If you were to stroll down a peaceful American street a few decades ago, you probably would have seen a scene straight out of Spielberg: a group of school-age kids riding bikes down the block, unprotected by helmets and with a steely sense of purpose.
That kind of scene is less likely to occur today. According to data from the National Sporting Goods Association, a trade association for sports equipment, 20.5 million kids between the ages of 7 and 17 rode their bikes six or more times annually on average during the 1990s. That figure has decreased by almost half in just a few decades, reaching roughly 10.9 million in 2023. The association reports that less than 5 percent of those children rode their bikes “frequently.”
Children are losing more than just a possible means of transportation as a result of this decline. Unlike many other activities, cycling promotes children’s independence and general health. It can enhance balance and coordination and is a fantastic way to get moving and gain strength. It can help lower children’s future risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, just like many other forms of exercise. However, it’s far less expensive (especially if you buy a used bike) and, more importantly, once kids are trained, doesn’t require as much effort from adults as some of the other ways that kids get exercise, like team sports.
Some parents may feel anxious at the prospect of their children traveling alone, and with good reason. It can be dangerous to ride a bike, and it can be difficult to find a suitable practice location in the suburbs or city. However, the amount of freedom that children will acquire is priceless if parents can locate secure settings where they can teach them to confidently navigate streets on their own. A child can practice decision-making by riding a bike because they can decide where to go and how to get there without consulting a parent. As they ride more, the activity may even begin to rewire their brain, assisting them in creating spatial maps of their neighborhood and gaining the knowledge and skills necessary to cultivate resilience and self-worth that lasts a lifetime.
The benefits of learning to get around on two wheels are not limited to children. Entire neighborhoods can be changed when enough kids ride bikes or just go outside. According to research, parents feel closer to their neighbors and many people start to feel safer when kids play outside, whether they are riding bikes, kicking a ball, or just puttering.
However, neighborhoods may lose those social connections as fewer children leave the house. A lot of people attribute this trend to smartphones. However, “I’ve never read or heard a student say they just would prefer to be on their phone,” according to Esther Walker, research leader at the nonprofit youth cycling group Outride, who spoke to me about this. According to Nancy Pullen-Seufert, director of the National Center for Safe Routes to School, a government-funded program, children do want to ride their bikes, but the state of many streets doesn’t exactly encourage confidence. Walker, who frequently interacts with middle school students in Outride’s programs, told me that while they long for mobility, many of them also claim that their parents won’t let them go alone or that riding in their neighborhood is too risky.
This fear is justified in many places. The speed and volume of traffic on American roads has increased. Speed limits have gradually increased since the 1990s. Drivers have driven ever-larger cars and accrued more collective miles each year (with a few brief dips). “The average U.S. passenger vehicle has gotten about 4 inches wider, 10 inches longer, 8 inches taller, and 1,000 pounds heavier over the past 30 years,” according to a 2023 report published by the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Although these devices are meant to protect drivers and passengers, bikers may find them far more frightening. According to a 2021 CDC report, the number of children killed on bikes has actually decreased annually, though the report admits that this is probably due in part to fewer children riding. The decline in child fatalities appears to be due more to parents’ awareness of the risks posed by large cars than to the safety of the roads—an SUV, the most popular car in the US market, is eight times more likely to kill a child than a sedan.
This level of vigilance has not always been required of families. It’s possible that children in earlier decades lacked the full sidewalks, bike lanes, and other safety features that are now standard on many American roads. However, as crowds of kids consistently wandered around the neighborhood, they had more room to walk, fewer and slower cars to deal with, and safety in numbers. Children didn’t lose places to play or the ability to travel independently until public planning started to prioritize automobiles. According to a 2011 report by the National Center for Safe Routes to School, the percentage of K–8 students who walk or bike to school dropped from 48% in 1969 to just 13% in 2009.
Local governments could encourage children and other residents to resume riding by implementing more bike-friendly infrastructure, such as separated bike lanes, slower traffic speeds, and calmer intersections. In the meantime, caregivers are primarily responsible for teaching kids how to share the road with drivers. In some cities, it may be difficult to find places that are sufficiently safe for practice. With a little ingenuity, however, parents can locate dead ends, car-free streets, vacant parking lots, or parks with paved walkways to allow their children to move around and acclimate to relatively peaceful environments.
In the short term, putting in that effort might require more of parents. However, as a mother whose 9-year-old just started riding, I would contend that the time and effort put in is worthwhile. Throughout my reporting, I have repeatedly heard from parents how much they want to raise resilient, self-assured children. Many choose to participate in a full schedule of extracurricular activities, the majority of which call for an adult to serve as both a supervisor and a chauffeur. However, children don’t usually thrive when they are being escorted around and watched over by adults. Many people need a little more freedom, time to do as they want, to pedal without direction, until they’re ready to take off.
