I don’t have to worry about reacting to the cars. After years of riding a bicycle and finally riding in the road it does seem a bit frightening with cars rushing by you but it does make it safer. While participating in the International Police Mountain Bike Association (IPMBA) course the instructors spoke about how safe you really are riding in the street. We were told that while being in the street yes we are with large vehicles but having us in the street makes us more visible to the traffic instead of blending into the houses and trees as when we ride on the sidewalk. Riding in the street will get the attention of motorists making them aware of a bicyclist and more aware of a bicyclist’s maneuvers leaving less surprise when a biker makes a turn that the motorist sees instead of darting out from behind a tree where the motorist never saw them. Another reason riding in the street is safer is the obstacles of driveways. While riding on a sidewalk a bicyclist has less time to see and react to a vehicle coming down the driveway. When riding in the street the bicyclist can see the vehicle in the driveway much earlier and the vehicles are usually traveling slower as they near the end of the driveway about to enter a road way making it easier for both bicyclist and motorist to see and react to each