Program Promotes Bike Safety in New Tampa

It's September again; time to shop for school supplies, and time to look out for bicyclists commuting back and forth to school.

With its web of neatly planned out neighborhoods, wide bike paths and quiet backstreets, bicyclists young and old have found that New Tampa is an ideal place to use their bikes for more than just tooling around on the weekends. Quite a few adults use them to commute to work, and many young people use them to get to class.

With that in mind, the Tampa Palms Homeowners Association recently played host to members of WalkWise Tampa Bay, the University of South Florida's Center for Urban Transportation and the general public to promote biking and walking safety. The event was held Saturday, Sept. 10, at the Compton Park clubhouse.

Neighborhood resident Sylvia Wittmann and her son, William, 8, attended the gathering to learn more about riding safely. Though Mom said William is going to continue to walk to school, they may someday try out their new found knowledge at nearby Flatwoods Park.

“We will have to wait until his muscles get bigger though,” she said jokingly.

Irineo Cabreros, who manages the sculpture workshop at the University of South Florida, rides his bike to work everyday. He was there to help out, as well as to learn something new about peddling safely.

“There are always things that are changing in relation to rules and regulations as to how to ride,” he said. “It’s different from one neighborhood to the next, so you have to adjust for that.”

He also said he wants to see more young people start using their bicycles.

“I’d really like to be a part of bringing that back, if only for the independence it encourages and supports,” he said.

Also attending were local bikeshop owners Randy and Bernadette Myhre and their two children, Finley and Teagan. Randy, who owns in New Tampa, came to meet other people from his neighborhood and to see what the event had to offer.

“I came to make my presence known, meet other people from my neighborhood and encourage more people to ride,” he said as he strapped his two young ones into a seat on his bike. Randy, who is a certified bike safey instructor, also wanted to see what he could do to help encourage more safe bicycling in the area.

“One of the reasons we moved here was to easily be able to safely bike to work and to the grocery store,” Randy said. He also bikes to work, and says the commute is a relatively safe one, even though he has to cross Bruce B. Downs Boulevard twice to get to his shop. He said anyone attempting to do the same thing should not have any problem as long as they know the rules of the road and practice common sense.

One of the goals of the meetup was to show parents how to form walking or biking “school buses” to school and back. To help them, Jason E. Jackman, program planner and analyst with USF’s Center for Urban Transportation Research, presented a slideshow on the rules of the road for bicyclists. He also answered questions from the audience.

“For years now, we’ve been working with the Safe Routes to School Program. ... In doing that, we are encouraging parents to walk and bike with their kids to school,” Jackman said. “It can be difficult to show parents how to start these, so that’s what we’re here for.”

Jackman also made parents aware that forming walking and bike trains lessens traffic congestion and encourages health and exercise, no matter what age you are.

Jackman hoped his presentation would also dispel some myths that parents had about walking to school. “Many parents think that walking to school can’t be done, but here in Tampa Palms it’s definitely possible,” he said.

On hand to help Jackman with his presentation was Jim Shirk, chairman of the Hillsborough County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. Shirk, a 50-mile-a-week bicyclist, noted that half the accidents are caused by bicyclists.

Shirk said "most of those accidents are caused by just a lack of education and training." While there are many rules and regulations to know as a bicyclist, he named a few key ones that would help bicyclists to keep out of harm’s way most of the time.

“Be visible, and be predictable,” he said. “Bicyclists should also wear a helmet and go with the flow of traffic.” And he said that if you are going to ride at night, be sure to have a white light up front to illuminate your way, and a rear red light and at least one rear reflector.

Then, it was time for the best part: an actual ride around the block to test that new found knowledge.

Handy Web links 

• For more information on bike safety, visit this USF site: http://usfweb2.usf.edu/wellness/Bicycle_Safety.asp
• For more information about Tampa’s Walkwise program, visit http://walkwisetampabay.com. You can also acquire your own reflective jacket and bracelet that Mr. Shirk is wearing in the photos to the right.
• For more information about Oliver’s Cycle Sports, visit www.oliverscycles.com