What are your thoughts on bicycle safety? Do you take certain steps every time you hop into the saddle in order to prevent disaster?
Believe it or not, there are a handful of bicycle safety tips that could save your life. Here are just a few of the best ones to keep in mind every time you hit the pavement:
- Keep a close eye on the vehicles surrounding you. While most drivers will do whatever they can to accommodate bicyclists, this isn’t the case for all of them.
- Watch for opening doors. It’s easy to focus on moving cars, but some bicyclists lose sight of those that are parked. Never forget that someone could open a door into your path.
- Don’t startle pedestrians. For example, if you pass behind pedestrians, as opposed to in front of them, there’s less chance you’ll startle someone and cause an accident.
- Use a bicycle lane when available. There is no safer place to ride, so you definitely want to use a designated bicycle lane if there is one on the road. If not, ride in traffic as opposed to the sidewalk.
Most bicyclists find that it’s easy to follow these tips. Unfortunately, just because you do all these things doesn’t mean you’ll never be part of an accident.
If a vehicle strikes your bicycle, thus knocking you to the ground, you need to receive immediate medical attention. You could suffer a variety of injuries, all of which are very serious. Once you begin to recover, you can learn more about your legal rights and how to hold the driver responsible for his or her negligence.
Source: Bicycling, “5 Safety Pointers for the Urban Cyclist,” accessed March 16, 2018