View Full Version : age for road riding
My son has been up on 2 whells for 2 weeks now. we took a spin to the donut shop 500M from our house to the donut shop on raod wth no sidewalks. Auto speed limit is 30 traifc is at 35 but VERY light.
At one point we wehr on our TAB months ago a truck beeped at us.
So now he is on 2 wheels. and he drigfted out for left into the center lane.
i had to tell him that car hate bicycles. And will kill us. That they would rather run you over then slow down for 30 seconds.
I have told him his entire life that doing dangerous things is ok as long as you understand the risk consciquescies and are willing to accept them. Think more than you play. play more than you think and get hurt bad and there is nothing i can do.
He is 6 even after a colple of road rides he is starting to hold his line. he is starting to get that control is more important than speed.
masiman
04-29-08, 01:00 PM
Is there a question or did you just want to state your opinion?
i think just confirmation that i am not entirely nuts for letting him ride his own bike and not the TAB.
We've had kids as young as 7 on our club family rides, but they don't really begin to get a grip on the dangers until about 9/10 and even then, we've had the odd kid go doolally with excitement. They can be easily be distracted at 6, so you really need to work very hard with him - not with lots of explanations, but with constant reinforcement of good practice.
In the UK, the national bikeability level 2 road safety course doesn't take them on the road untill they're 10 and then only when they've passed level 1 which is a thorough off-road test of different bike handling skills.
Altho', obviously it's UK based, you might find it useful to look at http://www.bikeability.org.uk/professionals/course_content/ for useful skills info and the kind of things you might need to look for when you ride with him.
To be honest, he's a bit young, unless you can find some really quiet roads locally.
masiman
04-29-08, 07:15 PM
Who could argue with letting your kid ride his own bike?
I agree that statistically you will need to watch him pretty close. Especially since riding two wheels is two weeks new. I say statistically, because none of us know your kid.
I also think that saying the risk consequences ideas will go right over his head. It's not too early to introduce the idea, but I don't expect it to affect his behavior. The fact that you are saying it will affect his behavior in that he will figure out that when you say that you do not like what he is doing. But on his own, the thought won't cross his mind nor does he likely grasp the concept. My 9 year old barely gets it with prompting and that is my smart one.
Keep reinforcing where to ride and they will do that with you but like atbman says, the maturity to grasp the dangers won't come for a bit.
I'm a part time school bus driver at the present and I don't feel that most 6 year olds are even very safe crossing the street on foot. However, each child is different and the parent must make a judgement call. Funny thing is that a lot of kids with the best bike skills at an early age are also the ones with less judgement of danger and have no normal sense of fear. I think it's best to keep kids riding off the road in safer areas until they are about 8-10 depending on the child. Not because they can't handle the bike but they just don't have enough of a reference to understand the dangers that cars or other heavy vehicles present. They are too trusting of adults whom they think will always do the right thing while driving. And with so many drivers distracted on their cell phones while driving and more cars on the road I think that a child is at very great risk.
i had to tell him that car hate bicycles. And will kill us. That they would rather run you over then slow down for 30 seconds. That's a nice way to introduce a kid to the world of riding a bicycle! Even I don't quite believe the above, and I'm pretty cynical when it comes to driver-cyclist interactions. :rolleyes:
I think six is too early for riding on anything but the tamest roads. When I was six I was riding only on cottage streets where there would be maybe one or two cars per hour, at 15 mph tops. And there was pretty much only one traffic rule: if you see a car anywhere, stop riding until it disappears from view. I'm exaggerating here, but that's the gist of it. I think that was quite age-appropriate.
Catweazle
04-29-08, 08:39 PM
Add my voice to the chorus of "Six is too young!"
If almost traffic-free roads are almost the only place available for riding, then fair enough. But it should be 'only in the company of an adult', and the rule of completely stopping when vehicles are in sight mentioned by chephy is a very sensible one. Six year old kiddies simply don't have the necessary perceptions and judgements. It's great to see them riding, but they need to be riding somplace safe, and roads are not that place!
I should state that these are all lightly used roads. and that he is never unsupervised on the bike.
But i think for the mean time we will continue to ride to the donut shop for coffee and talking....
The road we will be going on is speed limit 15 miles an hours and dirt. with lots of pedestirain traffic as we live near a inland lake witha public beach. This is about 500 M where we cross a 2lane raodwhich has light to moderate traffic at 50 kph 30 mph and then a short paved 2 lane road that is 200M from end to end.
Maybe when he start first grade in the late summer he can take an escorted ride to school. But TAB to the dojo and everywhere else for now.
Torrilin
05-01-08, 06:01 AM
Supervision helps. I think it might be better to present riding alone as a "big kid" thing. Big kids know that drivers can't always see them. Big kids know the rules of the road. Big kids signal. Big kids ride in a straight line. That means he's got a reason to show off good behavior. And it also means that if he's being very unsafe, you've got reason to say he needs to go back on the trail-a-bike.
The other advantage of the big kid line is it lets you set limits for all your kids... A six year old and a 12 year old don't get the same rules, and it's a good way to quash the whines about "not fair".
I was 11 when I started riding on the road. By that time, I'd gone on a lot of solo hikes along the road of up to ten miles and was good about watching for traffic. I was ready to take my bike and ride along the other side of the street. These hikes, plus walking to school every day since I was about seven, plus going on car trips with my parents gave me a good foundation in road use. Reflecting on my adventures, I think 11 was a good age, and will wait until then for my daughter.
Paul
I think kids are evil and need to be watch as well as told the rules over and over again.
sounds like you are doing the right thing.. at six I would preffer to see them on bike paths with no car/truck traffic. but thats your call dad.
I'm in with the crowd that suggests 10. My daughter did her first metric with me when she was 10, but much before that I wouldn't have taken her out of residential areas under very direct supervision. Judgement and reaction ability need some time to be developed and that takes more time than the fundamental skills needed to operate a bike on 2 wheels.
bessieheath
05-02-08, 10:26 AM
I let my kids ride on our very, very quiet roads with strict supervision and much coaching about keeping out of harm's way. They are now 9 & 10, but they've been on the road for at least a year. We often end up with visiting kids riding with us and I've learned that bike skills matter a lot. A kid who is not in complete control of her bike can't safely ride on even a quiet road. My own son has great bike skills, but has an unfortunate tendency to be competitive that gets him into trouble. He will do ANYTHING to stay ahead of his little sister and caution be d*mned. So, there's a skill piece of the equation and there's a psychology piece of the equation. No matter what you do, you have to stay with them to keep them reasonably safe.
StephenH
05-02-08, 11:32 AM
If you're riding with him, any age is fine, but you need to adjust the route and time to match his skill. Maybe keep him in front so you can see what's happening.
Update....
Went for a 2 mile road ride to schoool. With 2 incidents. Nither with injury but potentially VERY dangerous.
First. While crossing with the GREEN light. A State police Cruser decided he did not want to stop so he made a shorcut by taking a right at the gas station and shorting the intersection. With no lights My son was in frount of me but obstructed from the Primary Investigative Guy and i had to verbally make the State police cuser stop.
The second was cuased by my son evading a pedestian. but he made the wrong desion and edvaded left not right.
mOre training to follow and more drills. decision making stress events...
masiman
05-07-08, 09:53 AM
You'll be doing this for quite some time :).
I took my almost 9 year old on a group ride this weekend. Despite numerous corrections to maintain line and avoid abrupt changes right or left unless the rear has been checked, they did just that on numerous occasions almost causing 3 or 4 accidents. They said they learned but it has not quite sunk in yet. Maybe next year....lol.
SonataInFSharp
05-07-08, 12:39 PM
If the child rider can outpace a pedestrian and hold a line, they belong in the street. They have to start sometime.
If the child rider can outpace a pedestrian and hold a line, they belong in the street. They have to start sometime.
He is on the street most of the time. there are a few stretches where i keep him on the sidewalk do to the large 4 wheeled things. that is about 20% of total distance.
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