The growing trend of riding bikes for exercise or transportation has shifted back to local children.
And with the riding season in full swing, RCMP Crime Prevention Officer Gordon Sims offered children and youth a course on bike safety on Saturday in Trail.
He has been working with a number of partners to teach students in primary schools how to ride bicycles safely.
“We present road sense and safety tips to all of the elementary schools kids and we’ve been doing that for the last three weeks.”
While Sims visited students at school, he taught them how to read signs, use their arms to signal what their next move was going to be for drivers and, of course, look both ways.
“There’s various signs and maneuvers that they have to learn,” said Sims. “It emphasizes safety tips for the upcoming season.”
So far, the initiative has been successful and he’s encouraging parents to help their children practice now that the course is over.
Wendy DePellegrin took her daughter Zoe and son Jace to the event after Sims told her about the practicality of the lesson: both theory and hands-on practice.
“The majority of (students) have the theory down,” he said, “it’s just a matter of getting them practicing so they can use it.”
DePellegrin had seen the program before, and thought it was a great idea for her kids. Zoe and Jace successfully passed the rigid obstacle course, and proved they could look both ways while signaling correctly.
The DePellegrin children were nervous about riding through the obstacle course, but felt confident after they completed the assigned tasks and received certificates of completion for a day of hard work.
“We did some of it in school,” said Jace. “But, I like this better because you don’t have to listen to the teacher.”