Special to The Enterprise

ItÕs back-to-school, bike-to-school time again. I am seeing more bikes on the road, heading for my neighborhood elementary schools, and on to the university. I have seen more children and parents on bikes than in previous years. All this is good.

Studies have shown there is safety in numbers. Truly, the more people walk and ride their bikes, the safer those walkers and bicyclists are.

Before school starts each day at my neighborhood school, I see bicyclists and pedestrians escorted across the street by the crossing guard, and they proceed across the school grounds to bike parking and classrooms. The drop-off cars maneuver for space in an unchoreographed dance: One or two drivers pull in perpendicular, rather than parallel to the curb, and often block the bike lane for UCD students bicycling to class. How do they see clearly to back out?

For elementary school students being driven to school due to distance, wouldnÕt it be easier and safer for all concerned to drive to a nearby business parking area with plenty of room for maneuvering and, from there, join a Òwalking busÓ to school?

Wednesday is International Walk to School Day. Celebrate it with your elementary student by finding a way to walk or bike at least the last quarter-mile to school. See if it makes a difference in the traffic congestion around your school. If you want to organize a neighborhood Òwalk busÓ or Òbike bus,Ó you can download ÒI WALKÓ stickers, badges, certificates and puzzles at http://www.walktoschool.org/register.

This year, Davis Bicycles! is working on starting a Safe Routes to Schools program for Davis. This outstanding national safe bicycling and walking program relies on the five EÕs: educate, encourage, engineer, enforce and evaluate.

LetÕs focus on what parents can do for the first two EÕs: educate and encourage. (WeÕll discuss engineering, enforcement and evaluation in a later article.) Parents and caregivers can give students a big boost to healthy living and a responsible lifestyle by teaching them bicycle and pedestrian safety, and encouraging them to walk and bike.

Parents can teach their kids that bicycles must follow the same basic rules as vehicles: riding on the right side of the road, signaling before turns, stopping at stop signs and showing courtesy to pedestrians. As pedestrians, students heading to school need to know how to cross a street safely, using crosswalks, and understand how vehicles including bicycles move across their pathway.

Davis Bicycles! is working with the schools and the Police Department to put on Wednesday after-school rodeos at elementary schools. We would like to hear from parents what other bicycle education activities theyÕd like to see and how theyÕd like to help.

Parents also can encourage students to ride more. Through fourth grade, the Safe Routes to Schools program recommends that parents walk or ride with their students to school, using the opportunity to educate and then test studentsÕ competence in safe riding and walking. Once parents are confident of their bicycling and walking skills, students can be encouraged to ride or walk on their own.

Around this age, students also are involved in after-school activities that take them outside their neighborhood. Parents pick them up after school to deliver them to activities, or succumb to their complaints that ÒitÕs too hotÓ or ÒI have too much homework.Ó

This is a time when parents can consider giving the student both more independence and more responsibility. They can say, ÒI know you can get where you need to go safely within the city. You figure out how to get there. IÕm not driving you.Ó This gives the student the knowledge that he or she is trusted to act responsibly. That first sense of independence is a wonderful thing.

Seems harsh? Then sweeten the rule a bit with the Saveagallon contest. Join the contest and keep track of the mileage, CO2 emissions and money saved when the car is not used to transport students. Consider giving the student the money he or she saves by bicycling, walking or using public transit. One contestant saved enough in a year to purchase a fancy new bike.

The contest is open only to Davis public school students, no adults; itÕs easy to register and log in. Contest rules and sign-up instructions can be found at http://www.saveagallon.org/Davis_School_Contest. (Anyone may register and log their miles on saveagallon.org; the contest is just for Davis K-12 students.)

Please send any ideas for encouraging bicycling and walking. We also need volunteers for the Davis Bicycles! School Committee, bike rodeos or other bike encouragement programs. Contact me at [email protected] We really can use your help!

Ñ To offer a Davis Bicycles! column, write to Matt Biers-Ariel or Mont Hubbard at [email protected] or log on to http://www.bikedavis.info to see instructions for authors.

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