By: Pamela Thompson, for the Bike Campaign
The Bike Campaign is excited to announce the Roll Model project, focused on helping local educators get to school by bicycle. The program encourages teachers and admin to commute by bike, inspiring families and students to do the same to ease the morning drop-off congestion.
The streets in front of our County’s schools have become increasingly congested, especially in Davis where students don’t always attend the school in their neighborhood. Davis schools also host students from out of town—many of whose parents work for UC Davis or other large employers, and can’t ride a bike to school. Reducing local car traffic around schools is very helpful, according to Maria Contreras Tebbutt, the founder of The Bike Campaign.
“Teachers are amazing role models to kids and The Bike Campaign is currently offering any school teacher, staff member, or parent the opportunity to be a Roll Model during the months of July, August, September and October,” Tebbutt said. “For a limited time The Bike Campaign will give school teachers within Yolo County $100 off any refurbished adult bike at our Bike Garage location in Davis. We can also offer free helmets, locks and lights to local school teachers.”
For those who live in the communities in which they teach, getting to school by bike whenever possible has a lot of benefits, including lower fuel and car insurance costs, promoting better air quality and showing parents and students that cycling is a fun and environmentally conscious mode of travel with excellent health benefits.
“We know that school teachers who ride to school enjoy stress-busting benefits and save a lot of money,” Tebbutt said. “It’s not enough to train kids when the adults in their lives aren’t practicing what we preach about being healthy and protecting our environment.”
How to be a Roll Model
Becoming a Roll Model is easy. If you have a bike and live in town, check out the routes available to get around town. The City of Davis has Safe Routes to Schools maps and thebikecampaign.org has bike maps for Davis and Woodland online.
Bike the route to see how long it takes to get to your destination. Decide if you can move your teaching materials with just a backpack, or if you need to add baskets or a trailer to your bike to take everything you need.
Let your fellow staff members know about being a Roll Model, as well as parents and students. “Teachers who ride a bike to school are powerful influencers,” Tebbutt said.
The program also isn’t just for teachers. “The Bike Campaign also encourages staff members and administrators to become Roll Models at their schools,” Tebbutt said.
Getting more people on bikes—teachers and students alike—will help relieve the morning and afternoon congestion around our schools, and is one of The Bike Campaign’s core goals.
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.
