Walking and biking to and from school can be a great way to get exercise and interact with your children. Remember however, Florida is #1 in the nation for bicycle and pedestrian crashes and fatalities. Within the state, Collier County is among the top 15 most dangerous places to walk or ride a bike. Walking or biking with children to school is a great opportunity to teach them lifelong traffic safety skills. With kids now back in school, take the time to teach them these safety tips.
Know your child’s abilities and remember their limitations. Children under 10 years of age are developmentally limited when it comes to judging speed and distance accurately.
Walking To School
By walking with your children to and from school, you can teach them about the neighborhood, traffic and street signs, directions, and model how to cross streets. As a bonus, walking to and from school is a great time to engage in healthy conversations with your kids.
Teach, practice, and remind children to:
- Walk with an adult or responsible older child at all times.
- Children under 10 years old should cross the street only with an adult.
- Walk on the sidewalk if there is one.
- Walk facing the traffic, as far from the road/traffic as possible, if no sidewalk is available.
- Use traffic signals and marked crosswalks if available.
- Stop at the curb or edge of the road and look left, right and left for traffic before crossing the street.
- Walk; don’t run.
- Give drivers time to see you before crossing the street and keep looking for cars while you are crossing.
- Wear white clothing or reflectors when walking in the dark or in low light.
Biking to School
When children are ready, bike riding is also a great way to get to and from school. Kids need to learn to be safe pedestrians before they can be safe bicyclists. Remember, bicycles are considered vehicles so riders must be capable of following Florida Traffic Laws.
Teach, practice, and remind children to:
- Always wear a helmet that is properly fitted. This is required by law for children under 16.
- Whenever possible, ride with an adult or responsible older student.
- Always obey all traffic signs and signals.
- Ride on the right side of the road or trail in a single file line.
- Ride in the same direction as other vehicles.
- Always use proper hand signals when turning and stopping.
- Yield to pedestrians and alert them with a bicycle bell or your voice when passing.
- Use a front white light and rear red light on their bike when riding at dawn or dusk. Lights are required by law for bikes and automobiles when it’s dark, but it increases visibility any time of day.
Walking and biking to school helps keep children and their communities happy and healthy. But we need your help to champion for safer streets, combat distracted driving, and create unified communities in Collier County. Find out how you can get involved here.
