Grade three students practice bike safety at Yorkdale

YORKTON – Members of the Yorkton RCMP, the Yorkton Fire Department, Mayor Hippsley and employees of Hometown Source for Sports were in attendance at Yorkdale Central School for the Grade Three Bike Safety Rodeo.

"We do it pretty much every year for all of the grade three students," said Constable Kimberly Flett of the Yorkton RCMP and School Resource Officer for all of the schools in Yorkton.

Flett said she spent the two previous weeks in classrooms with students educating them with videos and bike safety talks.

"Today kicks off the first day for the bike rodeo," said Flett, adding, "[The students are] going to be doing an obstacle course which includes some safety skills they need to know – how to stop and brake, how to weave in and out of objects, going in a straight line – stuff like that."

"All the grade three students look forward to this event – usually when they're in grade one and two they already know that it's going to be coming up – so they look forward to it and it's a good time for them to actually practice in a safe stop so that they're not out in the middle of traffic."

"They also get a free helmet as a part of this program so that they can ride around the community safely," said Flett.

"I do see, when I'm around the community, there's quite a few kids using the helmets that we purchased for them," said Flett.

Employees of Hometown Source for Sports were there to give bikes a quick tune up before hitting the road and the Yorkton Fire Department also attended the event to make sure the bike tires were properly inflated.

"[We] definitely see a lot of good things around the community with the kids who go through the rodeo," said Flett, "I find that it's pretty beneficial."