Do you know how to properly fit your child for a bicycle helmet? Do you know what the rules of the road are for bicyclists? Can you check the A, B, C’s of your bike in less than 5 seconds? After completing the Bicycle Safety Rodeo, over 1000 Warren County youth can! They know how to properly fit their own helmet, complete a safety check on their bicycle, and are educated in the rules of the road.
June 17th marked the end of a month and a half long program of in school bicycle safety education which is offered through Cornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County. This program has been offered to schools in Warren for over 30 years and is free to any school. Cooperative Extension is the organizing body for this fun and educational program, which contacts the schools, requests road closures, coordinates the times and dates, and sets up the actual course on which students practice their bicycle safety skills. The Warren County Sheriff’s Department and the Glens Falls Police Department also support this program by sending an officer to the school to help instruct and assist with the bike rodeos.
Officer KC Glenn demonstrates road signals to students of Warrensburg Elementary School.
The Bike Safety Rodeo program is based on curriculum that originated from Cornell University; it was written by Lois Chapman and has been continually updated as new research appears. As the amount of cyclists dramatically increases each year, there are more and more stories of cyclists being injured or dying due to none helmet use or lack of knowledge when it comes to rules of the road. Therefore it is important that young cyclists are educated about helmet and bike fit, parts of the bicycle, basic skills, and road rules. This program also fulfills New York State’s Education Law 806/Commissioner’s Regulations 170.1 in which schools must provide instruction on traffic and bike safety.
This program has been offered free of charge thanks to the generous funding of Warren County. Please contact Martina Yngente Noone at 668-4881 for any further information about this or any other programs conducted by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County 4-H Youth Development Program.
