This week is Road Safety Week. It is run by the road safety charity Brake, and it inspires thousands of schools, organisations, and communities to take action on road safety. It also provides a great opportunity for anyone working in road safety to get more people involved with their work. One of the biggest focuses is on children’s road safety, and, as children’s bicycle accidents can be common, this is an area that needs focus.
The theme of Road Safety Week 2021 is road safety heroes. This celebrates the heroic work of road safety professionals, and explaining how we can all play a part in making journeys safer for everyone.
Children’s Bicycle Accidents
Children’s bicycle accidents can happen for all sorts of reasons. However, in our experience, the most common accidents include:
- Hit and run accidents
- Faulty bicycle parts
- Defects in the road and pavements, for example, potholes
- Slippery road or pavement conditions due to ice, snow, or oil spills
If your child has had a bicycle accident due to one of these reasons, then it may be someone else’s fault and you may be able to make a claim on their behalf.
Minimising Risks of Children’s Bicycle Accidents
The nature of children means that they may have accidents that there is no one to blame for. There are certain ways that you can minimise your child’s risk of having an accident by taking certain precautions.
Here are a few tips from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) on how you can maximise enjoyment and minimise risk:
- Carry out a regular safety check (tyres at the correct pressure, brakes working and nothing loose like spokes, saddle or handlebars)
- Wearing a cycle helmet will help provide protection to the head in the event of a collision or falling off (remember to replace if damaged)
- Make sure your child is not wearing any loose clothing or shoelaces, which could become tangled in the chain or wheels
- Parents should ride with children to their competence and ability. Get them to demonstrate that they can safely control their bike and deal with other traffic
- For older children, if they are riding away from home plan the route with them; use cycle tracks and avoid busy roads and junctions if possible.
Claiming on Behalf of a Child
If a child has an accident, then a parent or guardian may be able to claim on their behalf. Any compensation received is put into a special fund or trust for the child to access when they turn 18. Or managed by trustees to cover the cost of caring for a child with a disability sustained as the result of their injury.
Usually in personal injury cases, there is a three-year time limit to make a claim. However, this is not the case if a child has an accident. In that case, a parent or guardian can make a claim on their behalf until they turn 18, and after that, they have until they turn 21 to make a claim for themselves.
How We Can Help
Here at The Compensation Experts, we work with solicitors who have years of experience dealing with personal injury claims. This includes children’s bicycle accidents. So contact us today by filling in our contact form. Or call us on 01614138765 to speak to one of our friendly experts.