According to the NHTSA, 846 bicyclists were killed in traffic crashes in 2019. Safety precautions for cyclists are important and some of the most important safety tips are a little surprising:
- Don’t drink and bike – 1 in 4 fatal bike crashes in 2019 involved an intoxicated cyclist.
- Make sure your helmet fits correctly – many cyclists wear their helmet with the straps too loose, so that the helmet sits at their hairline instead of in the middle of their forehead. This reduces the effectiveness of the helmet.
- Don’t text and bike – Stay focused on the task at hand. Even if you are proficient at riding with “no hands” that doesn’t mean you can then use your hands to send texts while biking.
- Tuck and tie shoelaces and pant legs. If these items tangle in the bike chain, a crash or accident is virtually guaranteed.
- Ride with only one person per seat. This seems obvious, however many bike accidents involve cyclists ‘giving a ride’ to another, where two or more people are on a single seat bike.
- Maintain your bike – brake cables and shift cables stretch over time, making the bike less safe.
- Ride in the same direction as traffic. This provides automobile drivers more time to react to your presence on the road.
- Plan ahead – pick routes with slower speed limits and less traffic to make both a more pleasant and safer ride.
DII provides safety tips to help reduce risk in our community to both our insureds and those around them. If you have any questions about insurance and risk, please reach out to your DII representative.
Let Us Know What You Thought about this Post.
Put your Comment Below.