Each year, many people in the United States are injured and even killed while cycling. Common preventative measures such as wearing a helmet, avoiding cycling at night and riding on the correct side of the road help keep you safe on the road. Learn the traffic rules and regulations in your state to stay safe, as cyclists in traffic must obey the same rules you would when driving a car.
Safe Practices
Use hand signals to communicate upcoming turns while riding in traffic. These signals warn drivers of your course and help prevent accidents. Obey traffic signals and ride on the right side of the road in the same direction as the flow of traffic. Bicyclists moving against traffic cause approximately one-fourth of the collisions between bikes and cars.
Protection
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children always wear a helmet, regardless of the length of the ride. Don't wear any type of helmet except for a bike helmet, which is designed specifically to prevent injuries from falling while riding a bike.
Bike Size
Make sure that your bike is the appropriate size for your body. Children can lose control of bikes that are too large for them, and should have bikes equipped with foot brakes as they may not be able to control hand brakes.
Road Conditions
A study conducted by Melissa R. Hoffman revealed that the age, experience level and safety practices of commuting cyclists did not correlate with traumatic events and injuries. However, people with longer commutes are slightly more likely to have an accident, and cyclists wearing helmets are less likely to be involved in a traumatic event. Poor road conditions such as loose gravel were involved in approximately one in five accidents.
Safety Statistics
In 2009, more than 40 percent of cyclist fatalities in the United States involved the use of alcohol. Seventy percent of the fatalities happened in urban areas, and most occurred during the daytime. An overwhelming majority of those killed in 2009 were males.
References
- Healthy Children; Bicycle Safety: Myths and Facts; May 2011
- The Journal of Trauma; Bicycle Commuter Injury Prevention; Melissa R. Hoffman, et al.; November 2010
- U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; Traffic Safety Facts: Bicyclists and Other Cyclists; 2009
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