Bicycle Safety Week 2024
May 12 – 18, 2024
Bicycle Safety Week Events
The Saskatchewan Prevention Institute continues to support communities in Saskatchewan to organize bicycle safety activities that meet the needs of their communities. Register your Bicycle Safety Week event to request children’s educational materials and prize items, while supplies last.
Virtual Classroom Presentations
The Saskatchewan Prevention Institute is teaming up with the Acquired Brain Injury Education & Prevention Coordinators from the Saskatchewan Health Authority to bring Bicycle Safety Week into classrooms across Saskatchewan using virtual classroom presentations.
For more information about Bicycle Safety Week including updates on available materials, how to register, and how to sign up for interactive virtual presentations, contact Robyn Stewart at rstewart@skprevention.ca.
Children’s Activity Sheets
Bicycle Safety Videos
Bicycle Safety Week Tools
This quiz is designed for children ages 8-10 and includes the answer key.
Bicycle Safety Social Media
We encourage you to download these Social Media Images and use the following hashtags #saskbikesafety #ReadytoRide.
Tag the Saskatchewan Prevention Institute in your social media posts.
We encourage you to share information on bicycle safety all year long!
Description: This video demonstrates nine activities from Your Activity Guide for Teaching Bike Safety Skills. You can access the guide at https://skprevention.ca/resource-catalogue/safety/your-activity-guide-for-teaching-bike-safety-skills/.
Audience: Parents and Teachers
Cycling and other wheeled activities are great forms of transportation and recreation. Cycling allows children and youth to be healthy and active as well as have fun. Appropriate steps must be taken however, to ensure that children and youth are safe when participating in these activities. Children, youth, parents, caregivers, and communities need to be well-educated regarding the importance of safe cycling practices and the devastating injuries that can occur when practices such as helmet use are not followed.
In Saskatchewan, between 2004 and 2013 there was an average of 53.9 cycling-related hospitalizations per year for children and youth under 20 years of age. Children aged 1 to 4 years experience more cycling-related hospitalizations than other age groups. The most commonly injured body part due to cycling is the upper extremity (shoulders, arms, and hands). Head/neck injuries occurred 27.4% of the time. Of the injuries to the head/neck, the majority were classified as traumatic brain injuries.
The majority of bicycle-related injuries are preventable. For cyclists of all ages, falls are the number one cause of injury. Children who are learning new motor skills can be expected to fall more often than older and experienced cyclists. This is true when learning any new wheeled activity. Ensuring proper safety equipment is used will help protect children and youth.
When entering the street from driveways, parking lots, and sidewalks, cyclists should stop and watch for traffic. All cyclists, including children, should always yield to oncoming traffic, and look both ways before entering a street to avoid car-bike collisions.
A bicycle is a vehicle, and cyclists should always ride on the right in the same direction as traffic. Riding a bike facing oncoming traffic (i.e., riding on the left side of the street) is dangerous and greatly increases the chance of a collision with a motor vehicle. Motorists need to respect a cyclist’s right to share the road.
To avoid a collision with others using the road, all cyclists should shoulder check before turning or swerving to avoid hazards. All cyclists must stay alert and watch for cars coming out of driveways and back alleys. Pedestrians (people walking) have the right of way over all vehicles, including bicycles. Cyclists should let pedestrians cross before moving through an intersection or a crosswalk.
Cyclists that are learning to ride should stay off of busy streets. Sidewalk riding is recommended for children who are not yet able to ride safely in traffic due to their age and/or ability. Children riding on the sidewalk should be taught to yield to anyone walking. Children should also be taught to yield at every street and driveway when they are riding on the sidewalk. A person backing a vehicle out of a driveway does not expect to encounter another vehicle, in this case a bicycle, on the sidewalk.
Sidewalk cyclists can also be obscured by bushes, hedges, or fences. Experienced cyclists should ride on the street to avoid collisions with pedestrians.
Refer to the images provided below to locate different parts of the bike when performing a bicycle inspection.
Helmet should fit 2 fingers above your eyebrows.
Straps should form a V under your ears.
1 finger should fit between the strap and your chin.
This video features Savannah Smith, a motocross rider from Saskatchewan. Savannah shares information about her experiences, the importance of wearing a properly fitted helmet, and how to choose a helmet.
It is important to remember that children are not just small adults. Children are developing physically and mentally and have many characteristics that make them vulnerable near traffic.
Vision: A young child’s peripheral vision is about two-thirds of adult’s. Children may not have the ability to see a car or obstacle that the adult next to them sees.
Hearing: Children have acute hearing, but have difficulty localizing sound. This means that they have difficulty determining the direction from which a sound is coming. Children may be unaware that the sound of a vehicle they hear is moving towards them.
Mental Development: Many characteristics of children increase their risk of injury when they are near traffic.
Needing to wait for a traffic signal, being distracted by friends at the upcoming park, or misjudging the speed of an approaching vehicle in an intersection are just a few examples of how a young child may act in an unsafe manner due to their developmental stage.
Physical Development: Balance, strength, and coordination are required to safely ride a bike. Children grow rapidly in spurts and because of this they often do not have an accurate awareness of their body size, abilities, and limitations; this increases a child’s risk of falling while on a bicycle. A child’s developing motor skills also reduces the ability to avoid obstacles such as holes in the road, pedestrians, and other cyclists.
These brochures highlight bicycle carrier and trailer safety messages for caregivers.
A bike is a vehicle. As a cyclist, you are expected to follow the rules of the road.
Some rules and safe practices to remember when on a bicycle are listed below.
Use the correct arm signals for turning left and right and for stopping. Use your left arm to signal and hold onto the handlebar with your right hand.
Left turn – Make a straight line with your left arm.
Move into the left lane after you shoulder check and it is safe to do so. Keep your left arm out until you are in the intersection and have started your turn. After completing the left turn, return to the right side of the road as soon as it is safe to do so, one metre from the curb or parked cars. Make a left turn only when the intersection is clear and when signs or lights allow you to do so. Remember that you are crossing in front of oncoming traffic and vehicles travelling from the other direction have the right of way.
Right turn – Make an L shape with your left arm.
Signal as you approach the intersection or after stopping at the corner. Stop if the traffic lights or a stop sign indicates you are to stop. Cyclists must stop and wait for any pedestrians in the crosswalk or intersection to clear before making their turn.
Stop – Make an upside down L shape with your left arm.
Wrist guards are not recommended because they may interfere with steering the scooter.
