Keeping Your Child Safe Riding Their Bike

Children love riding bikes for many reasons. Especially when they get older and they are allowed to ride around their neighborhood by themselves, the feeling of independence is exhilarating. Teaching our children bicycle safety is incredibly important to reducing the risk of an injury accident happening. Children can sustain serious, life-threatening injuries from incidents while riding their bikes. For this reason, properly preparing them for the hazards that exist and how to proceed safely can keep them protected from potential injury incidents.

There are more than 600 children that will lose their lives in a bicycle accident each year in the United States, and hundreds of thousands will need some amount of medical treatment for injuries after these incidents. Whether it is broken bones, abrasions, and lacerations, or serious damage to the head and neck, a bicycle accident in Las Vegas can result in a child sustaining just bumps and bruises or grave injuries that require immediate medical attention. 

When a negligent party caused your child’s Nevada bicycle accident, the Aaron Law Group can help you hold them accountable for the damages they caused by filing a suit for compensation. Children are highly vulnerable to serious bicycle accidents. In 2010 alone, out of the 515,000 individuals that were injured while riding their bike, more than half were children. There were 300,000 children that were admitted to the hospital in the United States in 2010 for bicycle-related injuries.

Bicycle Safety for Children

Young children whose bones are growing and not fully developed and whose brains are continuing to develop are at higher risk for bicycle injuries. There are important things that parents can do to better protect their children when they go out to enjoy a ride on their bike:

• Always wear the right safety gear. New riders can use elbow and knee pads to protect their child’s bones and joints. You can even use protective gloves for times when the child is ejected or falls off of their bike and uses their hands to shield against the impact. While all of these types of forms of protection can help cushion the blow, the very most important piece of safety gear that your child can use is a properly fitting helmet. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates that when a helmet that fits properly is used, it protects your child’s head from sustaining damages by 88%. A helmet that fits correctly will:
  • The top should be low on a child’s forehead.
  • The area between the chin and the chinstrap will be close-fitting but comfortable allowing for up to two fingers to be able to be inserted.
• Children who wear bright clothing and have reflectors on their bikes are seen much easier by other pedestrians and specifically, other motorists. Put as many reflectors on your child’s bike as possible, on the front and back, and on the wheels. Front reflectors should be white while rear reflectors should be colored red. 
• Discourage your child from riding their bike when visibility is low like at night and in poor weather conditions.

Speak with a Nevada Bicycle Accident Injury Attorney Today

Doing what you can to keep your child safe when riding a bike is going to pay off for most parents the majority of the time. Yet, there still can be incidents that happen that cause your child harm while they are riding their bicycle. If your child was hit and injured during a Las Vegas bicycle accident, please call the Las Vegas personal injury attorney at the Aaron Law Group to schedule a free consultation at (702) 550-1111.