Biker Safety Tips: How to Stay Safe from Bike Injuries

How many times have you bought a bicycle and the seller spent some time to tell you how you can be safe using their product? Hardly! Sportsly, a premium bicycle review site, takes your safety seriously. For this reason, the site endeavors to provide you with the tips you need to be safe while using different kinds of bicycles.

Your aim as a biker is to enjoy riding on different terrains and come back safe. Sadly, many people end up in hospitals because either a moving vehicle knocked them down or they accidentally hit one.

How can you avoid bike injuries? This post will discuss 8 tips on how to stay safe from bike injuries. Let’s get started.

1. Let Your Hands Hold the Bike

Perhaps you have seen people waving at spectators using their hands while riding. While you can do that shortly, it can be disastrous if you let your two hands off the bicycle for long. Think about this for a moment.

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So, the first thing you need to do when you are riding is DO NOT let your hands leave the bike. Hold it until you complete your ride lest, you are bound to get injuries.

2. Wear a Helmet

There are two main reasons why you must wear a good helmet. The first reason, of course, is to protect your head, a very sensitive body part. In this first reason, you wouldn’t want to smash your brains off in case of an accident.

The second reason is when riding at higher speed, the amount of wind that comes your way is likely to affect your eyes and ears. It is therefore, important to ensure you have a helmet that fits you properly.

3. Wear Reflectors

Some people would say you need to wear a reflector jacket. However, to enhance your personal safety, I’d suggest you wear reflective gear. I mean right from the head to the toe, your attire should be reflective. 

Even when the whole family or the entire country is on holiday, a time when it is not business as usual, you need to encourage your team to stay safe. When your whole body is as reflective as possible, it would be easy for other road users to spot you from a distance.

Think about it for a moment if the whole family of three or five are out for bike ride and all are in full reflective gear! Motorists will even clear their way for you thinking you are on a serious mission.

4. Use/ Install Rearview Mirrors

Sometimes when you are on the road, your main problem may not be the on-coming vehicle or bicycle. In fact, most roads have barriers that enable one-lane drive thus, you are not to worry about an on-coming machine.

However, a speedy rider may be following you. In the event you do not know whether there is one, you might find yourself moving towards his/her direction, something that will cause an accident.

To avoid such scenarios, it is advisable to use rearview mirror. In case your bicycle does not have rearview mirrors, it is prudent to install. After all, in a world filled with people of different characters and traits, how would you know whether the person riding faster towards you has a good or bad motive? You need to stay vigil.

5. Protect Yourself against Scorching Sun

I have talked about wearing a helmet and reflectors. However, there are incidents where you might not wear all those things. Do not get me wrong. It is a good idea to wear a headgear and a full reflector.

In the event a part of your body is exposed to the sun, I’d advise you wear a sunscreen protector. The best one would be sunscreen lotion. Putting special glasses that protect your eyes against sun’s rays is also another important safety tip.

Some of the sensitive areas of your body that need to be protected against sunrays include the back of your neck, the face, and your arms. You will do better to cover those parts with a good cloth with a nice collar, long sleeves, and sunglasses respectively. 

6. Avoid Sidewalks

Many riders think that it is safe and less dangerous to ride on sidewalks. In fact, sidewalks are perhaps the most unsafe places to ride. One thing is for sure: sidewalks are not meant for bicyclists but for those who walk on foot. Therefore, stay away from sidewalks.

Sidewalks may seem to be the only less busy places in major cities such as Houston, which most people consider a quite place, but do not rule that out yet. Many people who want to stay fit thus reduce hospital readmissions; always consider it necessary to have a 30-60 minute walk each day on these sidewalks.

Where then can you ride from?

7. Use Bike Lanes

In every major city in the world, there are lanes dedicated for bikers. These lanes may differ in length and width from country to country. However, these lanes have been setup specifically for bikers like you who want to enjoy riding.

Here in the US, lanes are everywhere. There is no point for a rider to disturb other road users who are either in the highway or on the sidewalk. The good thing about bike lanes is in case of an accident, there will not be many causalities or fatalities.  

Besides, the more riders use dedicated lanes, the more the matter is sensitive to the authorities, who in turn will improve the infrastructure and even add more dedicated bike lanes.

8. Avoid Distractions

I’d say, ’avoid unnecessary distractions,’ but then I realized no distractions are really necessary for a bike rider. Any distraction will have consequences. You will either veer off the lane or somehow, be close to hit another rider.

Wrap up

These tips on how to be safe from bike injuries cut across all ages. Whether you are a teenager, a millennial or contemplating to retire overseas, it is important to hold fast to the rules of bike riding. It is true there may be many other safety tips but the aforementioned come first.