How can I ever let my son loose on the roads alone?

[buggi]

Yes some good tips there. I wasn't really expecting the bikeability to furnish him with these skills, just expressing a frustration really about it all. He's now at an age where he is legally not expected to ride on pavements, but I don't feels roads are safe for him. I should be able to let him go out and about by himself a bit, but its not possible really.

Sara, in my view, he is bit too young to ride alone on the road.
Others may disagree but I didn't let my 11 year old to ride on the road alone.

Agree, it is plainly obvious you feel he's not ready and he's your son and you know him best. Therefore, don't feel like you need to let him ride on his own. you're putting both him and you under pressure. ease off, cycling should be enjoyable. if he feels he's "doing it wrong" all the time, it will become a chore. let him learn to walk before he can run, so to speak.

you have to think of bikeability like the driving test. when you learn to drive, they teach you how to pass a test. the competence comes with experience. Bikeability is the same. It gives them the basics, they learn from experience. You wouldn't take a child straight out of bikeability level 2 and put them in a level 3 lesson. They have to have experience and that gap can be a few years!

 

[I like Skol]

Sara, stick with it. My son is just turned 11 and has been riding on the roads on his own for around 6 months now. We did a lot of riding together in the years beforehand and he also spent a lot of time in the car, with me explaining potential hazards, road positioning and junction priorities etc.

He's really good now and even when he is a passenger in the car he still warns me to 'watch out for this car dad, they're about to pull out'

If you drive Sara it can be a good way to show your son how the roads work in a safe environment where you can discuss what is happening around you as it unfolds.

Perhaps the biggest lesson for him to learn is that if he is uncertain, or the markings aren't clear, then wait until he knows it is safe to proceed. I'm lucky, my son is quite cautious on the road and will often wait even when I would encourage him to go as there is plenty of time before the next vehicle will arrive.

 

[summerdays]

It's worth baring in mind that they develop road sense at different ages, there was no way I was letting my middle child walk places on their own at 11 (let alone cycle), unless it involved virtually no road crossings. Eventually they got it but probably several years later than my other children.

 

[Puddles]

@Sara_H Reading this is giving me palpatations, we are on The Big pedal at school a the moment so I have had loads of parents asking me things, we have had the when do you detach them from you question, we have a shared cycle path that runs along the main road through the village, but they have to get to that path, the the small people it detached have to negotiate people on foot on that path and other bikes, scooters etc. then from the parents of older children should I let them go on their own.

As I am not an instructor there has been a lot of pointing them in the direction of instructors in our area.

Anyhoo I found with Squidge who is a wee bit younger than yours (8) but I am still trying to teach him roads and stuff, I use paper, with dotted lines and get him to get out his toys cars and we "pretend" it is a bike, this has got him so far in understanding, we also use rolls of wall paper outside in the nice weather with him "being" the bike.

 

[Sara_H]

It's worth baring in mind that they develop road sense at different ages, there was no way I was letting my middle child walk places on their own at 11 (let alone cycle), unless it involved virtually no road crossings. Eventually they got it but probably several years later than my other children.

He's been walking about independantly for a while, he goes to his Dad's house alone, which is about a mile away. Crossing roads doesn't worry me as much as riding on them.

@Sara_H Reading this is giving me palpatations, we are on The Big pedal at school a the moment so I have had loads of parents asking me things, we have had the when do you detach them from you question, we have a shared cycle path that runs along the main road through the village, but they have to get to that path, the the small people it detached have to negotiate people on foot on that path and other bikes, scooters etc. then from the parents of older children should I let them go on their own.

As I am not an instructor there has been a lot of pointing them in the direction of instructors in our area.

Anyhoo I found with Squidge who is a wee bit younger than yours (8) but I am still trying to teach him roads and stuff, I use paper, with dotted lines and get him to get out his toys cars and we "pretend" it is a bike, this has got him so far in understanding, we also use rolls of wall paper outside in the nice weather with him "being" the bike.

Hehe! Sorry, didn't mean to give anyone else palpitations! In a lot of ways he's doing well, he knows about the door zone, he does good shoulder checks and signalling, he's very cautious when passing junctions and when we're on shared paths he's very courteous. It's just this business with the junctions that is upsetting me as he's done it twice now.

 

[coffeejo]

As a non-parent, Buggi's posts make a lot of sense to me. Talking about what you're going to do before you do it is an excellent way of learning how to do something - it forces you to slow down and think about it and allows for a change of plans if need be. You could also introduce a rule where he has to pull up and wait for you before junctions, which will encourage him to be more observant of his surroundings, as well as allowing you the time to catch up and he can ponder each junction as he waits - and can then tell you how he would expect to proceed.

Good luck

 

[MontyVeda]

...

He's been walking about independantly for a while, he goes to his Dad's house alone, which is about a mile away. Crossing roads doesn't worry me as much as riding on them.

Hehe! Sorry, didn't mean to give anyone else palpitations! In a lot of ways he's doing well, he knows about the door zone, he does good shoulder checks and signalling, he's very cautious when passing junctions and when we're on shared paths he's very courteous. It's just this business with the junctions that is upsetting me as he's done it twice now.

I reckon he's plenty old enough to be out on his own and taking responsibility for himself. The junction you link to is clearly marked, he just needs to be more observant of the road markings, stop and give way.

 

[Sara_H]

...

I reckon he's plenty old enough to be out on his own and taking responsibility for himself. The junction you link to is clearly marked, he just needs to be more observant of the road markings, stop and give way.

It is a lot more faded, the pictures there are about five years old and the markings are driven over frequently by buses sweeping into the bus stop.

I know I have to just persevere with the training. I

 

[summerdays]

The advice about getting him to talk to you as you cycle along is probably good as then you know what he is seeing (or not), and it makes him focus on the road. I used to make my youngest do that.

 

[midliferider]

He's quite good, he will slow down so that I can keep up with him, but I do have to keep reminding him.

I so wish it didn't have to be this difficult. I wish I'd gone to live in The Netherlands when I was pregnant!

I think you must take this as a very good reason to do a cycle tour in Netherlands with him.
I did it with my son when he was 13. It was a very good way for him to learn to organise a tour, plan routes, book hotels etc. He really enjoyed that. The miles that you do over 5 days gives you quite good confidence in cycling. If you organise it yourself, it is not expensive than what an average parents would spend for one week all inclusive holiday in a beach resort.

 

[Sara_H]

The advice about getting him to talk to you as you cycle along is probably good as then you know what he is seeing (or not), and it makes him focus on the road. I used to make my youngest do that.

Funnily enough, he did this unprompted on the way home today. I think he got the impression that he spooked me yesterday, so when we were turning right into our road he gave me a running commentry

 

[KneesUp]

How are things now? I know this thread is a bit old, but I thought I'd say hello as you appear to live very near to me

At 11 I'd passed the Cycling Proficiency Test as it was called then, but was still on estate roads rather than main roads. Sheffield is difficult I think because the road layouts are poor, the road surfaces are poor, the tram tracks are a menace, and getting from A to B always involves going uphill regardless of where A and B are. It sounds to me like he's doing well enough - I don't think I'd do much other than slow a little there unless there was traffic immediately there - and to be scrupulously fair to your son, double dashed lines mean 'Give Way' not 'Stop and Give Way'

That said, I know I'll be exactly the same when my daughter starts to ride on the road.

 

[ufkacbln]

Not always the child's "fault", but a limitation of their abilities.

There is some interesting research about children's perceptions of traffic that a lot

The study, which is in press for the international journal Psychological Science, outlines how a speed illusion can mean that all pedestrians, and/or drivers at junctions, can under-estimate the speed of faster vehicles and may, in some cases, fail to see them at all. Researchers measured the perceptual acuity of over 100 children in primary schools and calculated the approach speed that they could reliably detect. Adult pedestrians can make accurate judgments for vehicles travelling up to 50 mph, but primary school age children become unreliable once the approach speed goes above 20 mph.

Professor John Wann who led the research suggests “This is not a matter of children not paying attention, but a problem related to low-level visual detection mechanisms, so even when children are paying very close attention they may fail to detect a fast approaching vehicle.”

Full paper with lots of complex maths)

 

[Globalti]

My son has just turned 15 and still doesn't seem to have much road sense. We've had a bad crash (off the road, no car involved but knocked unconscious) and the traffic fright that you had, has also happened to us in the last 3 or 4 years. He recently asked if he could ride the 4 miles to school for something extra-curricular and despite it being a quietish B road ride, there are several junctions and we are not confident that he's ready. I have bought him the Highway Code and told him he's got to start studying it in readiness for driving lessons, but with special attention to the rules for cyclists and I'm going to start drilling him now as we drive around. I wonder if a cycling proficiency test would help to focus his mind?

 

[theclaud]

Not always the child's "fault", but a limitation of their abilities.

There is some interesting research about children's perceptions of traffic that a lot



Full paper with lots of complex maths)

Interesting. And a very good argument for a 20mph default urban limit.