Fall GoByBike week is kicking off from September 23 until October 6 across the province and in Nanaimo. With the weather and this event encouraging more students to ride bicycles to school, École Quarterway Elementary School’s Parent Advisory Council (PAC) is reminding drivers and cyclists to focus on road safety.
Kara Walsh is the PAC vice chair for École Quarterway Elementary School. She started overseeing the GoByBike program at their school two years ago. Walsh said she has two daughters that go to school and they try to be as active as possible with their transit.
“I'm trying to set a good example for my children. I just got an E-bike a couple of years ago. I actually worked up at VIU, and so I try to use my E-bike to go up as often as possible,” Walsh said. “We're always trying to juggle different activities and stuff like that, but we do try to bike as much as we can.”
She said Quarterway has a unique situation when it comes to students getting to the school as its catchment is different due to it being French immersion.
“So we're not like a classic neighbourhood school, where everyone lives a couple of blocks away and can easily walk to school because it's French immersion,” Walsh said. “Parents and children come from all over the city like they can be super far south, like Cedar and having to drive all the way in or in the north end, having to drive in as well.”
Walsh will ride with her kids to school as they live near the school and have a trail they can take. However, she said as the school is next to Bowen Road it can be a bit intimidating to get to.
“I think some parents probably feel a little bit cautious with their children biking on busier roads like that,” Walsh said. “Of course, having bike lanes and proper safety biking measures put into place would probably encourage more students to bike, but I'm actually really, really proud of our student body and our parents.”
She said out of a school of around 400 students there has been a steady increase in the amount of students who ride their bikes to school with over 90 students riding their bikes to school in June of this year.
“So I think consistency and building that positive environment into things, really helps and shows the kids that it's possible to ride their bikes to school, and we got so much more participation,” Walsh said.
While she said the number one reason preventing people from taking active transportation to school is the distances people may live, the busyness of Bowen Road, Townsite Road and East Wellington Road can deter some parents from having their kids ride to school.
“Just because of that safety aspect they not they might not feel super comfortable having their kids on the road, especially if their kids aren't strong bikers and haven't biked a lot,” Walsh said. “It might be a little bit scary for some kids and parents.”
Walsh said GoByBike offers online toolkits with resources on road safety for those riding to school. Some teachers may use the toolkit to teach their students about road safety.
One thing Walsh said the school needs to improve active transportation is new bike racks.