8 walking and biking safety tips that just might save your life

1 week ago

not crossing nan thoroughfare wherever location isn't a crosswalk, utilizing marked crosswalks and sidewalks, utilizing motorcycle lights and bright, reflective clothing, and paying attraction to your surroundings.

The basics of roadworthy information mightiness look obvious, but they tin prevention your life. DON'T transverse nan thoroughfare wherever drivers mightiness not expect you. DO usage sidewalks, motorcycle paths and safe pedestrian crossings. DO make yourself visible pinch motorcycle lights. DO look up from your telephone erstwhile walking.
Photo Illustration by Beck Harlan/NPR hide caption

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Photo Illustration by Beck Harlan/NPR

You've heard of protect driving — driving practices to thief you enactment safe connected nan road, for illustration reducing your velocity successful bad upwind aliases signaling earlier switching lanes. But what astir protect stepping and cycling?

They're a important portion of pedestrian and cyclist safety, and much group should believe them, says Ryan Sharp, a proscription advisor pinch Alta, a proscription creation firm.

"It intends paying attraction to your surroundings and having a changeless consciousness of nan situation truthful you tin expect imaginable hazards," he says. Because if you're a biker aliases a pedestrian and you get deed by a car, you're apt to beryllium nan much injured one.

According to estimates from nan National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, astir 7,100 pedestrians were killed successful postulation crashes successful nan U.S. successful 2024. In caller years, much than 1,000 cyclists person been deed and killed annually.

But casualties are preventable. Sharp and Julia Kite-Laidlaw, a pedestrian and cyclist information advocator pinch nan National Safety Council, stock their apical do's and don'ts for walkers and bikers.

A achromatic and achromatic photograph shows wide changeable of a rear position of a man successful a yellowish garment crossing a street. He looks complete his enarthrosis arsenic a motorcycle passes to his left. Yellow arrows constituent to nan left, correct and behind, and he is highlighted by being circled successful a achromatic wavy line.

When crossing nan street, don't conscionable look near and right, look successful each directions — including down you. Photo illustration by Beck Harlan/NPR hide caption

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Photo illustration by Beck Harlan/NPR

1. DO look left, correct and down you. "Oftentimes nan top hazards if you're a pedestrian trying to transverse astatine an intersection are really coming from down you," Sharp says.

So, look successful each directions and move astir earlier stepping aliases biking crossed a road. A driver trying to move into nan intersection whitethorn not spot you successful nan crosswalk, for example, because they're looking astatine oncoming traffic.

A diptych of black-and-white photos shows a close-up of a reddish motorcycle ray connected nan rear of a motorcycle and a achromatic motorcycle ray connected nan beforehand of nan bike. The lights are successful colour and surrounded by emphasizing doodle lines.

If you're biking astatine night, usage achromatic motorcycle lights astatine nan beforehand and reddish lights astatine nan backmost of your motorcycle — conscionable for illustration connected a conveyance — truthful cars tin spot you. Photo illustration by Beck Harlan/NPR hide caption

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Photo illustration by Beck Harlan/NPR

2. DO beryllium visible and predictable. "Never presume that a driver sees you," Kite-Laidlaw says. More than three-quarters of pedestrian deaths hap aft dark, and galore group get struck and killed successful places without sidewalks, wherever drivers whitethorn not expect group to beryllium walking, according to a 2025 report from nan Governors Highway Safety Association.

Illustration successful a bright, bold schematic style pinch superior colors that emulate nan style of airplane information brochures. The apical sheet shows a car speeding connected a rainy road, overlaid by a reddish circle pinch a statement done it, indicating this is simply a "no." The bottommost near sheet shows nan windshield and dashboard of nan car from nan inside, and nan windshield wipers turning on, highlighted by reddish arrows. The bottommost correct sheet shows nan car driving slow connected a rainy roadworthy pinch an arrow pointing to nan headlights.

Always locomotion connected nan sidewalk aliases a stepping path. If location is none, locomotion connected nan enarthrosis of nan thoroughfare against postulation truthful you tin spot oncoming cars and drivers tin spot you.

If you're biking astatine night, put achromatic lights astatine nan beforehand and reddish lights astatine nan backmost of your motorcycle truthful cars tin spot you. Even erstwhile you person nan correct of way, effort to make oculus interaction pinch an oncoming driver aliases look for different indications that they spot you, specified arsenic slowing down.

A close-up photograph shows nan little half of a personification wearing shorts and vessel shoes stepping crossed a achromatic striped crosswalk connected an asphalt road. A beardown protector is formed to nan correct of nan personification and achromatic zig zag doodles stress nan crosswalk stripes.

Whenever possible, enactment successful areas designed to support bikers and walkers safe. Photo illustration by Beck Harlan/NPR hide caption

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Photo illustration by Beck Harlan/NPR

3. DO usage sidewalks, motorcycle paths and safe pedestrian crossings whenever possible. Most pedestrian and cyclist deaths "happen successful betwixt intersections," Kite-Laidlaw says, for instance, erstwhile dodging postulation crossed nan mediate of a thoroughfare pinch nary crosswalks. So enactment successful areas designed to support bikers and walkers safe.

In immoderate cities, nan locomotion and motorcycle signals move greenish earlier nan stoplights do. That gives pedestrians and bikers a fewer other seconds of lead time, boosting their visibility and showing drivers they person nan correct of way. Design elements for illustration curb extensions, which shorten nan magnitude of a crosswalk, lessen nan magnitude of clip a pedestrian is exposed connected nan road.

A diptych of black-and-white photos shows adjacent up images of a personification holding a telephone successful their manus and pinch wireless earbuds successful their ears. The images are colored pinch selective colour highlighting nan behaviors to debar and some are emphasized pinch reddish doodles. The telephone is successful a circle pinch a strikethrough and nan receptor is surrounded by wavy reddish lines. Looking astatine your telephone and wearing headphones are 2 behaviors to debar erstwhile stepping aliases biking.

To debar injury, salary attraction to your surroundings erstwhile biking and walking. Don't look down astatine your phone. Avoid wearing headphones. Photo illustration by Beck Harlan/NPR hide caption

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Photo illustration by Beck Harlan/NPR

4. DON'T beryllium distracted while biking aliases walking, particularly while crossing nan road. No listening to euphony aliases podcasts successful your headphones aliases looking astatine your phone. You want to beryllium capable to perceive nan sounds of oncoming postulation and spot what's happening astir you.

5. DON'T disregard group connected e-scooters and e-bikes. Because they're motorized and typically faster than personification connected a bicycle, they whitethorn beryllium a imaginable hazard for pedestrians and cyclists, Sharp says. Many cities and communities person yet to create nan roadworthy infrastructure to accommodate these vehicles, truthful you whitethorn person to stock abstraction pinch them connected sidewalks, motorcycle paths and roads.

If you consciousness tense astir crashing into an e-bike rider while stepping down nan road, "that's understandable," Sharp says. But support successful mind that "data has shown that location are not a batch of collisions betwixt e-bike riders and pedestrians."

A diptych of black-and-white close-up images shows champion practices for helmet safety. On nan lef,t a close-up photograph shows that erstwhile wearing your helmet, you should person astir 2 fingers of abstraction betwixt your brow and nan apical of your helmet. The photograph connected nan correct shows that nan straps should shape a "v" somewhat beneath and successful beforehand of your ear. Red doodles stress nan helmet placement.

Your helmet should deed astir one-or 2 finger-widths supra your eyebrow. The broadside strap should shape a V style nether and somewhat successful beforehand of your ears connected some sides of your face. Photo illustration by Beck Harlan/NPR hide caption

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Photo illustration by Beck Harlan/NPR

6. DO deterioration your helmet correctly erstwhile cycling. It tin protect you from caput injuries successful lawsuit of an accident. Make judge nan helmet is covering your forehead, astir 1 aliases 2 finger-widths supra your eyebrow. The side-strap should shape a V style nether and somewhat successful beforehand of your ears connected some sides of your face. Buckle and tighten your chin strap until it's snug. When your helmet is on, it shouldn't beryllium rocking much than 1 inch broadside to broadside aliases beforehand to backmost connected your head.

7. DO usage move signals erstwhile cycling to enactment successful changeless connection pinch different cars, cyclists and pedestrians connected nan road. The easiest rules to retrieve are: near limb consecutive retired for a near move and correct limb consecutive retired for a correct turn. You tin besides raise your near limb up successful an L style to show that you're turning right.

8. DON'T put yourself successful threat conscionable because you person nan correct of way. While drivers are responsible for driving safely, roadworthy information is everyone's responsibility. "We person decades of information to show that expecting group to ever enactment nan correct measurement [on nan road] does not work," Sharp says.

By taking ownership of your safety, you are helping to create a safe system, which protects everyone connected nan road.

This communicative was edited by Meghan Keane. The ocular editor is Beck Harlan. We'd emotion to perceive from you. Leave america a voicemail astatine 202-216-9823, aliases email america astatine LifeKit@npr.org.

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