BICYCLE SAFETY IN ILLINOIS by Michael J. Howlett Secretary of State

MICHAEL J. HOWLETT

Parents, teachers and law enforcement officials concerned with the safety of children on bicycles have a friend in Illinois Secretary of State Michael J. Hewlett.

In recent weeks he has taken a firm stand for mandatory bicycle safety education in every elementary school.

And he authorized revision of the Bicycle Rules of the Road. The booklet will now fit into a child's pocket and is written so a child can understand it.

In promoting bicycle safety education, Secretary Hewlett is endorsing a bicycle and safety curriculum developed by the Illinois Superintendent of Public Instruction. It is the first of its kind, a model for the rest of the country.

The program, complete with lesson plans and visual materials, is now being used in more than half of the school districts for kindergarten and the first five elementary grades. It has been completed for grades six, seven and eight.

The need for bicycle safety education increases with the rise in popularity of the bicycle.

This year, more bicycles are being sold for use by adults and teen-agers 15 or over, than for boys and girls 5 to 14 years old. But the problem of bicycle safety remains mostly a problem of children's safety.

In 1972, accidents involving collision of bicycles with cars and trucks killed 1,100 in the United States and disabled 40,000. Of these, the National Safety Council determined that 540 deaths and 26,200 injuries involved children 5 to 14 years old.

In Illinois last year, there were 3,365 collisions of bikes with motor vehicles in which 44 were killed and 3,527 were injured.

"There is no better way to reduce deaths and injuries from bike accidents than to teach bicycle safety and traffic safety, systematically and thoroughly, during school hours, by qualified teachers," Hewlett said.

One of the most interesting and effective bicycle safety efforts in the United States is the facility of the Council on Responsible Driving in Peoria, which has been in operation for the past seven years.

The facility includes a safety laboratory research center which cost $125,000 to construct. It serves 192 school districts in four counties, with 80,000 children enrolled.

Each child is taken to the safety center at least three times a year. At each visit the children spend 1 1/2 hours in a classroom and 1 1/2 hours in the laboratory.

There are 55 bicycles donated to the program, as well as some small automobiles used to simulate traffic conditions along laboratory streets.

The safety center has become a model for the United States. A smaller one has been build in Danville.

Hewlett said a copy of the revised Illinois Bicycle Rules of

Illinois Parks and Recreation 6 March/April, 1974

the Road should be given to every child that rides a bike. The booklet is available at any Drivers License Facility or by writing Secretary Hewlett in Springfield.

"A father who buys his son a bike must realize the responsibility that goes with it, and teach it to his child," said Hewlett. "He should be certain the child is old enough to understand that he must obey traffic laws."

Children, even if they are only six or seven years old, must be taught that a bicycle is more than a toy.

"The average child is not reliable in urban traffic unless he is at least nine or 10 years old, well informed, and well disciplined," Hewlett added.

The Bicycle Rules of the Road will help teach children that traffic laws apply to them and to their bicycles as well as to their parents and to the family car.

"And don't ever forget," Howlett said, "a child who sees his father or mother drive a car carelessly has a horrible example to guide him on his bike. Nobody is ever too young—or too old—to learn respect for the law."

Illinois Parks and Recreation 7 March/April, 1974