Riding over the safety barrier

SAFETY is the key to more children riding bikes to school, says the Bicycle Network.

National figures have shown Aussie kids are ditching their bikes and opting instead for mums and dads to drive them to and from school.

The Bicycle Network’s Tasmanian adviser Garry Bailey says there is demand from students to ride to school, but there are obstacles school communities need to consider.

“Those barriers are bike skills, wellsigned safe routes to school and the support of the Department of Education, principals and the wider school community,” Mr Bailey said.

Data from the Australian Health Policy Collaboration at Victoria University shows children’s bike sales have dropped 22 per in the past decade.

In the past 10 years, sales have dropped by 110,000 units — from 492,000 to 382,000.

The University of Sydney’s Chris Rissel, director of the NSW Office of Preventive Health, says access to safe paths and roads is fundamental to allow for more kids to ride to school safely.

“It’s about creating safer bike paths and we are not doing that to the extent we need to,” Professor Rissel said.

The network will today launch national Ride2School day in the South of the state in a bid to get more Tasmanian primary school students riding and walking to school.

Mr Bailey said many students say they preferred to ride or walk to school.

“During our bicycle skills day at Devonport last month, our survey painted a telling picture. Just 8 per cent of students rode a bike to school and 19 per cent walked,’’ he said.

“But when we asked students how they would like to get to school, 39 per cent said they would like to ride and 22 per cent would prefer to walk.”

South Hobart Primary School has a high percentage of students who ride their bikes to and from school every day.

“We have the rivulet track right behind the school that leads all the way towards town, so it is a great safe place for the kids to ride through every day,” physical education teacher Sarah Bushby said.

Brothers Oscar, 7, and Oliver Bentancour, 9, ride to school regularly from their nearby home.

“We live close, so it’s not too far to ride” Oliver said.

The significant drop in the number of children’s bikes sold has also raised alarm bells among public health experts concerned about a lack of physical activity among young Australians.

According to estimates, 71 per cent of children and 92 per cent of those aged between 12 and 17 do not meet the recommended guidelines of three hours a day for physical activity in Australia.