For those who choose to cycle in a city, knowing the rules of the road and feeling confident on a bike while negotiating traffic is key. Learning to cycle when young could influence whether or not a person continues to cycle as an adult, and feeling safe on the road is important.
Many cities in BC are building separated bike lanes and improving infrastructure, but at a snail's pace, compared to places like Montreal. For the past 25 years HUB Cycling has been promoting cycling as a form of transportation and encourages municipalities to embrace bikes as a way to ease road congestion and as a healthy practice for individuals and the environment.
qathet School District (qSD) and HUB have partnered to, "expand cycling education to all students in all six public elementary schools," according to a HUB media release. Public school students in grades four and five, who live in the qathet region, will have a chance beginning next week to participate in an education course called Everyone Rides.
"The fully-funded program will be delivered to 450 students this year,” the release stated. “This pilot was made possible by the [provincial] Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure as part of the Move Commute Connect Active Transportation Strategy.”
HUB stated that the Learn2Ride course includes five lessons that teach students cycling safety theory and on-bike skills via school ground training.
“We are very excited to be one of two communities to receive this free bike education program pilot,” stated Kristen Brach, qSD director of instruction, learning and innovation. "Providing students with the opportunity to learn about active transportation and bike safety is invaluable to our community."
Bikes will be provided, including adaptive bicycles and helmets, to ensure every student can participate.
"We are pleased to partner with each school district to bring school cycling education,” stated HUB’s director of bike education Rose Gardner, adding that the organization hopes the pilot program in qSD will lead to cycling education programs in other smaller communities.
"We hope [the school district] becomes a leader in providing students with the skills and knowledge needed to use active transportation and stay safe on our roads," stated Gardner. "Raising a generation of sustainable transportation users is critical to realizing our health, climate action and vision zero goals.”
Vision Zero is a traffic safety approach to eliminating serious injuries and deaths on the roads.
HUB Cycling will monitor the pilot outcomes by surveying parents and teachers. For more information on the Everyone Rides grade four/five program, go to bikehub.ca/erg45.
Spaces in the program are full for this spring, but schools interested in encouraging cycling among their students can check out Go By Bike BC’s resources for schools at gobybikebc.ca/gobybike-for-schools.
Spring GoByBike Week is coming up June 3 to 9, 2024.
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