With summer fast approaching and families starting to get back outside, Sutton Elementary School held an interactive event Thursday to teach students in 3rd and 4th grade some rules of the road while also having some fun by participating in the Norton Children’s Hospital Bike Safety Rodeo.
The Bike Safety Rodeo is designed to teach hands-on bicycle safety. A professional instructor from Norton Children’s Prevention & Wellness teaches the importance of wearing helmets and how to safely ride in students’ neighborhoods.
After some quick lessons, the students hopped on bikes and rode through a course to apply what they learned.
“We find that many local kids don’t wear helmets and most don’t really have an understanding of how to ride,” said Doug Beckhart, bike safety coordinator with Norton Children’s Prevention & Wellness. “Our goal with the rodeo is to teach them safe and healthy riding habits.”
According to Norton Children’s Hospital, more children ages 5-14 are seen in emergency rooms for injuries related to biking than any other sport. Each year, Norton Children’s treats hundreds of kids throughout Kentucky for bike-related injuries, including broken bones, concussions and other head trauma.
The rodeo is free for elementary schools and is funded through the Norton Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Jennifer Thurman, Family Resource Center Coordinator at Sutton, said the school holds the rodeo each year in the spring. It’s typically just for 3rd-grade students, but 4th-graders participated this year since they missed out last spring.
“We set it up to give kids an opportunity to learn about bicycle safety and just have that skill that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives,” Thurman said. “We do it in the spring because we’re heading into summer and we want the kids to have the skills that they are going to need to stay safe and come back to us next year.”
