Communicycle is a co-op, and it is open to people of all ages, but we often end up working with youth who live in the apartment complexes of Chamblee, GA.
The youth have very little, if any, sense of bicycle etiquette and we have never seen anyone using a helmet. For a while, our approach was simply telling the teens a bunch of rules and whining at them put their helmets on when they ride.
It didn't work.
In a discussion about this with one of our faithful volunteers, she had the great idea of 'showing' bike safety and etiquette in action instead of merely talking about it. Great idea!
So we packed our cars FULL of the kids' bikes (mine carried 11), and we trooped the youth over to the Silver Comet Trail, an amazing rails-to-trails paved path that runs from metro Atlanta to the state line of Alabama.
The participants were each given a helmet and required to wear it. We didn't have to say very much - most of the youth noticed right away that all of the other riders on the trail (and there were MANY) were wearing helmets too.
Additionally, the participants were taught some basic riding guidelines including how to pass safely and how to utilize some simple hand signals.
Everyone was told they could keep their helmets if they agreed to wear them. Several agreed, and I am thrilled that they did.
Special thanks to our faithful volunteer for organizing the day, preparing lunch, and making sure the event was a huge success.
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