Safety Tips When Riding a Bike to Lower Your Carbon Footprint

It’s great that you’re riding a bicycle to lower your carbon footprint. However, it’s important that you stay safe while riding your bike.

How does riding a bicycle lower your carbon footprint?

First off, let’s take a look at just how much your carbon footprint can be reduced by switching from your car to a bicycle. Bikes don’t require fuel like cars and other vehicles, so riding a bicycle doesn’t actually release carbon emissions.

According to the European Cyclists’ Federation, switching from a car to a bike saves 150g of CO₂ per kilometer. Also, using e-cargo bicycles will cut carbon emissions by a whopping 90% in comparison to diesel vans.

Even if you swap your car for a bicycle ride just once a week, you can reduce your carbon footprint by about half a ton of CO₂ over the duration of a year.

So, if you haven’t yet made the change to riding a bike to help the planet, it’s about time you considered it. And besides being environmentally friendly, riding a bicycle helps you to stay fit and healthy.

Just make sure you stay safe by following these tips.

Wear a Helmet

While bike riding is beneficial to both your health and the environment, sadly, many bicycle accidents happen every year.

For instance, at Abels and Annes’ website, where you can find an experienced bicycle accident lawyer, you’ll find out that in the U.S. state of Phoenix alone, there were 1,279 bicycle accidents in 2018, 24 of which caused fatalities.

But as long as you take the right precautions to stay safe, you can massively decrease your chances of being involved in an accident, wherever you are in the world. The number one rule for staying safe while cycling is to wear a helmet.

If you should come off your bike, your head needs to be protected to avoid traumatic brain injuries and other injuries. So, never get on a bike without first putting your helmet on.

Make Sure Drivers Can See You

When riding on roads, you’ll be around cars and other vehicles, so it’s vital that they are able to clearly see you, especially when it’s dark or you’re riding in dimly-lit conditions. Therefore, always remember to wear bright colors.

Fluorescent and reflective clothing is ideal. Also, make sure your bike has lights on the front and back as well as reflective strips.

Ensure You Can Hear

Being able to clearly see vehicles and pedestrians will help you to stay safe, but don’t forget that it’s also important that you can hear them.

Therefore, never ride your bike while wearing headphones or an earpiece.

Make Clear Hand Signals

If you make a turn without signaling, or not signaling in the right way, you could potentially end up in an accident as other vehicles won’t know what your intentions on the road are.

So, when making a left turn, for example, ensure you extend your left arm at full length so that drivers know that you’re about to make the turn.

Stay on the Road or on Designated Cycling Paths

When cycling, it can be tempting to switch back and forth between roads and sidewalks to get through traffic more quickly. But it’s best not to.

When you do so, you’ll not only confuse drivers, which could increase your chances of being involved in an accident, you’ll also put pedestrians in danger when riding on sidewalks where bikes aren’t permitted.

You should ride your bike like you’re driving a car, in terms of safety. So, don’t use sidewalks or crosswalks. It’s better to dismount and walk your bike in such situations and stay on the road or in designated cycling paths at all other times.

Now you know how to stay safe while on your bike, take a look at these amazing approaches to cycling that promote a greener lifestyle.