Advice for parents of young riders.
Professional and best practice advice for parents
All rider training schools are asked to help, train and look after your most precious belongings. Unfortunately a lot of the time, we find out too late that the youngsters we are given to train are completely overwhelmed and anxious about learning to ride for the very first time.
It is not let on by those that fail to complete a C.B.T course, that at least 1 in 5 riders (20%) are just not capable of completing a CBT to a safe standard in one day. This is obviously hugely frustrating for the young riders concerned but also their parents too.
All too often we hear "you must be an idiot to fail a C.B.T." or "Its easy to ride a bike" usually from others that should know better, or those that just listen to advice from social media and similar. Remember anything controversial is great for "likes and follows" but utter rubbish for safe, professional advice.
You cannot expect anyone that has never ridden on a public road before to reach the safe standard that we are tasked by the U.K Government to observe and conduct. This often leads to a bad experience and one that all training schools are very keen to avoid.
Please talk to your local training school in advance so you can best help and protect your children from harm or upset.
Top reasons for failing to complete a C.B.T. course in one day:
- Not being able to ride a bicycle to a very safe and confident standard.
- Not having a good working knowledge of the Highway Code.
- Not having enough confidence to safely take in the amount of safety critical information
Things you can do as a parent to avoid these pitfalls.
- Ensure that your child can ride a bicycle safely. Go for ride with them round the block or through the woods to gain balance and confidence and most importantly, looking where they want to go whilst being able to spot and identify hazards
- Encourage RideFree pre CBT theory or motorcycle theory test practice. Even better quiz them on hazards, traffic, road signs and markings whilst they are in the car with you.
- Go and visit your local school before booking a CBT and see if they are are a "good fit" for your child's road safety education.
Expecting to pick up a young adult at the end of their 1st days riding as a fully qualified and experienced rider able to deal with all hazards safely, is just not realistic a lot of the time.
Stay safe and have fun.
NMRT Team