A Personal Story About Kids and Bike Safety

By Heather

We are a big biking family. Our set of bikes comprises our “second car” and we like it that way. In fact, I’ve written about bicycle and helmet safety a number of times on this site.

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My son was hit by a car while riding his bike this weekend. On my watch.

“Hit by a car” sounds very dramatic. True, but terrible. “Run over by…” is, thankfully, not what happened, but perhaps the story is softened if I say “backed into by…” or “knocked over by…”. In any case, a parked car started backing (from a dead stop) out of a driveway while my five year old son was riding on the sidewalk behind him.

I watched the whole thing from the position of one or two bike lengths behind him. It was terrifying.

I screamed, “STOP!!” (at my son, at the car, at the world) and the world listened. Everyone stopped.

My son stood up, crying, and ran from the bike. The driver and nearby friend stopped and sat with us to make sure we were all okay. His helmet (and head!) never hit the ground or the car. He suffered a scraped knee and a bruised shoulder but otherwise he and his bike checked out just fine.

These are some great tips on kids and bike safety from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For our part, we were following all of them and our accident still happened.

Every time we bike past a driveway with a car in it, I tell my five year old to check for a driver. In this instance, the driver was not visible to my son nor was my son visible to the driver. Maybe we need to get him a flag?!

Do you have any special tips to share for a child new to two-wheelers? Does your child under ten ride on the sidewalk? Do you have a near-heart attack letting your over-ten-year-old ride in the street?