Bike trailer delivers education to the classroom

A 16-foot trailer rolls up to Nathan Hale Elementary School in South Suburban Lansing. Waiting inside are 35 bikes that students will use to learn and practice bike safety skills.

Leslie Phemister, Active Trans Southland Safe Routes to School Coordinator has been bringing these bikes to Southland schools and park districts this summer with the aim of teaching at least 1,000 children ages 8-13 how to safely ride bikes.

“They are learning – in a fun way – essential bike skills,” Phemister said.

The bike trailer is part of the Southland Safe Routes to School program, which aims to helps student get to school in safe and healthy ways.

Phemister covers all the basics: scanning, looking over your shoulder, biking through an intersection, turning at an intersection and more.

“Many children use their bicycles as their main mode of transportation but don’t necessarily ride safely or know the rules of riding a bike,” Phemister said. “This trailer gives students in the South Suburbs the opportunity to learn these basic cycling skills and practice to perfect them.”

Phemister said she is already close to hitting the 1,000-student goal after visiting schools in several towns like Palos Heights, Homewood-Flossmoor and Midlothian.

Some of the teachers tested the bikes out, too. “They couldn’t believe they could still ride a bike,” Phemister said. But everyone knows the saying about it being just like….riding a bike.