One Saturday morning, with the assistance of a few local businesses, local police and fire departments, we turned our school's parking lot into a Bicycle Safety Rodeo. Families could come anytime between the hours of 9:00-12:00. The students and their families had to provide their own bicycles and their own helmets (for this years event). Upon arrival everyone met me at the registration table, where we gave them a card with all the stations listed. The student had to take the card to every station and get the instructor to check off their card. When their card was filled out they brought it back to me and I had goodie bags filled with donations from local businesses and safety material provided by state police and fire agencies. For our event our stations were:

1) Bicycle Maintenance Check – Local Bicycle Shop
2) Bicycle Obstacle Course – Local Police Department
3) Road Safety Instruction – Local Fire Department
4) Bicycle Helmet Fitting Check – Local Sheriff Department
5) Road Safety and Helmet Safety Video – Local Boy Scouts
6) Road Safety and Helmet Safety Quiz – Local Boy Scouts

We had 155 students come out that morning and for the students who showed up without helmets our PTA and the local bike shop provided helmets for those students. For next years event we are working on a few helmet and bicycle grants for the students.

Teaching Suggestions/Tips:

1) Contact state agencies to receive free pamphlets and flyers on bike safety, road rules and road safety.
2) Line up your presentors at least 2 months in advance.
3) Check with your PTA/PTO and your local bicycle shop to see what type of deal can be worked out to supply some helmets for your event.
4) Contact your local TV station and newspaper 2 weeks in advance.
5) PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE. An event of this magnitude needs to be promoted properly.

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