As the coming months warm up and bring sunshine to the Pembina Valley, it's important to remember the rules of the road and practice bike safety, says Altona Chief of Police Perry Batchelor.

To remind students the importance of following bicycle laws, members of the Altona Police Service held two bike rodeos; one in Plum Coulee where roughly 130 students participated, and another at Ecole West Park School in Altona with approximately 190 students in attendance.

At the bike rodeos, students wheeled through courses with intersections, traffic signs, a crosswalk, an emergency vehicle and flash cards that represented cars. Students were also expected to make shoulder checks and safe decisions based on specific circumstances.

Students Katelyn Wright from Ecole West Park School and Miles Buhler from Plum Coulee, won bicycles. Two other students, Sean Hildebrand and Peter Schoenke, won prizes from Manitoba Public Insurance, after demonstrating their cycling abilities.

Overall, Batchelor said he thinks many of the students gained a reasonable awareness and understanding of bike safety.

“We find that when we have something structured at the schools, sometimes things transfer onto the streets, and that's really our hope, that the skills we try to re-establish and try to get through to the students move forward onto the streets,” he said.

Miles Buhler, Plum Coulee school student, also won a bike at the rodeo

But bike rodeos aren't the only way children can be educated. Parents and teachers play a large role in teaching bike safety to kids, said Batchelor.  

“The best way is to lead by example. Stop at the stop signs, use your hand signals... Helmets are not the law for adults, but it'd be great for them to wear them,” he said.

The most important thing to do, said the police chief, is to wear a helmet that fits properly. Anyone under 18 years is required by law to wear a helmet, even children riding in bike trailers.

However, helmets the correct size are hard to come by for children with smaller heads. Batchelor said a solution here is to avoid carrying a child in a trailer at all. Winnipeg Regional Health Authority suggests waiting until the child is at least 12 months old.

A reason some people don't obey bike laws is because they don't think they are vulnerable to accident, said Batchelor. But in this case, it only takes a second for someone to become the victim of serious injury.

Bodily harm is not the only potential result of not following the rules, though. For not stopping at a stop sign, one could be fined $200.  

For this reason, Batchelor reminds the public of this:

“Don't blow through stop signs. Stop means stop,” he said.