The event will consist of seven interactive stations, where kids can practice their skills while learning the rules of the road. To participate in the event, children will be required to wear a helmet.
Kids will learn to:
- Check their helmets.
- Make sure their wheels are properly fitted.
- Make simple repairs to bikes, skateboards, scooters, etc.
- Follow traffic rules.
- Ride correctly — balance, starting and stopping, riding straight, scanning and signaling.
- Know where it is safe to ride.
The most effective safety device available to reduce head injury and death from wheeled sport accidents is to wear a helmet. Only 41 percent of kids ages 5 to 14 wear helmets when participating in wheeled sports, and 35 percent of them use helmets incorrectly. It is estimated that 75 percent of fatal head injuries among child bicyclists could have been prevented with a helmet.
"Teaching children how to properly use helmets and follow traffic rules are important and easy steps to preventing accidental injuries," said Bobbi Paper, coordinator of Safe Kids Fargo/Moorhead. "Educational events, such as the bike safety rodeo, provide parents and guardians with the tools and information they need to keep kids safe."
For more information:
- Visit meritcare.com; keyword bike rodeo.
- This event is sponsored by MeritCare Children's Clinics and Kohl's.