Originally Posted by Galavant
...Kids are gonna get banged up, that is what they do. As good parents maybe instead of over protecting them and calling it "safety", we should be there when they fall and help them back onto their bikes to ride another day.
My nephew, like most nine year old boys, likes to take things to the limit. He has wrecked his BMX bike many times, and then he gets back on, and wrecks it again. But, I take him to safe locations where there is NO motor traffic. So, when, not if, he crashes, there is not a two ton vehicle moving 40 MPH right behind him.
Riding on public roadways is a totally different issue. In Houston, Texas, drivers always drive ten to fifteen MPH over the posted limit and ALWAYS the first two or three vehicles to approach a red light will run the light.
At school, they told my nephew, when your light goes "green", you should go. In Houston, you will be KILLED if you move forward when the light turns green. You must wait until every vehicle on the cross street has finished running the red light at 40 MPH. THEN you go. Sometimes you wait two or three light cycles, because your entire "green" cycle was consumed by people running the red light.
So, If a nine year old in Houston says to Mom "Can I ride my bike the two miles over to Grandma's house", an adult MUST ride along with that child. Houston, Texas is NOT "Friendly Village, Iowa". If I found out a parent was allowing a nine year old to ride alone through traffic in Houston, I would call Children's Protective Services. That "adult" is not taking responsible care of their child.