Are you following the 3 most important bicycle safety tips?
Ask anyone and they will agree that bicycling is a very healthy sport. It’s easy on the joints, yet provides a great cardiovascular workout that builds strong legs and a healthy heart. However, bicycling can also be dangerous if bikers act irresponsibly.
To keep you safe while you’re riding your bike around town, make sure you follow the three bicycle safety tips below:
1. Wear a helmet
The single most important thing you can do to stay safe on a bicycle is to wear a helmet. Although your helmet won’t prevent getting into a crash, if you do get into a bike accident, your helmet can save your life. The use of a bicycle helmet dramatically reduces the risk that you’ll suffer from a serious head or brain injury.
2. Be as visible as possible
Your number one defense against getting into a car accident on a bike involves helping motorists see you more clearly. This means that you should do anything to become more visible. Install a front headlamp and a back taillight on your bicycle and use them during the day as well as the night. Install reflectors and reflective tape on your bike for even more visibility. Wear bright and reflective clothing. Even if it doesn’t look stylish, your reflective clothing will assist car drivers to see and avoid striking you.
3. Never ride a bicycle drunk
Drunk bicyclists could face being arrested and charged with drunk driving. Police, however, tend to overlook bicyclists unless they are blatant in their state of drunkenness and posing a hazard to other drivers. For this reason, many bicyclists feel they can get away with riding while intoxicated and that it’s a safer way to get from A to B when they’re drunk. This is simply not true. A large percentage of bicycle accident deaths happen as a result of being drunk behind the handlebars.
Unfortunately, even if you do everything right, there is always the danger of getting hit by an inattentive driver. Do what you can to stay safe and encourage your family members and friends to do the same.