Bicycle Safety Training Creates Lifelong Active Citizens

Creating a long lasting change in behavior is essential to the success of the Safe Routes to School Movement. For Karen Cowan, the Health and Fitness Coordinator for the City of Spokane, having a lifelong impact on students’ behavior begins with the curriculum they are offered in schools.

“I believe we need to offer a wider variety of movement options so students can choose the things they like to do,” explains Cowan. “If we give kids opportunities to try new forms of activity, they will find things they like to do and be active for life.”

Developing bicycle safety curriculum is one way Cowan is successfully broadening the activities students are exposed to in Spokane schools. She feels particularly passionate about teaching bicycle safety because “it broadens students’ horizons about their ability to be mobile. It’s an activity that will keep them healthy throughout their lives,” says Cowan. “I’d like future generations to realize it’s a mode of transportation they can use to go anywhere. That knowledge is part of what should be offered in our school system.”

The bicycle safety training she is designing with money from the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will be more practical for the Spokane School District than the current version. In previous years, many physical education teachers have chosen not to teach the course either because it was difficult to implement or they lacked the necessary training. Cowan wants all teachers to be trained in the new curriculum. This effort will expand the numbers of students with access to the program.

Cowan also works to create bicycle awareness in the broader Spokane community. In the fall of 2006, the school district partnered with the County Health, Fire, and Police Departments along with several hospitals to stage a bicycle rodeo. “We had booths on road safety and bike maintenance and gave out prizes,” explains Cowan.

While she does not think such events cause long-lasting changes in behavior, the group that formed around organizing the rodeo is also interested in creating Safe Routes to School (SRtS) and safer student cyclists. Cowan has worked with this group to apply for the SRtS grant offered through WSDOT. “Unless we collaborate and communicate in the community we won’t change the barriers that keep kids from making healthy choices.”

To learn more about developing or implementing bicycle safety training curriculum sign up on our website

OR: Contact Karen Cowan directly at karenc@spokaneschools.org