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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.
1Watch
The junction
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 secondsThe 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?
Pick one to carry on.
6Your turn
An intersection, from the saddle
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