School’s out for the summer and that means drivers are likely to see kids more often on the streets riding bikes. Brandi Thompson of the Iowa SAFE KIDS Coalition says you now have to pay attention to more than the school zones. She says they’re riding to the store, to the park to friend’s houses and she says drivers need to be more aware of the kids. Thompson says kids get excited and may not always follow the rules of the road. She says sometimes kids forget that they need to ride on the sidewalk and tend to think they can cross the street whenever and wherever, so she says drivers have to constantly be aware of what’s going on around them. Thompson says parents should educate kids of the proper rules when riding their bikes. She says you should remind kids that they need to be alert while on their bikes. She says we teach them to look left and right, but we also need to teach them to look behind them as well. She says a bicycle helmet can reduce injuries by 85-percent. She says it’s important for parents to enforce the helmet rule and be a good role model as well. Thompson says, more than 100 children die from bicycle-related injuries each year, and more than a quarter million are treated in emergency rooms.
