Prince Albert Police officers Cst.Derek Simonson, left and Cst. Ron Meyers, right, teach kids about how to prevent bike theft. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW staff)

By Ian Gustafson

Preventing injury

First responders educate children on bike safety

Jun 26, 2021 | 6:25 PM

The Prince Albert Police Service, Parkland Ambulance, Prince Albert Fire Department and Fresh Air Experience joined forces at the Bike Rally Rodeo to teach children about bike safety and preventing theft.

On Saturday afternoon, when children arrived at the Parkland Hall parking lot, they would first be directed to Fresh Air Experience where their bicycles would get a maintenance check. They would then get briefed by Parkland Ambulance on the importance of wearing a helmet and move on to the police who talked about ways to prevent bikes from being stolen, as well as safety. To finish it off, the fire department and police assisted the children in a basic maneuver course to practice turning and braking. Participants also received a lesson in the rules of the road including hand signs and etiquette.

Constable Derek Simonson and Constable Ron Meyers were the representatives from the police force there to teach the kids. Simonson told paNOW due to bike thefts in the city, the topics covered included how to properly record your serial numbers, take pictures of your bike and properly secure it when its not in use.

“That means locking it up, even putting it in a shed or a garage so it’s not visible or even in the house when you have a really expensive bike,” Simonson said.

Cst. Derek Simonson walks through a braking exercise. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW staff)

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He also stressed the importance of reporting it stolen even if you may think it’s not important enough. He added, as minor as it may seem, they need to know.

Simonson explained if you don’t have a garage, to lock your bike up through the tires and the frame onto something solid on your property.

One of the attendees going through a turning exercise. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW staff)

“Part of slowing the bike theft down in any city is ensuring people understand there’s serial numbers on their bikes and locking it up properly and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “We know that it’s not a Prince Albert thing, it’s across North America. We know that when a bike is stolen that it’s very quickly usually disassembled and serial numbers are scratched out and they’re repainted. Those first 12 hours are really important the owners report that to police as soon as they can.”

Recently, the city passed a new bicycle bylaw to help stop bicycle thefts and make riding safer.

Lyle Karasiuk, Director of Public Affairs for Parkland Ambulance, was at the rally on behalf of Parkland Ambulance to talk about the importance of helmets.

He explained it’s important for parents to be role models for their children by wearing a helmet. He added adults are just as much at risk as children for head injuries.

“Really simply a helmet needs to sit flat on your head, it needs to be tight, it needs to be two fingers above the eyebrow, it needs to have the straps come on either side of the ears and then one finger under the chin,” Karasiuk said.

He added four out of five people who are in a bike collision are okay when wearing a helmet. He said they’ve had horrific incidents of people who ride quite often who’ve survived because they were wearing a helmet.

“Now a helmet’s not going to prevent you from getting a head injury. A helmet’s going to lessen the degree to which you’re going to have an injury,” Karasiuk explained.

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Ian.Gustafson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @IanGustafson12