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Our 11 year old daughter was biking to school recently and was hit by a car backing out of a driveway.

She had started her journey on the road but had mounted the footpath to avoid a car parked on the side of the road.

She is fine with only a sore leg and there was no damage to the car.

I'm guessing our daughter was in the wrong?

Scott

From the "Ask Jack" archives - 18 October 2010

Great to hear she was not seriously hurt.

I’m not sure I would be saying your daughter was in the wrong as she made what appears to be a common sense decision to reduce risk to herself by mounting the footpath.

Our understanding however is most local council bylaws state only cyclist who are delivering mail, newspapers and pamphlets are allowed to ride on the footpath. That rule becomes very grey when you think about a young child riding a bike on a footpath alongside their walking parents as an example.

In my opinion it all comes down to bad luck. Both parties had a responsibility to look for hazards. A young person riding a bike on the footpath could just as easily have been a slow elderly or disabled person walking or a fast runner appearing out of nowhere.

Personally I would not discourage your daughter from taking similar action. An 11 year old taking a wide berth around a parked car is arguably at greater risk of coming in contact from a passing car (more so on a busy road).

Making your daughter aware of all the surrounding hazards and riding the bike at a safe speed is all you can do as a parent in my view.