The Spaghetti 100 funds our Kids on Bike program, which supports the Florida Traffic and Bicycle Education Program in our local school district.

Leon County Schools’ Physical Education teachers use a pedestrian and bike safety curriculum entitled “Florida Safe Routes to School” by the Florida Department of Transportation to deliver quality instruction to our 3rd – 5th-grade students that impacts student learning and can save lives. In our physical education classes, we want our students to have a safe, positive environment where they can experience success as they acquire the skills that lead to confidence and, ultimately, the pursuit of a physically active lifestyle for a lifetime. This leads to a higher quality of life for longer.

The pedestrian and bicycle safety unit teaches our students the skills needed to save their lives and the lives of others. We want our students to be equipped with knowledge and skills that they can take home to share with friends and family to help create a safer community for all. The following is an excerpt from “Florida Safe Routes to School” by the FDOT:

“Benefits of a traffic safety education program include, but are not limited to:

Children

• Progressive acquisition of lifetime and lifesaving skills for walking and bicycling

• Development of sound decision-making skills

• Well-developed sense of balance, eye-hand/foot coordination, and other motor skills

• Increased awareness of neighborhood and surroundings

• Increased awareness of conservation issues and earth-friendly habits

• Independent mobility

• Physical activity and improved health

• Lifetime recreation and transportation

The Community

• Increased number of well-informed pedestrians, bicyclists, and, ultimately, drivers

• An adult population more likely to use pedestrian/bicycle transportation, thereby reducing automobile use, pollution, traffic congestion, and energy consumption

• A more pedestrian/bicycle centered transportation system, which may result in greater community interaction, less individual isolation, and a healthier population

Student activities involve both indoor (classroom) lessons and outdoor lessons where practical pedestrian, school bus, and bicycle safety skills can be practiced. The lessons include skills such as:

• Stopping at the Edge

• Stop and Search

• Visual Barriers

• How to enter and leave a school bus

• Importance of Helmets

• Seeing and Being Seen

• Rules of the Road

• Pre-ride bicycle check

• Avoiding hazards and defensive riding techniques, such as stopping, searching for traffic, scanning to the rear, signaling, turning and maneuvering through intersections. 

Children must first learn and practice traffic safety skills in a controlled setting before they venture out into traffic. Mastering these will help children be safer and more predictable pedestrians, bicyclists, and future motorists.

Ideally, children will receive a comprehensive bicycle and pedestrian safety education program which includes skills practice on-bike and as pedestrians.” Please view a sample of videos by the FDOT we use while teaching our students.

Please view a sample of videos by the FDOT we use while teaching our students