==
Bike-Walk Alliance of NH ==
NH "BikeSmart"
for 2008
Roger Lohr conducting a BikeSmart presentation
NH BikeSmart Program Expands in Second Year for Kids’ Bike Safety
July 2008, Hanover, NH…The NH BikeSmart program brought bicycle safety information to thousands of kids at New Hampshire elementary schools for the second year. There were 75 bike safety presentations given by seven NH BikeSmart instructors in 39 different schools reaching 5,134 students and 450 adults for a total of 5,863 people in the program’s initial year. The program had a 60 percent increase in the number of attendees at the bike safety sessions and the two year tally for the program is 9,520 attendees.
Teachers at the schools raved about the NH BikeSmart program. A sample of comments: “The instructor grabbed students’ attention and spoke in terms they could understand but I also found it very informative and I’ll use it with my own children,” said a teacher at the New Searles Elementary School. A Lakeway Elementary school staff person “believed the presentation made students very aware of safety issues regarding bicycling,” while a Ossipee Central school faculty member commented that the “instructor was fun and personable.”
The program received grants from the Byrne Foundation and the NH Safe Routes to School program to implement the standardized bike safety program in New Hampshire elementary schools. It was conducted in conjunction with the Bike-Walk Alliance of NH, a bicycling and pedestrian organization that is a statewide focal point for related issues including safety and education programs. Other contributing organizations include the NH Department of Health & Human Services and the Safety & Health Council of Northern New England.
The NH BikeSmart safety program instructors talked to kids about wearing and fitting helmets, dressing bright and tight, bicycle safety quick check, and some basic rules of the road. The program coordinator, Roger Lohr of Hanover, NH produced the grant proposals. He was certified as a BikeSmart instructor in the state of Vermont and has given BikeSmart presentations in elementary schools for three years.
A survey conducted by the NH DOT Bicycle Pedestrian Transportation Advisory Board showed that 93 percent of school nurses at the 316 elementary schools in the state are interested in expanding bike safety outreach in the schools. There are about 50,000 third-fifth grade students in New Hampshire’s elementary schools and it is expected that NH BikeSmart can reach many students each year.
The NH BikeSmart program also distributed flyers to reinforce the bike safety message with parents. According to the NH Highway Safety Agency, more than 600 children in the nation die from bicycle crashes each year, most only a few blocks from home, and three of four cyclists that are killed in crashes die of head injuries. NH BikeSmart targeted kids in the schools to help spread the safety message and encourage bicyclists and motorists to safely share the roads.
The list
of schools that requested the NH BikeSmart presentations in 2008 are on
this Bike-Walk Alliance web site. If interested in requesting a presentation,
becoming a NH BikeSmart instructor, or for more information, contact Roger Lohr
at Lohr21@verizon.net or call 877-725-6471.
