Bike Injuries

Each year in the United States, above 500,000 people are hospitalized and over 700 die as a result of bike injuries. 90% of deaths from bike injuries were caused by car crashes. These collisions cause less than 25% of non-fatal injuries which means 75% of bikers who collided with a car died.

Children face a very high risk toward bike-related injuries. Lot of kids do not use proper riding habits which includes wearing a helmet. In 2001 children 15 years and younger composed 59% of all bike injuries. At least 125 children die each year from bike-related brain injuries.

These statistics show how many people die from bike accidents. That is why the community needs Sapphire Force Bike Zones! Bike Zones give bikers a whole lane to themselves before and after-school. With Bike Zones navigation for the bikers will be easier and the bike injuries and deaths will be reduced tremendously.

Los Altos Qualifying Tournament

The SAPphire Force participated in the Los Altos Qualifiers on November 21st 2009. We had a fun and valuable experience. Our team met at Blach Middle School. We got to our pit table, fixing some errors. A last minute mission was programmed to pick up the blue loop, which is worth 10 points. Soon it was time for the opening ceremonies at 1 PM. Our team sat on the stage, squirming around in anticipation. After the ceremony, we spent time to continue on practicing.

Our coaches told us not to worry. 1:44 was our first robot match. We didn't do quite as well ase we wanted, only earning 180 points. But we were determined to do better, and in the next two rounds, we got 280 points each! For us, our team high during meetings was 300 points. Rejuvenated, our team headed to the judging sessions.

The judges thought our robot was really interesting and efficent. Our presentation for the project was next. It went well and the judges realized our idea of Bike Zones was innovative. The last session was teamwork. The judges thought that we collaborated well.

Back in the MU Room, we watched the FIRST team (high school robotics) demonstrate their huge robot spit out plastic balls. It was super cool! Next was the demos of noteworthy robots and projects. The judges were so impressed by our robot and project that we got to present them to everyone in attendance! Following that, it was awards. With bated breaths... we learned that our team had advanced to the 2nd round! And our project got the second place award

Definitely, this First Lego League tournament was worthwhile because it provided a learning experience. We went to Fresh Choice to celebrate our achievements.

Make 'Em Walk

Here is what one typical school child parent might be thinking after reading this blog: “Okay. I know we should walk to school, and I know it will be safe and how to make it even safer. How will I make my child walk to school?”

No, it isn't like this:

Or this:

What you need to do is offer incentives! There are a variety of ways to do this. First of all, you can use a millage club!

A millage club is a club where for every day they walk to school, they earn a little sticker of hole punch on a millage card. When the card is filled out, they receive a cool prize! One example of a very successful one is the iWalk Club. This program is in place in schools all over Canada!

Another incentive is a Walking Bus or Bike Train. These could be considered carpools for walkers and bikers. The children will be able to walk or bike with friends, chatting and having fun all the way there.

These are some ways to get you child to walk to school. Try them out, to make the right choice: walking or biking to school.

Physical inactivity

Free, convenient, enjoyable and does not require special equipment or training: Walking is a great way for adults and kids to be active. Lack of physical activity is a major cause of chronic illness and death for our country’s adults. Being overweight can cause health problems like diabetes during childhood and research shows that physically inactive kids are more likely to grow up to be physically inactive adults – and are therefore at high risk for obesity and related illnesses.

There are plenty of great reasons to walk to school – less traffic, safer streets, cleaner air – but one of the best is that children and parents will be healthier. With obesity rates skyrocketing and only one-quarter of American's able to get the Surgeon General's recommended daily dose of exercise (just 30 minutes), it's an ideal time to encourage people to walk to school for their own health and well-being.

Tips for Safety (Biking)

- Avoid straying too near car doors. Veer to the left to avoid getting hit by an open door.

- Avoid going on rocky paths with pebbles. These often contain spikes.

- Bike with someone else, like a friend, for saftey measures.

- Wear a helmet. Don't forget to buckle the straps!

- Never ride on the sidewalk.

Make Biking and Walking to School Mandatory by Having a Safe Route

Every school should encourage biking, walking, and car pooling. As we all go to neighborhood schools, the distance between homes and schools are not too far off. So kids who live close by should If you can’t walk to school either because you are physically injured or live far away then you can put a certain sticker the school gives you on your car that allows you to drop your child off at the drop off zones. If you bike to school you must be safe at all times! Some ideas to for a safe bike route is, take detours to avoid hazards, take the safest most direct route, ride on bike lane routes, and go on the right side of traffic to avoid collisions. Fact: Kids biking on the side walk have over 2.5 times of colliding with automobile. Just remember you can help us all walking or biking to school.

Tips for Safe Bike Riding

Tips for riding your bike safely:

-Wear reflective gear

-Reflective gear can help cars see you better in day or night. Bike shops sell reflective gear at $10 to $15, including reflective adhesive triangles and reflective vests.

- Get bike lights

-In Florida, roughly 60% of bike accidents happen because cyclists did not have bike lights. In 1999, 39% of all bike accidents nationwide happened between 6 p.m. and midnight. Lights help motorists see you in the dark. Front and back lights help tremendously.

-Always signal your turns

-Signaling your turns can inform cars which way you are going, so they can give you some leeway. Point your left arm out to move left, and point your right arm out to move right. (You might have learned an old way of signaling a right turn with your left arm, but drivers basiclly have no idea what that means, so it's useless. Signal a right turn with your right arm.)

-Restrain from using IPods and cellphones

-The fewer distractions the better. Also, it is good to have you hands

available at all times.

Fact: Around 33,000 people die in car crashes in the U.S. each year.
About 1 in 41 is a bicyclist.

THANKS FOR READING, AND RIDE SAFELY!

How do you brace yourself for an impact from a car?

How do you brace yourself for an impact from a car? How would it be like to be hit by a car speeding on a bicycle? If you want to know look at the video below.

What are the main causes impacting Walking / Biking to School?

- Traffic Safety

- One of the major reasons parents don’t allow their kids to walk or bike is traffic safety. In the 2004 National Survey this was 30.4% of the reason of why people did not walk or bike to school.

- In 2004 493 pedestrians and bikers 14 and under died while car accidents killed 1,638 people of this age. It is actually safer to walk or bike than it is to drive.

- Perceptions about traffic can lead to even less walking or bicycling. As more children are driven, more parents become convinced that traffic conditions make it unsafe for walking or bicycling and they join the line of cars at school.

What about the Environment?

- Pollution

- School is where all the kids go. Most kids at Kennedy come by car to school. People from ages 5-19 make up about 16% of Cupertino’s population. Since most people drive to school it adds up to a lot of greenhouse gas emissions.

- Physical Inactivity

- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that of children ages 9 to 13 years:

- 62 percent do not participate in any organized physical activity.

- 23 percent do not engage in any free-time physical activity outside of school hours.

- In the last twenty years obesity rates have more than doubled among children.

-

Traffic Congestion

- Traffic Congestion

-There is a lot of traffic around schools.

-It clogs up the neighborhoods surrounding the school.

- In the morning it is practically faster to walk than to drive in some areas.

So what are Bike Zones anyway ?

Bike Zones

• Bike Zones are a Safety Perimeter around a school that will have a traffic pattern to make biking and walking to school safer.
• The traffic pattern will include one way streets that will dedicate one whole lane for Walking, Biking, Scootering, Skateboarding, etc.
• Roughly 4 Hours per school Day –7:30 AM –9:30 AM; 2:00 –4:00 PM
• Bike Zones include drop off zones that will be dedicated for dropping off kids in cars.
• There will be crossing guards to help kids cross the street safely.
• Traffic Direction is clearly marked; Flashing Lights to indicate Bike Zones.

Traffic Volunteers Help A LOT!

• Parent helpers/student helpers can improve the efficiency of loading and unloading in the school drop off zone. Traffic would move much faster with volunteers opening the doors and helping kids unload. 
• At the intersections of main bike zones few volunteers will supervise and guide the flow of traffic.

 Bike Zones Accommodate Traffic Flow for Special Needs

• Emergency vehicles such as police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances should be allowed to use both the bike zone and the one way lane. Sirens are required.
• School Staff can have a special placard that will be hung on their rear view mirror allowing them access on the bike zone. Since staff arrive at school before the kids, safety should not be a major issue. 
• Schools can rent out electric wheelchairs for the injured and physically challenged students making them a vehicle of the Bike zones. Other special needs students being dropped off will follow the same policies as everyone else.

What do you think of this concept? Give us your feedback.

Safe Routes to School

The Bronx, a borough of New York City, started the first SRTS program in the United States in 1997. In the same year, the State of Florida implemented a pilot program. Federal transportation legislation devoted $612 million for The National Safe Routes to school program between 2005 and 2009.  The program has been very successful to date. We need more adoption of that program in California.

According to the Federal Highway administration, 

• In 1969, 42 out of every hundred children from 5 -18 walked or biked to school.
• In 2001, only 16 out of every hundred children from 5-16 walked or biked to school.
• In 1969, 87 out of every hundred children from 5-18 who lived within a one mile radius of the school walked or biked to school.
• In 2001, only 63 out of every hundred children from 5-18 who lived within a one mile radius of the school walked or biked to school.

Parents surveyed named 5 main reasons for not letting their kids bike to school. 

Barrier: Percentage of Parents Identifying with the Barrier
Distance to school: 61.5
Traffic-related danger: 30.4
Weather: 18.6
Crime danger: 11.7
Opposing school policy: 6.0
Other reasons (not identified): 15.0

Distance to School

Between 1940 and 2003, the number of public school districts decreased from 117,108 to 14,465, and the number of public and private elementary and secondary schools went from over 226,000 to approximately 95,000 in 2003, and making bigger schools far for more people.The schools are frequently built where land costs are lower, which tend to be on the edges of communities instead of in the centers of existing communities. School consolidation has made the trip between home and school longer, and longer trips cause fewer children to walk and bike.

Traffic-related Danger

In 2004, 493 pedestrians and bicyclists ages 14 and under were killed, and approximately 29,000 children were injured while walking or bicycling in the United States. However, being inside a motor vehicle does not ensure safety. In fact, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for school-age children.In the United States during 2004, 1,638 children ages 14 and under were killed and 246,000 children were injured as motor vehicle occupants.

Weather

While the weather has not changed much since a generation ago when so many children walked or bicycled, adverse weather was the third most frequently cited reason in the national survey parents gave for not allowing their children to walk to school. Safe Routes to School (SRTS) efforts have been launched in areas with all kinds of weather, from cities across Canada to Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Arlington, Massachusetts.

Crime Danger

Parents most fear that child kidnapping and assault. However, according to the US Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, kidnappings make up less than 2 percent of all violent crimes against people under 18 years old and only 4 percent of all kidnappings occur in the vicinity of a school.

Opposing School Policy

Some schools or communities do enforce school policies that prohibit children from walking and bicycling to school. The solution may be able to address safety issues rather than permanently ban walking and bicycling to school.

Health

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that of children ages 9 to 13 years, 62 percent do not participate in any organized physical activity and 23 percent do not engage in any free-time physical activity outside of school hours. During the school day, only 8 percent of elementary schools and 6 percent of middle/junior high schools provide daily physical education classes,and recess is no longer provided in some elementary schools. According to the TIME/ABC News Summit on Obesity Public health and medical professionals have begun to speculate that the current generation of children may be the first that will not live as long as their parents.

Electronic Bikes on the Streets of China

Electric bikes are taking over the streets of China. Last year, Chinese bought 21 million e-bikes, compared to 9.4 million autos. China currently has about 25 million cars on the road but has four times as many e-bikes. E- bikes are essentially pedal bikes with an electric boost to make you go faster. They can go to speeds up to 12 mph and can travel 62 miles on a full battery charge. Now, the country has become the world's leading market for these cheap, green vehicles, helping diminish harmful effects of the automobiles that used to swarm the streets. People want more convenient means of transportation but not everyone can afford a car. "Motorcycles are too dangerous, cars are too expensive, public transportation is too crowded and pedal bikes leave you too tired," says Hu Guang, Xinri's deputy general manager. "So people buy e-bikes." Xinri is a leading manufacturer of these e-bikes. In its first year Xinri built about 1,000 bikes. China has about 1 hundred million people riding on e-bikes. E-bikes are a green choice and reduce the fatality rate on the streets. Do you think you should implement these in your country? These futuristic bikes may just be the answer to your traffic problems.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1904334,00.html

Why Don't We Walk?

Nowadays, fewer and fewer people are walking to school; in 1969, 42% of students walked to school, yet in 2001, 0nly 16 percent of students walked to school. Drivers, you probably are familiar with the morning commute, where the traffic slow to a crawl. 20 to 25% of this is caused by children being driven to school!

One reason for this shift is distance. A generation ago, schools were small, located in community centers; now, there are mega-schools, located on the edge of towns where the land is cheaper. Although distance accounts for 61.5% of parents' concerns, it isn't the only problem, as from 1969 to 2001, the percentage of students living within 1 mile of the school dropped from 87% to 63%: over one fifth!

Another barrier some (30%) parents feel exist is traffic danger. This leads parents to drive their children to school, creating even more traffic and feeding the cycle. Anyhow, this concern isn't even valid. In 2004, 493 pedestrians and bicyclists ages 14 and under were killed, and approximately 29,000 children were injured while walking or bicycling in the United States. Sure these are large numbers, but motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for school-age children. In the United States during 2004, 1,638 children ages 14 and under were killed and 246,000 children were injured as motor vehicle occupants.

The third main concern was weather, which accounted for 18.6% of parents' concerns. However, the weather hasn't changed much since the time when almost half the population walked to school. Programs have been set up in all kinds of climates, whether it is freezing cold every other day, or if its never winter.

Parents (at least 11.7%) most fear child kidnapping and assault. However, according to the US Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, kidnappings make up less than 2% of all violent crimes against people under 18 years old and only 4 percent of all kidnappings occur in the vicinity of a school.

Regardless, some schools or communities do enforce school policies that prohibit children from walking and bicycling to school. The solution may be to change the school’s policy to address safety issues rather than permanently ban walking and bicycling to school. 

So, most of the reasons stated by parents are invalid. Make the right choice. Walk or Bike to School.

International Walk to School Day

The international walk to school day promotes safe biking and walking to school throughout the year. This day encourages kids to walk or bike to school. Its main goals are to enhance the health of kids, improve air quality and the environment, and creating safer routes for walking and biking. Biking and walking to school can be fun and a way to get fresh air and exercise throughout the day. International Walk to School Day was on October 7, 2009. If you did not walk or bike to school, watch out for the next International Walk to School Day in 2010 and make it a point to walk or bike on that day or even better throughout the school year!

Pedestrian vs. Bike. Which is safer?

Your parents might say it's safer to walk than bike, but is it really? According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration there was a total of 4,654 pedestrian fatalities and 698 pedal cyclist fatalities in 2007. California has the highest rate of traffic fatalities out of all the states in the USA with 3,974 fatalities in 2007. 109 of these fatalities were bikers. That is about 16% of all the crashes in the USA! On the other hand on average every 111 minutes a pedestrian dies. $5,200,000,000 is spent on kids under 14 (worldwide). Which is safer? You be the judge.

Sources:

1. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/809-456.PDF

2. http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:9AbdBTXYfJ0J:www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/nhtsa_static_file_downloader.jsp%3Ffile%3D/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/NCSA/Content/TSF/2007/810986.pdf+NHTA+bicycle+fatalities+in+2001&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

3. http://www.walkinginfo.org/facts/facts.cfm