Middle-School-Aged Children's Expectations and Beliefs Toward the Relative Safety of Riding Bicycles at Night

Abstract

The expectations, attitudes, and perceptions of middle-school-aged children toward the relative safety of riding bicycles at night, with reflectors and/or head and tail lights, were examined. Six hundred and twenty-nine children between grades 6 and 9 were surveyed. More than 50 percent of the children reported that it was not dangerous to ride a bicycle at night with only reflectors or only lights. Moreover, 91 percent of the children reported that it was safe to ride at night if they had both reflectors and lights. Results indicated that 22% of the children had lights on their bicycles; while 51% reported riding their bicycles at night at least once in a while. The results suggest that children riding their bicycles at night without lights are under-estimating the dangerousness of the activity. That is, a large percentage of children are underestimating the ease at which drivers can see them while riding without lights.