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Grades 4–5 · Out and About · Badge 2

A bike on a road

Ride on a road with traffic: same direction as the cars, signal, get the driver's eyes, and stop at every stop.

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Step 1 of 9

1Watch

The junction

Film

The junction

A kid on a bike comes up to a junction with a stop sign. A car is waiting to turn out of the side road, and the driver is looking the other way. The film stops with the kid still rolling, six metres from the line, deciding whether to slow.

24 seconds

The driver has not seen him. He can tell. Watch what he does with that.

2The idea

On a road, you are traffic

You ride the same direction as the cars, on the same side. Not against them, and not on and off the pavement. That is so a driver pulling out of a side road looks the way you are coming from. Drivers look for traffic. Be where the traffic is.

Then you tell them what you are about to do, and you check they heard. Signalling is telling. Eye contact is checking. A driver who has not looked at you has not seen you, however bright your jacket is.

3The idea

The order at every turn and every stop

Look back over your shoulder. Who is there?
Signal. Arm straight out, held for a good three seconds, not a flick.
Get the driver’s eyes. If they look at you, they have seen you. If they do not, they have not, and you wait.
Go.

And a stop sign means stop. Foot down. Even if nothing is coming. The one at the bottom of your road that you have rolled through a hundred times is the one this is about. A driver expects you to stop there. When you do not, they have no plan for you.

4The idea

The junction from the film, done right

He is six metres out and the driver is looking the other way. He slows, stops at the line, foot down. Now he has time. He looks at the driver. Nothing. He waits. Two seconds later she turns her head, sees him, and lifts a hand off the wheel. That is the eyes.

He looks back over his shoulder, signals, holds it, and goes. Fifteen seconds longer than rolling through. Nobody at a junction has ever been marked up for arriving quickly.

5Decide

You are about to turn across the road. What is the order?

Right. Look back first, because the signal is for whoever is there. Then hold the arm out long enough to be seen. Then find the driver’s eyes. If you cannot find them, you have not been seen, and you wait.

The order matters. A signal nobody has seen is just your arm in the air. Turning before you look is a bet that nobody is coming. Look back, signal, get the driver’s eyes, then go.

Pick one to carry on.

6Your turn

An intersection, from the saddle

Interactive

The moves

A junction seen from a bike. Cars arrive from three directions. For each one, choose: signal, stop, wait for eye contact, or go. It scores you on order, not on speed.

Speed does not score. Nobody at a junction has ever been marked up for arriving quickly.

7Find them

Which of these are true on a road?

Tap the ones that count.

Find all 4.

8Say it

Say the stop

Say this out loud, in your normal voice

“Stop means stop, and I stop”

The stop sign at the bottom of your road is the one you have rolled through a hundred times. That is the one this is about.

9Do it

Before you leave this page

Ride your usual route with a parent following, on foot or on a bike. At every junction, say out loud what you are doing before you do it: looking, signalling, stopping. They are checking that the words and the bike match.

Tick it when you have done it.

Lesson done.

Same direction as the cars. Signal. Look at the driver. Stop means stop.

Next lesson: When a scooter stops being a toy

Badge 2 · Wheels

2.1Fit your own helmet 2.2A bike on a road 2.3When a scooter stops being a toy ★Badge Challenge

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