Kids Do Want to Ride Their Bikes to School. But Bike Racks and Safe Streets Would Help.

Bike-riding the few blocks to F.P. Caillet Elementary back in the day was certainly no big deal — it certainly wasn’t revolutionary, it certainly wasn’t news. It’s how we got to school. Flash-forward three decades, and our neighborhood — same one in which I grew up — stages a Bike to School Day, since next to nobody’s doing it anymore. A single day. And that was last year. Over on Bike Friendly Oak Cliff this morning, Jason Roberts writes about last week’s efforts to get kids at Rosemont Elementary — where, turns out, there isn’t even a bike rack on the third-through-fifth-grade upper campus. Roberts points out: Says the Federal Highway Administration, about half of all kids walked and cycled to school 40 years ago; that number has since dwindled to 15 percent, if that. No. 1 reason why not: traffic-safety concerns.

Hence BFOC’s efforts to get kids back in the saddle — about 100 by week’s end, when those participating were treated to root beer floats at Eno’s, awwwww. But just getting kids back on bikes is half the battle; the bigger issue, Roberts writes, stems from the lack of safe streets around schools (why, hello, Skyline). Some of that could and should be dealt with in the one-two punch that is the Dallas Bike Plan coupled with the Complete Streets Initiative. Roberts offers a handful of solutions, but notes:

Sadly, the reality we face now is that when we create large road systems, people feel more comfortable driving faster and taking their eyes off the road. … What did we do by making things faster and more convenient for cars? Parents became afraid to allow their kids to walk and bike and chose not to which created a negative feedback loop resulting in everyone deciding to simply give up and drive.

Via e-mail this morning, though, he says he’s emboldened by the turnout last week — which raised enough dough through T-shirt sales to install a bike rack at Rosemont. “Due to the success,” Roberts writes, “we’re looking at rolling out similar programs in schools throughout the area.” Details forthcoming.