Riding your bike to school is a great way to start the day with some fresh air and exercise. It is fun for students and staff, and it helps promote a healthy active lifestyle.
May 17, 2024 is National Ride Your Bike to School Day. Hosting a Bike to School Event offers many benefits, including positive community engagement, and encouragement of a healthy lifestyle in a fun way for your students and staff.
Many schools participate in this event each year and we want to highlight some important safety considerations.
Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.
Communicate with your staff, students and families
- Provide students and staff with information on biking safety. (See resources at the end of this article.)
- Encourage all riders to wear helmets, including staff members.
- Encourage all riders to wear bright clothing. Consider creating brightly colored t-shirts for kids to wear on the day of the event.
- Anticipate biking routes through parking lots. Place extra orange cones, directional signs or have volunteers available to direct bikers to designated routes.
- Remind bikers to walk their bike through congested areas and on school sidewalks.
- Provide extra storage for bikes in an area where they will not create a hazard.
Communicate with the community
- Announce the event to raise awareness of the increased number of kids on bikes that day.
- Promote the event through social media and encourage community participation.
- Students can make posters promoting “share the road” and “watch for bikes” safety messages to post around town at the library, community buildings and area businesses.
- Contact your local news crew or have the school newspaper write articles for publication ahead of the event.
- Team up with a local bike club or bike shop to help promote the event and offer bike tune ups.
Communicate with your municipality
- Often Police Departments will host Bike Rodeos or similar events in the spring to educate families about riding safely. Some even give away helmets to kids.
- Identify challenging intersections near school.
- Determine if bikers need additional assistance with extra staffing, crossing guards or police patrols.
- Consider the use of electronic signs to remind drivers to slow down and watch for bikes.
