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PART 1
Teaching Your Child the Rules
Appendix A.
GT Bicycle Owner’s Manual
This way, your child can’t use the driveway as a launching pad. But the most important thing you can do is
teach your child about driveway safety. Take your child outside to the driveway and have him/her practice
the following steps:
1) Stop before entering the street.
2) Look left, right and left again for traffic.
3) If there’s no traffic, proceed into the roadway.
b. Running a Stop Sign
Car/bike crashes can happen when a cyclist runs a stop sign. Most cyclists who get hit riding through stop
signs know that they were supposed to stop. They just thought it would be OK this time; or they may have
been distracted. The thing to impress upon your child is that while he/she may not get hit every time,
running stop signs will eventually result in an accident.
What can you do? Take your child to a stop sign near home. Explain what it means by emphasizing the
following points:
1) Stop at all stop signs, regardless of what is happening.
2) Look in all directions for traffic.
3) Watch for oncoming cars making left turns.
4) Watch for cars behind you making right turns.
5) Wait for any cross traffic to clear.
6) Proceed when safe.
In order to make this lesson stick, you may have to change your own driving habits. If you creep through
intersections controlled by stop signs, you are showing your child that you don’t really believe what you
preach. For your child’s sake, stop at stop signs.
c. Turning Without Warning
Another major accident type involves cyclists who make unexpected left turns. They neither look behind for
traffic, nor do they signal. The key factor here is neglecting to look to the rear. If the cyclist had looked, he/
she would have seen the danger coming up from behind.
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