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Friday, 26 March 2010

Fergusson cycle training day a rolling success

Students improved their practical road cycling skills at a special cycle event held at Fergusson Intermediate last week on Wednesday 24 March.

The council’s Road Safety Co-ordinator, Joanne Kinnaird, facilitated the training day with the support of the Upper Hutt Police’s Youth Education Officer, Kerry Fenton, and Community Constables, Geoff McGhie and Flora Nielsen.
Teacher Andrew De Wit, a keen cyclist himself, encourages students to cycle to and from school. He identified a core group of cyclists who regularly commute to and from school that would benefit from an intensive cycle safety training day.

Ms Kinnaird says morning ‘on-road’ cycling assessments had highlighted the need for students to improve their usage of hand signals, to understand what to do at stop and give way signs and how to cycle single file without colliding into each other.

After a day of activities including a comprehensive written test, practical helmet test and fitting, as well as looking at intersections, road signage and basic road rules, the students were retested. The improvement in their skills was outstanding, Ms Kinnaird says.

“All the students worked really hard and showed significant improvement when taken for a ride later in the afternoon. It was obvious that they had improved their skills and knowledge, and more importantly, were using them in a real time situation.”

The students received a high visibility backpack cover and other road safety items to use daily as a reward for their intensive training day.

ENDS