By: Pamela Thompson, for The Bike Campaign
If you have school age children, you’ve probably experienced the traffic around our schools during morning and afternoon drop-off times. If your child is old enough to bike to school, it can help keep you out of the mayhem.
Biking to school
Biking to school is a great way to start the day. You can bike with younger children to teach them the route, and older children can make bike pool groups.
Another idea is a bike bus, where everyone joins up and bikes together to school. Bike buses happen all over the world, and you can learn how to start your own bike bus online at https://bikebus.world.
Safe Routes to School
If you want to know the recommended route to your school, tThe City of Davis has Safe Routes to School maps available in both English and Spanish, with maps for Birch Lane, Cesar Chavez, Korematsu, Montgomery, North Davis, Patwin, Pioneer, and Willett elementary schools, and Harper, Holmes, Emerson and Da Vinci junior highs.
If your school doesn’t have a designated safe route, drop by the Bike Garage or the Mary L. Stephens Branch Library and get a Davis Bike Map to help you plan your route.
Update your biking gear
If your child needs a bike to get to school or has outgrown their current bike, early August is a great time to get a new or used bike. The size bike your child needs can be determined by several factors, including inseam size, standover height, and cycling ability.
Unlike adult bikes, which are sized by frame dimensions, bikes for children are sized by wheel diameter. Wheel sizes vary from 10” to 26”, with 16” to 26” being the most common for school age children.
Whether you buy a new or used bike, where you buy it matters. A lot of big box stores or large retailers don’t have trained staff to assemble bikes which can result in costly repairs later. Buying from a reputable bike shop means new bikes have been assembled by professionals, you know the bike will function the way it should, and used bikes will have been serviced and had any worn parts replaced.
Once you have the bike, making sure you keep the bike is important. A good lock is crucial, as well as making sure the bike gets locked to a rack.
Safety is a priority, so your child should have a good helmet, properly fitted, and a reflective safety vest or back pack for visibility on the road. Having a red flashing light that can clip onto a backpack is another good visibility tool.
Getting out of a car and on a bike to get to school is the way to go!
The Bike Campaign, along with its counterpart, the Bike Garage, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2011 to help educate people about bicycling and encourage more people to ride their bikes. We work closely with city governments, county health departments, school districts, and community service groups. For more information visit thebikecampaign.org, or find us on Instagram and Facebook.
