Road safety tips for cyclists

Road safety is essential for every new and old cyclist that rides their eBike. It provides safety and awareness of the potential dangers you may face while riding your bike. Too often cyclists aren’t educated enough on road safety, which is why cycling accidents happen more frequently than we’d like. Below is our list of important safety tips for you to remember.

Wear a helmet

This may be the most obvious tip from our list, but unfortunately, it’s often overlooked – especially by younger audiences. It’s scary to think how something so simple as a helmet can save your life. The material of the helmet provides you with a great deal of protection, so if you ever fell off your eBike, this would significantly reduce the impact on your head and help to prevent serious injuries. 

It’s become a standard practice for bike instructors to tell new riders always wear a helmet. Many serious biking injuries have occurred due to a cyclist not wearing their helmet, and it’s for this reason they’re enforced. Without them, the casualty rate would increase exponentially. They’re relatively cheap to purchase and are available from every cycling shop or you could look online at a professional helmet shop.

Surprising to newbies, there are a wide variety of helmets you can choose from depending on what sort of cycling experience you wish to have. For example, if you’re a professional cyclist and would like to be as quick as possible, there is a helmet that will provide you with aerodynamic features to enhance your speed and still protect your skull from an accident. Whichever helmet you choose, the most important factor is to ensure that it fits you correctly and securely to provide adequate protection.

Be seen and anticipate hazards

Whatever time or day you’re cycling, it’s important you are seen by drivers on the road. This makes you aware of your surroundings but also lets a driver know you’re visible on the road – which has a big impact on your safety. If you’re not seen by any cars/trucks or lorries you are putting yourself in danger and at risk of being knocked over.

Drivers are focusing on the roads ahead of them, so it’s a good idea to stay ahead so it gives them plenty of time to avoid you. As long as a vehicle gives you plenty of room they are allowed to overtake when it’s safe to do so – make sure you’re aware of this!

Furthermore, similar to a driving theory test, all cyclists must anticipate hazards they could face on the road. There could be children playing, a dangerous pothole or a vehicle could be waiting to pull out on the main road. Hazards such as these could put your life in danger if you’re not aware of them. You can’t always judge what pedestrians or other drivers will do, so ensuring you have a good understanding of what could happen will be a great asset to have.

Signal your intentions 

Leading on from anticipating hazards, signalling your intentions on the roads holds great advantage to you and any driver behind you. It indicates where you’re going to and the driver will be aware of the choice you’re making which will impact what they do if they’re close by. Other road users can’t read your mind, so extending one arm horizontally either left or right will indicate to them you’re turning.

If you’re slowing down, one arm should be slightly extended to the side with the palm facing down, and raise your hand up and down at wrist height. A driver will recognise you’re slowing down and will begin to brake, allowing them to give you plenty of room to manoeuvre. It’s two-way communication, one can’t navigate the road safely without the other, so ensuring you and the driver clearly communicate to one another will help.

When you’re able to, you should always look behind you making eye contact with drivers to make sure you aren’t going to be overtaken. Overtaking and undertaking in traffic should only be done if it’s safe to do so, and appreciate that drivers have blind spots. 

Obviously, there is some risk in riding an eBike but don’t let this stop you from enjoying your journey.

Road safety course

If you like the tips we have offered so far but you would like to deep dive into the subject more, then we suggest you take a road safety course. There are many places that offer excellent courses, but we recommend you check out Road Safety GB Academy as they have lots on offer for you to study.

Their courses range from beginner to advance and you’ll have lots of topics to learn, some of which you wouldn’t think were relevant to cycling road safety! They are all available at a reasonable price too and within each course you will have a mini assessment after you’ve finished a certain topic so you’re kept on your toes throughout. 

Some courses take longer to complete due to the topic, with a few taking at least 70-80 hours from start to finish. This may throw some off guard, but don’t judge the timescale, judge the knowledge you will learn and gain from studying hard. After completing it, you will be fully aware of situations you could face on the road, and you’ll know how to deal with them correctly and efficiently. 

Are you interested in challenging your new knowledge and embarking on the road? Do this the right way with our brand new Avaris 3.6 Road eBike which is the latest version of our stylish, lightweight electric bike. It’s built for leisurely rides, exciting adventures, or building your fitness levels at your own pace.