How do you convince school-kids to not ride on the sidewalk, againsttraffic, or both.

The city I live in just opened a new middle school where my daughter
goes. The riding behavior of the students is atrocious. They ride on the
sidewalks, against traffic (and against traffic on the sidewalks).
Someone got hit yesterday, and while I didn't see the accident, I'd
wager it was due to bicyclist error, just based on how dangerously the
students ride.

So how do you deal with this? What do you say to the kids? The parents
have probably told them to only ride on the sidewalk. The school
administration has no interest in bicycle or pedestrian safety.

I guess the good news is that a lot of kids are riding their bicycles to
and from school! Nothing like when I was young, but probably half of the
kids are not chauffered back and forth in a minivan or SUV.

spread tacks on the sidewalk, and if they ride in the street
against traffic, sideswipe 'em.

Duh!


~R




"SMS" wrote in message
...
: The city I live in just opened a new middle school where my
daughter
: goes. The riding behavior of the students is atrocious. They
ride on the
: sidewalks, against traffic (and against traffic on the
sidewalks).
: Someone got hit yesterday, and while I didn't see the accident,
I'd
: wager it was due to bicyclist error, just based on how
dangerously the
: students ride.
:
: So how do you deal with this? What do you say to the kids? The
parents
: have probably told them to only ride on the sidewalk. The
school
: administration has no interest in bicycle or pedestrian safety.
:
: I guess the good news is that a lot of kids are riding their
bicycles to
: and from school! Nothing like when I was young, but probably
half of the
: kids are not chauffered back and forth in a minivan or SUV.

SMS wrote:
The city I live in just opened a new middle school where my daughter
goes. The riding behavior of the students is atrocious. They ride on the
sidewalks, against traffic (and against traffic on the sidewalks).
Someone got hit yesterday, and while I didn't see the accident, I'd
wager it was due to bicyclist error, just based on how dangerously the
students ride.

So how do you deal with this? What do you say to the kids? The parents
have probably told them to only ride on the sidewalk. The school
administration has no interest in bicycle or pedestrian safety.

I guess the good news is that a lot of kids are riding their bicycles to
and from school! Nothing like when I was young, but probably half of the
kids are not chauffered back and forth in a minivan or SUV.


In my school district they still do bike rodeos. Has that gone out of
style everywhere else?

http://www.bicyclinglife.com/SafetyS...cycleRodeo.htm

At one school on my usual route, the street is permanently marked off
with the rodeo striping.

"SMS" wrote in message
...
The city I live in just opened a new middle school where my daughter
goes. The riding behavior of the students is atrocious. They ride on the
sidewalks, against traffic (and against traffic on the sidewalks).
Someone got hit yesterday, and while I didn't see the accident, I'd
wager it was due to bicyclist error, just based on how dangerously the
students ride.

So how do you deal with this? What do you say to the kids? The parents
have probably told them to only ride on the sidewalk. The school
administration has no interest in bicycle or pedestrian safety.

I guess the good news is that a lot of kids are riding their bicycles to
and from school! Nothing like when I was young, but probably half of the
kids are not chauffered back and forth in a minivan or SUV.

I'd check with the local police. They can come out and help the kids pick a
safe route into school. However, when our elementary school (K-6) moved to
a temporary school while ours was rebuilt, the police told the kids to ride
the wrong way on the sidewalk into school. They felt that was the safest
way. There were no driveways to cross, and this way the student's didn't
have to cross the street and deal with the school car traffic. The police
pointed out that all traffic on the sidewalk was going toward the school in
the morning, so there wouldn't be bikes attempting to go the other way.
They also pointed out the students were more the speed of pedestrians at
this age. Coinciedently, the junior high was just on the other side of the
temporary school, and they too were instructed to ride on the sidewalk, with
further instructions to stop at each parking lot driveway.

Middle school is a tough call. Definitely I would put 1st graders on the
sidewalk when riding to school. Definitely I'd say high school kids should
be riding in the street. But middle school, are 11 year olds mature enough
to take the lane in the midst of morning commute traffic to make the left
turn into the school parking lot?

SMS wrote:
The city I live in just opened a new middle school where my daughter
goes. The riding behavior of the students is atrocious. They ride on the
sidewalks, against traffic (and against traffic on the sidewalks).
Someone got hit yesterday, and while I didn't see the accident, I'd
wager it was due to bicyclist error, just based on how dangerously the
students ride.

So how do you deal with this? What do you say to the kids? The parents
have probably told them to only ride on the sidewalk. The school
administration has no interest in bicycle or pedestrian safety.

I guess the good news is that a lot of kids are riding their bicycles to
and from school! Nothing like when I was young, but probably half of the
kids are not chauffered back and forth in a minivan or SUV.

Too bad the school is so disinterested.

Around here, the schools do not allow the kids to ride to school until
they have passed a special bicycle test. This test involves some basic
bike handling skills, and basic traffic rules.

Maybe you can start a voluntary program like this with help from a
parents group. I'm sure there are traffic saftey associations or
something that would be glad to help with posters, etc.

That said, the effects will not be 100%. When I commute to work and if
it around school time, I ride in the road instead of the bike path due
to all the weaving and goofing off kids.

Joseph

writes:

That said, the effects will not be 100%. When I commute to work and if
it around school time, I ride in the road instead of the bike path due
to all the weaving and goofing off kids.

I have the opposite problem. When I ride by schools around the
start or end of the school day, I have to squeeze by mile-long
backups of cars driven by parents. I *wish* there were children
clogging the sidewalks and the roads with bicycles, but sadly,
there are none at all.
--
Ben Pfaff
email:
web: http://benpfaff.org

Cathy Kearns wrote:

snip

I'd check with the local police. They can come out and help the kids pick a
safe route into school.

Good idea, except that we have no police department in my town. We
contract with the county sheriff for police services, but they only do
patrolling, they don't have any programs for public safety, bicyclist
and pedestrian safety, etc. They are tired of me calling them requesting
traffic enforcement around schools.

Steve
"http://drivetoschoolhallofshame.com"

wrote:

Around here, the schools do not allow the kids to ride to school until
they have passed a special bicycle test. This test involves some basic
bike handling skills, and basic traffic rules.

Good idea, but since the school is so disinterested, this won't work.

Maybe you can start a voluntary program like this with help from a
parents group. I'm sure there are traffic saftey associations or
something that would be glad to help with posters, etc.

Good idea. I'll bring this up at the next PTA meeting.

That said, the effects will not be 100%.

They never are.

On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 08:22:35 +0000, SMS wrote:

The city I live in just opened a new middle school where my daughter
goes. The riding behavior of the students is atrocious. They ride on the
sidewalks, against traffic (and against traffic on the sidewalks).
Someone got hit yesterday, and while I didn't see the accident, I'd
wager it was due to bicyclist error, just based on how dangerously the
students ride.

So how do you deal with this? What do you say to the kids? The parents
have probably told them to only ride on the sidewalk. The school
administration has no interest in bicycle or pedestrian safety.

I guess the good news is that a lot of kids are riding their bicycles to
and from school! Nothing like when I was young, but probably half of the
kids are not chauffered back and forth in a minivan or SUV.

I think the answer is bike education, like the bike rodeos we had when I
was young (and probably you too). It's too bad your local school
administrators have no interest in this. As far as I'm concerned, it's
blood on their hands when the first child is killed.

It's your job as a citizen to get them moving in the right direction.

It's good to hear kids in CA are riding and walking to school again though.

Matt O.

Contact the local cyclists' group. Our group started a bicycle day at
various elementary schools. Half a dozen or more from the group go out and
have talks and demonstrations with the kids.

Pat in TX