St. Edward's National School Sligo

Cycling

On Monday the 26th of April Kevin, from Safe Cycling Initiative, Galway, came to our school. He was teaching us about cycling safely and the rules for cycling on the road, in our local area. We are learning about cycling as part of our Active School Week, and for our Green Flag for the theme of travel.
First Kevin took children for the first course, which was all about learning about keeping steady on the bicycle and learning skills on how to cycle properly, and safely.

Firstly, if you cycle you MUST wear a helmet. Kevin showed us how to check that the helmet fits properly, and snugly. A loose helmet is no use. The helmet must be out over your forehead to protect your face.

We practiced looking behind us, while keeping our balance. If you are cycling and want to turn right, you must check behind you to see if there is a car coming. If the car is close to you, in traffic, you must make sure that the driver sees you. Make eye contact with the driver. Kevin told us that sometimes drivers are not as aware as they should be, of cyclists. Once you are sure that the driver has seen you, signal that you are turning right by putting out your right arm, straight.
We learned how to use the brakes safely and how to cycle slowly, very handy in traffic.

Then Kevin took children for part two. Everyone doing this course had done the first course last year, and was ready to learn about how to cycle safely on the road. First we had to balance on the white lines in the yard to show Kevin how steady we were. We did some warm up exercises and revised our hand signals, and then we were ready to go on the road.

Out on the road motorists always have right of way at round-a-bouts. Again, making eye contact is very important.

If a car is parked on the left side of the road, and you have to cycle by it, you must check behind you, and then signal that you are going to move out, to pass by the car. Watch our for people opening car doors. Sometimes they do not check if a cyclist is coming

It was very enjoyable and we learned a lot of useful tips that we will be able to use when we cycle to school.

Kevin is an experienced cyclist, and he will be in Sligo again for the An Post Cycle to Hazelwood on Sunday 9th May. He invited us to come along, with an adult cyclist from our family.

By Michael Rm 12