Principals in a Kansas school district are prohibiting children up to third grade from riding their bicycles or scooters to school. That might not sit too well in some Oregon districts, which encourage children to walk and ride bikes to school.
The Lawrence school district enacted the ban last spring after a 6-year-old kindergartner was struck and killed by a minivan as he rode his scooter to school. Police said a shrub at the intersection obscured the motorist's view.
The Lawrence Journal-World quotes one parent who is upset by the policy, which will prevent his son from riding his bike down a trail to the nearby school. Other parents seemed to support the idea, saying that third grade is early enough to be riding a bicycle to school.
The father of the accident victim said he was glad somebody was doing something about traffic safety.
Meanwhile, Oregon is promoting its annual Walk and Bike to School day on Wednesday, Oct. 4. Already 28 elementary schools have signed up to participate in the program.
The idea is to encourage children to get more exercise by getting to school on their own and to reduce the number of cars on the streets. It also promotes the Safe Routes to School program, which assesses and improves the safety of school traffic routes. Last year's major transportation bill contained $612 million for this program.
On Walk and Bike day, adults walk designated routes through their neighborhoods to pick up groups of children who or walking or cycling. Along the way, the volunteers teach children the correct way to walk or bike with traffic. There's a presentation at school, and those volunteers take the children home in groups after school.
The Oregon program is part of the International Walk to School Day in the US. The event started in Great Britain in 1994.
For more information about Safe Routes to School, see the Bikes Belong Coalition.
Recent Comments