Kids cycling on roads

[007fair]

I am 42 and started cycling pretty early.. and then on the road at around 8 - 10 years old
By the age of 14 I was using my bike constantly as everyday transport and was starting to tour scotland youth hostelling etc

Now I have kids of my own and i want to encourge them to cycle But it appears to much more dangerous these days
Roads are the same size but cars and much bigger (wider) like for like plus, there is more traffic and it travels faster.
So the kids all seem to cycle on the pavements But at what stage do they go from Pavement cycling to on the Road?


I feel now that my road awareness is good because of all the cycling I did when a teenager. If the kids now a days miss out on this on road experience does that not mean they will be in more danger when (if) they do decide to commute?

Some one said in another thread that timidity is a cause of accidents. Could apply to cyclists too ?

 

[mr Mag00]

my youngest has no choice aroubnd here cycling on the roads is the only option, no pavements. We have ridden with him for a number of yeras, he is now 12 and this year i have the confidence for him to ride on the road alone to frineds etc.
intially he would stop and pull over for cars overtaking , now he continues to ride along and they have to wait until either he finds a passing place or there is room to pass safely, he no longer rides in the gutter with road detritus, this also gives him the option to pull in closer if necessary. the only time i tell hime to stop and pull in is if there is a tractor or coach approaching him from head on, then they usually pull up and he walks past.

 

[jonny jeez]

007fair, I'm slightly younger than you, but of the same generation and your "Yoof" sounds just like mine (even the YHA bit…although I was more into Cumbria and the new forest!!)

I actually disagree, I just think that as a wiser and more experienced all round person, you can see all the risks that were invisible in your yoof…lets face it would you build a jump out of bricks and slim board and then leap over it on your unserviced big barred chopper…today…no.... but 30 years ago this was considered sport in your mind.

It's us that’s changed, not the roads..get those kids out there they'll love it just as you did.

 

[jonny jeez]

*edit*

with the advent of ebay/gumtree etc, i do think cycle theft is more abundant today then in my early years, so buy them both a big lock.

Cant wait to start taking my girls out on tours with a tent, a stove and a tin of beans.............BLISS!!!

 

[Wheeledweenie]

A couple of families near me go to school on bikes on-road. They're all in high-vis vests and the parent rides on the outside. Most of their route is bus lane but with some cycle lane and it's on the Uxbridge Road, which is big and busy.

Although I subconsciously tail them occasionally and worry a bit I admire their parents for doing it. How else are they to learn? The kids are supervised at all times, they all stop for red lights and hang back rather than creep up the left side at junctions, all good habits to acquire.

I'd tend to agree with Jonny to an extent, a lot of what's changed is our attitude. Children are cotton-wooled and all too often aren't taught to take responsibility for themselves and their safety.

 

[Origamist]

Kids develop at different rates, but 9 or 10 is usually mooted as the age for children to cycle on the road and receive training (but obviously on quieter roads), that is after off-road practice though.

 

[garrilla]

I have a 5 year-old daughter. I take her to school twice a week on her bike - how long we'll do this for is another matter as the winter draws in but come spring she'll be out again.

On residential streets she rides on the road, her inside me. We get the occasional agressive car but this is something she needs to live with anyway.

On main roads she cycles, where its safe to do so for her and the peds, on the pavement. generally, I cycle slowly on the road by her side, but occasionally I'll join her on the pavement but then i'm one foot down rather than cycling.

I've been taking her out at weekends for over a year practicing on the local roads, but she's far from ready to 'lead' us even though she knows where she is going. Basically she needs instruction at every juncture and total protection.

My sons, who are 15 and 18, went through the same regime. the younger one still goes to school on his bike nd the older one is just about to go to uni. For both it is the primary mode of transport - few 'lifts' given in our house. The younger boy was about 8 before I would say he was proficient to ride without instruction and the older about 10. Both have national and local proficiy awards, which they took in the 8-10yo range. Neither were allowed to ride unaccompanied until 12, except for riding very locally.

 

[007fair]

007fair, I'm slightly younger than you, but of the same generation and your "Yoof" sounds just like mine (even the YHA bit…although I was more into Cumbria and the new forest!!)

Those were the days eh!?

I agree that kids these days over protected. But I do also think that it is true there is more traffic and the cars are bigger .. but again (I'm agruing with myself here) around where I live there are now some cycle lanes and routes etc

I have 1 daughter who is not interested at all The other two are fairly keen

Thanks for your replies I will keep them at it and try my best to convince the trouble and strife its safe enough !

 

[mr Mag00]

over protected? jeez took years to convince my son that stranger danger didnt stop you going out of the garden, not quite that bad but you get the idea, thanks to the school for that!!

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

The Little-LCs are 6yo and 8yo. They ride down a couple of quiet lanes near our house on the road (no footpaths anyway!) and I find that useful for teaching them about road positioning and so on.

A couple of miles away, there's a HUGE housing estate with a mix of quiet and busier roads. It's all shared paths up there so the girls tend to use the paths on the bigger (and faster - 30mph limiits are only advisory, right?) roads and the road on the smaller ones: good for learning about junctions, signalling, observation et al.

The elder one is quite sensible and reasonably good with positioning, signalling, life-saver checks and all that. The younger one, unsurprisingly, less so: she's still busy just riding the thing without trying to think about everything else!!

This year, we started to let the elder one pop along one of the lanes for half a mile or so and round the orchards "alone" - well, with some of the older kids in our road: 13-15yo, whom we trust to be sensible. The first time, I just "happened" to cycle past them after they'd been gone 15 minutes, having adjusted my brakes and needing to test them.

 

[summerdays]

My youngest is now 8 but started cycling to school from the very first day (he had literally just learnt and I wanted him to get the practise). The habit continued and for the first few years this was on the pavement. My view is that if you are on a small bike then you really aren't visible on the road and their tendency to swerve/stop suddenly etc. In some ways it was also good practise forcing him to learn to share the pavements and respect pedestrians.

Last year we started going occasionally on the road on the way home. Now he rides on the road with me following every day. He is 8, and wears a Hi-Vis. There are other children who cycle to school but very few who do so on the road. He is actually becoming a very confident rider (if perhaps too confident!), yesterday he ended up being about 20m ahead of me, both out over taking the long continuous row of parked cars (parents), and he met an on coming car going at a reasonable speed - it didn't faze him, he just pulled over next to the cars and left plenty of space for the car. I even heard another parent worry that he should of been on the road at all.

He is also learning to cope with lorries/cement mixers/dumper trucks/cranes as our route to school involves cycling on a road that passes through a building site (building either side of the road, and road closed to cars), he knows to stop and make sure the driver has seen him before he passes the dumper trucks etc. We are getting to know the builders and them us, as we pass each other to the extent that they seem to respect us too and will wait for us to go first when they see us.

He has done his Bikeability Level 1 so far, and I wouldn't let him cycle on his own on the roads but his cycle control is brilliant and he is learning to judge car speed and positioning on the road. Every now and again though he does makes mistakes - so I need to be there with him.

 

[4F]

Mine have always cycled on the road and I have never let them cycle on the pavement. Mind you I do live in a quite area so no real heavy traffic (apart from school run time) and my 6 year old daughter has no problems with being on the road.

The 2 oldest (10 and 11) will often bike to their friend's houses up to 2 miles away on their own.

 

[skrx]

The kids on this council estate are on the road on their bikes from about 8, or about 6 on the quietest ones (essentially driveways).
It's very quiet round here though, and everyone expects it. I sometimes see some on Wimbledon Common, but they can get there pretty much only on cycle paths (including an unusual cyclepath junction/subway under the A3). I don't know how old they are when they go on busy roads (but I doubt it has anything to do with their parents...).

 

[Twanger]

I actually disagree, I just think that as a wiser and more experienced all round person, you can see all the risks that were invisible in your yoof…lets face it would you build a jump out of bricks and slim board and then leap over it on your unserviced big barred chopper…today…no.... but 30 years ago this was considered sport in your mind.

It's us that’s changed, not the roads..get those kids out there they'll love it just as you did.

I started cycling on the roads in the late 60s. I had a twenty year break from 1990 till 2009 (coz I was in another country). I think London is better and safer than it has ever been for cycling.

 

[HJ]

I am 42 and started cycling pretty early.. and then on the road at around 8 - 10 years old
By the age of 14 I was using my bike constantly as everyday transport and was starting to tour scotland youth hostelling etc

Now I have kids of my own and i want to encourge them to cycle But it appears to much more dangerous these days
Roads are the same size but cars and much bigger (wider) like for like plus, there is more traffic and it travels faster.
So the kids all seem to cycle on the pavements But at what stage do they go from Pavement cycling to on the Road?


I feel now that my road awareness is good because of all the cycling I did when a teenager. If the kids now a days miss out on this on road experience does that not mean they will be in more danger when (if) they do decide to commute?

Some one said in another thread that timidity is a cause of accidents. Could apply to cyclists too ?

Just to put things perspective, the fatality rate for cyclists on the road has fallen by about 60% since you were a kid. It is now far safer to cycle on the roads, but for some reason people are more frightened to do so