It’s a beautiful day when your little girl says, “I want to get on a bike!” looking all bright and gay. You couldn’t agree more—it’s the perfect time to get some fresh and fun rides around the neighborhood, after all. But as you pull out the bike from the basement, you realize that your toddler isn’t completely aware of road safety yet.
Biking is a great activity for toddler girls and their parents, but it’s important to take precautions. Following simple road rules will help ensure that your toddler girl has a safe and happy time biking with you!
This article will teach you the basics of bicycle safety and point you in the right direction for finding a toddler girl bike helmet.
The Most Common Road Dangers to Watch Out For
Bicycle safety is a serious concern for all parents of toddler girls and boys. The impact of the smallest mistakes can be threatening to you and your child. There are many ways to teach your little one about bicycle safety, and we’re here to give you the best tips. But first, let’s dive into a discussion on the common road dangers so that you’re aware.
Ride-outs
Driveway or midblock ride-outs are among the most common vehicle accidents in young riders, usually less than ten years old. It’s when the rider comes out from a driveway or alley, and their bike collides with vehicles or other obstructions. A lack of road awareness causes this; the rider doesn’t slow down, stop, or look out for traffic and barriers.
Running Stop Signs
We’re all familiar with the road sign that tells you to come to a complete stop and wait until it’s already safe to continue driving. Unfortunately, since your toddler doesn’t understand the concept yet, they’re at high risk of running the stop sign, which can cause minor to major crashes.
Night Crashes
Things can get more dangerous on the road once the sun is down. A lot of vehicle crashes happen due to the lack of light that clears the way. While this hazard is more common in adults, your child’s bike can get hit by a car if they insist on riding through the dark without safety precautions.
Sudden Turns
Sometimes, you can’t predict your toddler’s next move. That can be risky, especially when your little one takes a sudden turn on roads with heavy traffic. Moreover, it can cause fatal crashes, which is why they must know road signals and develop a sense of awareness.
Domino Effect Road Accidents
Children love to play “follow the leader” when biking down the streets. While it’s fun and lovely to look at, it is also risky if they don’t understand road safety. What if they follow the kid who doesn’t know what stop signs mean? This can cause them to crash into one another or other bigger vehicles on the road.
Bad Falls
Head injuries are among the most common results of bike fall and crash accidents, which can be fatal. A kid’s head is more delicate and thinner than an adult’s, the more reason you need to get your toddler a little girl bicycle helmet.
Teach Your Kid the Rules of the Road: Five Bicycle Safety Tips
Now that you know toddlers’ most common road dangers, it’s time to teach them how to stay safe with road rules. These simple tips will also help your daughter develop a sense of self-sufficiency.
But First, Helmets!
The first thing you need to teach your little girl is to make sure she wears a child’s girl bike helmet every bike ride. It protects the head and face from potential falls or crashes. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) created a set of rules to ensure that you will use a properly functioning bike helmet.
What should I do if she refuses to wear it? Don’t worry; there are various ways to solve that problem. The best one we can recommend is to present her with cool little girl bike helmets and let her choose what she likes best. There are loads of cool helmet designs in the market—from pop-culture styles to fancy matte color combinations!
Inspect the Bike Carefully Before Use
It’s important to make sure that your toddler’s training bike is working properly before allowing her on the road. You can do a few things yourself, such as ensuring all parts are in place and checking for visible damages. If you’re not familiar with how it works, take it to an expert or have someone who knows more about bicycles help out.
In addition, you should also teach her about bike maintenance. You’re not always going to be where they are, so it’s important that they have basic knowledge too. A good idea would be having them watch, understand, and mimic the checkups that you do before giving her the bike (e.g., checking brakes).
Ensure Their Visibility at All Times
There are moments when you can’t see your toddler clearly on the road. For this reason, they must wear and use things that allow them to be seen well. Some examples include wearing bright clothes, adding bike reflectors, and installing a cycle bell. That way, you’ll know exactly where they are and ensure their safety at all times.
Bright clothing and bike bells are especially useful for night rides. However, it is best not to allow your child to ride when it’s dark unless there’s a very important reason. As much as possible, we want them out of the dark to get rid of night hazards completely.
Teach Basic Riding Rules
Road rules are the core of bike safety lessons. Even though it’s your responsibility to watch over your toddler, they should still know how to keep themselves safe. It might take some time before she gets it right, but eventually, she will learn to do it properly.
Here are some basic riding rules you should teach:
- Areas that are off-limits for kids (e.g., tough terrains and high-traffic roads)
- Stopping and checking for vehicles whenever they leave a driveway or alley
- How traffic lights work
- No eating and using dangerous accessories like earphones
- Reading hand signals
- Riding on the sidewalk or bike lane (depending on age and parental evaluation)
- Walking the bike at intersections
- Always letting people around them know when they’re coming through
Incorporate Biking Lessons in Other Activities
Biking isn’t the only time to teach your little girl about the rules of the road. In fact, you can incorporate them in most of her activities as much as you can so that she learns them faster.
You can do it by creating biking-related activities that help her learn in the most natural and fun way. Kids love fun-filled learning experiences. Examples include watching bike-themed movies, coloring books with bike sketches, playing online bike games, and assembling toy bikes.
Take Baby Steps to Safe and Fun Rides With Ashtonbee’s Balance Bike
It is never too early to teach your toddler about bicycle safety. With bikes being irresistibly charming and fun devices for children, they need to know what to do when using them. At the same time, you shouldn’t let your guard down and watch over them whenever you can.
But what if your toddler isn’t ready for a two-wheeled bike? She wants one, but she doesn’t have enough balancing skills for it yet. In that case, you can start letting her use a toddler training bike. This is good for kids up to 24 months old. It’s a bike without pedals, has a 135-degree steer limit, and slip-resistant EVA tires.
With AshtonBee’s balance bike for toddlers, you can walk your child through bike safety in slowly but surely baby steps. Here’s to fun and safe rides with your child!
