Show Bicycle safety course needed in In all schools BC The ABCs ABC's and reading writing and arithmetic are arc basic to education In this great nation of ot ours but today many Americans are discovering that there Is room for tor another Important Important tant tan nr area a. a In the he process namely bicycle safety This tact factor or is not solely important at the grammar school level With more than million Americans Americans Ameri cans riding bicycles according ac ac- c. c cording to statistics from the Bicycle Manufacturers Association of ot America the rules of ot safe sate bicycle driving are applicable to high school and college students and adults as well It is certainly certainty not sufficient sum dent that youngsters In Inthe Inthe inthe the early grades learn pedestrian pedestrian pe pe- safety walk at atthe atthe atthe the green and not in between between be be- between tween if It you will Accident Accident Accident Acci Acci- dent surveys reveal that there are more bicycle I accidents occurring to youngsters between the ages of ot nine a and d 14 than any other age group Why Is it then that the educational process In Includes includes In in- pedestrian safety for tor elementary students and then automobile driver driver er eI safety education for high school students but only a few tew local and state programs for bicycle drive driver er en education The Federal government is Ls awakening to bicycle safety education and the Department of of- Transportation tation has recently issued a proposed governmental Jargon for tor bicyclist safety standard In addition funds for tor safety education are available avail avaU available able through Section of ot the Federal Highway Safety Act and communities ties can become eligible for this money What this all boils bolls down downto to is that accidents can and must be prevented and solid educational programs programs programs pro pro- grams can and must be developed It ha has been proven time and again that the bicyclist and not the bicycle Is the culprit in the majority of ot bicycle accidents Even the Consumer Consumer Con Cong sumer Product Safety Commission which has issued the long awaited Federal bicycle standard acknowledges this fact tact |