Teaching Kids Safe Cycling

Teaching safe cycling is essential. For Bike to School Week, we’re sharing a few key riding skills your child should know before heading out on their bike.

➡ Emergency Stop: One of the most critical skills is making an emergency stop. Have your child practice applying their brakes suddenly to understand the force needed to bring their bike to a quick halt.

➡ Signaling: Signaling can be challenging for younger kids because it requires taking one hand off the handlebars while riding. Although they may not need this skill immediately if they ride on sidewalks and cross at pedestrian crossings, it’s beneficial to start practicing early. Demonstrate signaling while you ride together.

➡ Traffic Lights & Stop Signs: Teach your child the importance of stopping completely at stop signs and putting a foot on the ground for balance while checking for pedestrians and vehicles. Explain that green means go, red and yellow mean stop, the walking person icon signals it’s safe to walk, and the red hand means to wait.

➡ Where to Ride on the Road: If your route to school has sidewalks, they’re usually the safest place for your child to ride. Remind your child to be courteous to other sidewalk users: slow down, ring the bell when passing, and give extra space to people using mobility devices or walking pets. If there are no sidewalks, teach them to ride on the right side of the road, with traffic, keeping about a meter of space from the road's edge to navigate around obstacles safely.