05/01/2026
May is National Bike Safety Month! 🚲 Essential child bike safety tips to teach and reinforce with children while they are young, and as they grow older.
🚴♂️Wear a Helmet Every Time: the most effective safety device is a properly fitting helmet. It should be snug, sit level on the forehead, and have secure straps. Kids learn so much from watching you, so it's important to model proper bike safety behavior. Wear a helmet, even if you didn't have to when you were a kid.
🚲 Use the "Bike Fit" Rule: Ensure the bike is the correct size. When standing over the bike, there should be 1-2 inches of space for a road bike and 3-4 inches for a mountain bike. Kids should be able to place both feet on the ground when seated.
⚠️ Every child is different, but developmentally, it can be hard for kids to judge speed and distance of cars until age 10, so limit riding to sidewalks (careful for vehicles in driveways), parks or bike paths.
❗️Teach children to ride on the right side of the road, with traffic, not against it. Use appropriate hand signals and respect traffic signals, stopping at all stop signs and stoplights. Stop and look left, right and left again before entering a street or crossing an intersection.
🌇🌆 Use Lights when riding at Dawn or Dusk and make sure your bike has reflectors as well. It's also smart to wear clothes that have reflective materials to improve biker visibility to motorists.
Riding a bicycle is good for your health and lots of fun, but only if you plan for safety!
🚲