Riding a bike is a great skill for kids. It helps children get around, develop independence, and it is terrific exercise, too. While there are many benefits to riding a bike, bicycle accidents are also a leading cause of serious injuries to children and minors in Hollywood.
While you can’t control how other users of the road behave, there are ways you can reduce the risk for your child. If your child is riding a bike in Hollywood, you may wish to:
- Encourage children to not do tricks or play on bikes: Any sort of tricks or dares can be very dangerous. For example, a recent trend saw teens heading towards cars head-on and swerving away at the last second, recoding the “stunts” for social media. Get familiar with the current trends and bike tricks your kids may be interested in and discuss how they are dangerous.
- Make sure children wear helmets every time they ride their bike: If possible, have your child pick out their own helmet. They may be more likely to wear a helmet they have chosen themselves. Once your child has a helmet, make sure it is adjusted for a good fit, stays in good condition, and gets worn correctly each time your child rides their bike. Encourage your child to wear knee and elbow pads to avoid injury, too.
- Build skills gradually: Teach children to ride a bike with training wheels and only remove the wheels once your child is more confident. At first, have your child ride in a yard or park and only graduate to sharing a road with cars when your child is older and has better biking skills.
- Help kids build skills: Ride with your child for the first few months to encourage good habits and to build skills. Riding together also helps you see how safe your child is being and helps you address any bad habits early on.
- Prohibit your child from offering rides to friends on their handlebars: The extra weight can easily tip the bike and cause serious injury.
- Choose routes carefully: Have your child ride on well-maintained trails and in parks, where there are no motorists and where grass provides a softer fall surface. Not having to share the road may help your child avoid traffic accidents.
- Gear up correctly: Teach your children to wear proper shoes and clothing – including clothing without loose cords and strings – so they can stay safe. Loose clothes, untied shoelaces, and cords can get caught in the handlebars or pedals and pose a serious danger.
- Ban distractions: Ban your children from wearing headphones or listening to music or texting while they bike. Distractions increase the odds of falling from a bike or biking in front of a car. It’s also important for children to stay alert and to be able to hear traffic around them.
- Set a good example by being a safe bicyclist yourself: Your children may pick up on your biking habits. Go on rides together and practice safe biking so your child has a great role model to follow.
If, despite your best efforts, your child is injured in a bike accident, you deserve answers. Whether injuries were caused by a defectively designed bike, by a negligent driver, or for other reasons, you may have a claim if your child’s injuries were caused by recklessness.
To find out whether you have a claim, contact Flaxman Law Group at any time by calling 1-866-352-9626 (1-866-FLAXMAN) to set up a free accident consultation with a Hollywood bike accident injury claims attorney. Our compassionate legal team has more than 60 years of combined experience and we’d be happy to review your potential claim.