RALEIGH – Kids and parents across North Carolina walked and biked to school yesterday to celebrate National Bike & Roll to School Day.
National Bike and Roll to School Day is an annual celebration that brings awareness to safe biking, walking, and driving practices near schools and encourages families to consider healthier alternatives to traveling in a vehicle. This year’s event was the 13th year of the nationwide celebration and there were 74 registered events in NC.
This year, NCDOT’s feature event was in Raleigh. Students, parents, teachers, state, and local officials started their trek at the Food Lion grocery store on Raleigh Blvd. and made their way about a half-mile to the Powell Center for Play and Ingenuity Magnet School on Marlborough Road.
“Events like this are always a great reminder of the importance of safe walking and biking practices, especially for our children,” said Brennon Fuqua, interim director of the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Integrated Mobility Division, which oversees the state’s bicycle, pedestrian, and public transportation programs.
In addition to supporting Safe Routes to School programs, the Integrated Mobility Division promotes bicycle safety through the Bicycle Helmet Initiative that has provided 77,065 helmets to N.C. children in need since 2015 and education like the Motorists & Bicyclists: Best Practices for Road Safety which teaches all roadway users about state laws and best practices for how motorists and bicyclists can safely share the roadway.
For more information, visit the Integrated Mobility Division's Safety page at ncdot.gov. Learn more about IMD and follow Integrated Mobility on Twitter @NCDOT_IMD and LinkedIn at NCDOT Integrated Mobility Division.