- Police say Tallahassee is one of the top 15 cities in the state for traffic crashes resulting in serious or deadly injuries to bicyclists.
- A program at Bond Elementary School is teaching young students how to safely start cycling in their neighborhood.
- Watch the video to see the moment bikes were unveiled for the kids and how the program can keep them safe outside of school.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Police say Tallahassee is one of the top 15 cities in the state for traffic crashes resulting in serious or deadly injuries to bicyclists. Here in Southwest Tallahassee, the bike safety lesson starts young.
I'm your neighborhood reporter, Terry Gilliam at Bond Elementary. My camera was rolling as two dozen new bikes were unveiled for some of our youngest neighbors here.
Here are Bond Elementary's youngest and brightest. They were cheering after getting surprised with new bicycles. It came from HDR and All Kids Bikes, a national non-profit organization, teaching kindergarten students how to ride bikes in PE class.
HDR provided a $360,000 grant to All kids Bike for the Learn-to-ride curriculum and PE program. All designed to teach kids safety when riding their bikes in the heart of the Bond community.
"We have many streets and sidewalks around here for our kids to ride bicycles but not only that… it affords our kids the opportunity to practice healthy activities outside," the school's principal explained.
Bike safety was the key focus Friday morning. Kids lined up for their lesson using peddle-less bicycles to learn how to turn, balance, and maneuver their bike. Even Superintendent, Rocky Hanna, joined in.
He tells me how the neighborhood could benefit from students learning bike safety in the curriculum.
"I was on a bike. It brought memories, a lot of good memories. I think this neighborhood and the parents would appreciate public schools teaching kids how to safely operate bikes; it takes one of those things off of parents where we can reinforce what the parents are telling their children about how to safely operate a bike," Hanna said.
It was something new for the 2023-24 school year. Principal Jackson tells me what the different approach was: "In the past we usually start the bike safety curriculum in the third grade, so this gives our younger ones an opportunity to learn how to ride bikes safely and operate them."
I checked the numbers from Tallahassee Police Department. In 2023, across all of Tallahassee's neighborhoods, there were 63 crashes involving bicyclists. So far for this year, there have been 23.
They're numbers Superintendent Hanna would like to see dwindle in the future. "The last thing we want is a kid to be injured. Bond Elementary School is in the middle of an historic neighborhood. With all these roads and intersections, it's important that we teach kids how to ride a bike safely."
Now, Bond Elementary kindergarten students have the chance to take what they've learned in their classrooms and take it to the neighborhood. "We're very grateful for the community to come out and support our school," the principal said.
As the bike safety lessons get started here at Bond, Tallahassee Police say they're getting proactive in other neighborhoods. TPD says they'll be conducting proactive patrols to keep bicyclists and pedestrians safe in targeted area through May of this year.
