Keeping Your Family Safe When Cycling

A bike ride is an excellent way to get out and about as a family. This way you can take in some scenery, spend valuable time with each other, and get fit too. Importantly, it also gets everyone out of the house instead of sat in front of the TV or Nintendo Switch.

However, on a family bike ride, you must always ensure the safety of each and every rider. This is particularly important if you have small children and you’re taking them on public cycle paths.

Here are several things you can do to make sure everyone is safe on a bike ride.

Protection

Wearing the right protection is the most important factor when riding a bicycle. At the very minimum, everyone should be wearing a helmet. A fall from a bike can cause serious damage, so head protection is a must.

You should also ensure you are wearing pads for your knees, elbows, and wrists. If you fall from a bike and put your hands out to break your fall, you might also find you end up with a broken wrist. Children in particular should be fully protected from falls.

Communication

Communicating with each other is very important when you are on a family bike ride. While the urge may be there to yell instructions, this may frighten and distract small children so ensure you speak clearly rather than bellowing at them.

Likewise, always make sure that other people on the ride have heard you by asking for confirmation. You could even make this a fun exercise for children by having a silly word as their confirmation signal, so you know it was definitely heard.

Formation

While it is perfectly legal to ride two-abreast on roads in the UK, consider who you are riding with and where they should be placed in a formation. If you do ride two-abreast, ensure that you are road-side of any children, as they tend to be less able to control the steadiness of a bike.

If you are on a cycle path, then you will need to stay in single file so you don’t stray into the path of oncoming cyclists. If this is the case, have an adult at the front and at the back of any children in the group.

Keeping Your Whole Family Safe

It is easy to remember the three PCF points and you must always consider how you can keep your family safe on a bike ride. While bike safety is important for everyone, it is especially important that you maintain a watchful eye on your family as you can’t account for the actions of others on the road.

Steven Knight

Written by @alex on September 28, 2020