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Bike Safety and Etiquette

The bike paths on Nantucket are multi-use.
 Please be considerate of others using the path and the abutting property owners.

Bike Safety Laws

  • In Massachusetts, all children 16 and under are required to wear a helmet. 
  • A child between 1 and 4 years old riding in a child safety seat should also wear a helmet.
  • Make sure your helmet is adjusted and used properly. Click here.
  • Everyone should have a red light or reflector on the rear, and a white headlight on the front, when riding their bike between dusk and dawn. 
  • Bicyclists must obey all traffic signs.
  • On the bike path, bicyclists should use caution when approaching driveways and public ways and obey signs requiring the bicyclists to stop.
  • Do not wear headphone or ear pods when riding.
  • No more than two bicycles can be operated side-by-side on a road.


THE IMPORTANCE OF HELMETS

Excerpt from As Easy as Riding a Bike (New York Times, July 23, 2018)

"A recent study looked at bicycle-related injuries in children treated in emergency departments in the United States over a 10-year period from the beginning of 2006 through the end of 2017. Over that time, there were more than two million such injuries in children from 5 to 17, which the researchers calculated meant more than 600 a day, or 25 an hour.

"So safety first and foremost: wear helmets. In the new study, “helmet use at the time of injury was associated with lower risk of head and neck injury, and of hospitalization — that’s protective, we know,” Dr. McKenzie said.

And it isn’t just about making your children wear helmets; when parents wear helmets, they are not only protecting themselves, but research has shown that when parents model the safe behavior, it’s more likely that children will be putting those helmets on themselves. Make sure the child is riding a bike the right size, and make sure the helmet fits correctly."


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