Bike to School Day spotlights versatile device

If you live near a school, you know what mornings are like. If it's possible to have a traffic jam in a town like McCook, that's what areas around the elementary, junior high and high schools are like as parents drop off younger students and older students drive themselves to class.

If only there were a way to make the streets less congested. At the same time, how about a little vigorous exercise as kids prepare for class.

There is a way, of course. Most days, a vigorous walk is a great way to get to school -- it's possible to reach about any point in McCook within a half-hour or less on foot.

Or, how about bicycling, a mode of transportation that first peaked in popularity about 120 years ago and is still going strong?

That's the point of National Bike to School Day on Wednesday, May 8.

"Biking to school is a fun way to fit activity into your child's day," said Angela Barry, Safe Routes Nebraska program coordinator. "Studies confirm that just a few minutes of daily exercise makes kids healthier, happier and better prepared to do well in school."

Bike to School Day encourages a nationwide bike-focused celebration for students in the month of May and builds on the popularity and success of international Walk to School Day, celebrated in October.

The event is designed to raise awareness of the need to create safer routes for bicycling and walking and emphasize the importance of increasing physical activity among children, improving pedestrian safety, reducing traffic congestion and protecting the environment.

Even if there are no formal Bike to School Day events, Barry encourages families to get on their bikes May 8. "Bike to School Day is an opportunity for kids and families to have fun while celebrating the benefits of daily exercise," she said.

More information is available at WalkBiketo School.org.

Bike to School Day might be a great way for kids in Mc

Cook, Cambridge and Indianola to utilize the information they've learned from Linda Maiden's State Farm Insurance bicycle rodeo program, which has been providing helmets and safety information to first- and third-grade students for many years.

Featured speaker Emilynn Karre, who was injured in a bicycle accident, law enforcement personnel and training have made a real difference when it comes to bicycle safety. Sponsors such as the McCook Clinic, McCook Community Hospital Health Foundation and First Central Bank have stepped forward to provide helmets.

But it isn't all up to the kids. Drivers must be ever-vigilant -- that's code for "shut off your cell phone" -- to avoid striking bicyclists on the streets and roads.

And, state and city officials should be encouraged to do what they can to make our streets more bicycle-friendly and build projects like McCook's hike-bike trail.

With a little cooperation and imagination, there's no reason bicycles can't provide even more service over the next 120 years.