Being Safe When Biking

Cycling is a great activity that has many benefits for those who practice it. It helps you to stay healthy, spend more time outside, and being more sociable. However, in order to fully enjoy it and do it for a long time, you need to think about safety as well.

Cyclists are the most endangered participants in traffic by far, especially if you live in a big city. Car drivers often do not pay attention to cyclists too much, so you need to make twice the effort to keep yourself safe.

This is what you can do to increase your safety and avoid any misadventures when cycling.

Wear a Bike Helmet

Bike helmets are not known as the most fashionable pieces of biking equipment that you can wear on yourself. Nobody likes arriving to work with “helmet-hair,” however, if you happen to have a fall, they will protect your head from any serious injury.

Choose your bike helmet wisely and make sure that it fits you well. This way, you will maximize its protection and it will feel more comfortable on your head.

Use Bike Lights

A lot of the time, traffic accidents involving cyclists happen because car drivers fail to spot the bicycle in time. Therefore, you should make sure that you make yourself more visible. A good, powerful set of front and rear bike lights will do the trick just fine.

You must use your bike lights at night, but you should use them during the day and during low visibility conditions as well. Some bikes are powered by a dynamo and this is a great solution because they will turn on whenever your wheels start turning.

Watch the Door Zone

If you are using your bicycle to commute in the city, you should be on guard from the cars parked along the road or the cycling lane. Drivers sometimes open their doors recklessly and this can be a big danger to cyclists. So, make sure that you always keep enough distance from car doors when you cycle and stay out of the so-called “door zone.”

Maintain Your Bike

Last but not least, this is maybe the most important thing that you can do to increase your safety when cycling. Make sure that your bike is always in pristine condition and that everything is working properly. A bike that is broken or malfunctioning can cause you more harm than benefit.

So, make sure that the moving parts on your bicycle are lubed and that everything is tightened properly. Check your brakes and gears before every ride, as well as your tire pressure, to ensure you get everywhere safely.

Conclusion

Cycling can be a dangerous activity is we do it recklessly. That goes for everything in life. Therefore, make sure that you are conscious of the dangers of cycling when you sit on your bike.

Wear a helmet, make yourself visible, stay away from cars, and take care of your bike. All of this together doesn’t take much effort, but it goes a long way towards your safety.