Kicking off the 2013-14 Bike Ed season, 66 fourth and fifth grade students from Waimea Country School, Parker School and Hawaii Preparatory Academy participated in a three-day, hands-on bicycle skills and safety course. Now in its fifth year, Bike Ed
Kicking off the 2013-14 Bike Ed season, 66 fourth and fifth grade students from Waimea Country School, Parker School and Hawaii Preparatory Academy participated in a three-day, hands-on bicycle skills and safety course. Now in its fifth year, Bike Ed is presented to island schools and homeschool groups free of charge by Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawaii, a Kona-based bicycle and pedestrian advocacy nonprofit group. PATH provides bikes, helmets and trained instructors for the on-site program.
“We’re so excited to offer this important training,” said Tina Clothier, PATH’s executive director. “Bike Ed gives kids skills that support a safe, healthy and active childhood.”
Funded collaboratively by Kaiser Permanente, Hawaii County, Big Island Honda and PATH, Bike Ed is on track to educate more than 600 island keiki this year.
“Safety is our number one priority,” Clothier said. “This year we’re excited to be able to send each Bike Ed graduate home with a brand new bike helmet.”
The Kona Community Hospital Trauma Program, to help reduce the risk of brain trauma to our keiki, collaborated with PATH to donate 1,200 new bicycle helmets for Big Island keiki. According to the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute, using a helmet reduces the risk of head injury by as much as 85 percent and the risk of brain injury by as much as 88 percent. In Hawaii, bicycle riders younger than 16 are required by law to wear a helmet.
