Dayton Public Schools and Safe Kids Greater Dayton host Bike to School Day event

Safe Kids Greater Dayton joined Dayton Public Schools to celebrate Bike to School Day at Edison PreK-6 school on May 8, 2019. This event brought together children, parents and educators to raise awareness about bike safety.

In partnership with Bell Sports, Safe Kids coalitions celebrated Bike to School Day in hundreds of communities across the United States as part of National Bike Month. Events promoted biking to school as a safe and fun way to travel, while highlighting important bike safety information, like wearing a helmet.

“Kids and adults alike need to wear properly-fitted bicycle helmets every time they ride bikes or participate in other wheeled sports,” said Abbey Rymarczyk, Safe Kids Greater Dayton coordinator and injury prevention coordinator at Dayton Children’s. “A helmet is the single most effective way to prevent head injury resulting from a bicycle crash. So many children still do not wear them in Dayton. We have a simple saying: ‘Use your head. Wear a helmet.’”

More children ages 5 to 14 are seen in emergency rooms for injuries related to biking than any other sport. Bike to School Day is an important opportunity for students to learn how to safely bike to and from school.

Safe Kids Greater Dayton reminds families to follow these tips when biking:

• Tell your kids to ride on the right side of the road, with traffic, not against it.  Stay to as far to the right as possible. Use appropriate hand signals and respect traffic signals. Stop at all stop signs and stoplights.
• Teach your kids to make eye contact with drivers to make sure drivers are paying attention and are going to stop before they cross the street.
• When your kids are riding at dusk, dawn or in the evening, make sure they use lights – and make sure their bikes have reflectors as well. It's also smart to have them wear clothes and accessories that have retro-reflective materials to improve visibility to motorists.
• Actively supervise children until you're comfortable that they are responsible to ride on their own.

For more information, visit www.safekids.org.

About Safe Kids

Safe Kids Greater Dayton works to protect children from preventable injuries, the number one cause of death for children in the United States. Its members include Bike Miami Valley, Dayton Safe Routes to Schools, Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission, Dayton Fire and Police Departments, Five Rivers Metroparks, and many others. Safe Kids Greater Dayton is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations dedicated to preventing unintentional injury. Safe Kids Greater Dayton was founded in 1994 and is led by Dayton Children’s Hospital For more information, visit safekids.org or childrensdayton.org.