The West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance spread its safety messages to three more schools in our district this month.
At Community Middle School, we continued our #TagThatBag campaign with a short message on how to better make yourself be seen at night. Three of our board members described a number of ways to do this and handed out a few hundred special reflective CMS stickers for backpacks, thanks to a partnership with the school’s PTSA. (If your child or grandchild needs one, the main office has some to hand out.)
As we reminded students, just because you can see a car’s headlights doesn’t mean the driver can see you.
At High School South, trustee Jerry Foster spoke to all the sophomores taking driver’s education and highlighted how to drive safely when they see people walking or bicycling. He reminded them about blind spots and how speed kills, then engaged them with safety challenges and showed them a way to avoid “dooring” a bicyclist.
He also taught them how to recognize the differences between shared lanes, bike lanes and shoulders, and how to drive when crossing bike lanes. Plus he covered laws specific to New Jersey, such as how to recognize marked and unmarked crosswalks and how they should then drive.
Then it was off to Village School, where Prahlad, one of our student advisors, talked to nine 4th-grade classes about how to be visible and safe in the dark. He focused on wearing reflective gear and using lights when playing outside so that students can been seen by drivers. The WWBPA handed out reflective stickers that can go on bikes, scooters and helmets as well as backpacks.
Again, please remind your children and grandchildren that just because they can see a car’s headlights doesn’t mean the driver can see them.
Tags: night visibility, nighttime visibility, pedestrian safety, reflective vests