Residents Encouraged to Cycle to Work, School This Week
RCMP Cpl. Craig Douglass registers the spiffy ride of this young cyclist at Exploration Place on Sunday. Photo 250News
Prince George, B.C. – Bike to School Week in Prince George had its official kick-off event Sunday in the parking lot at Exploration Place.
Bike to School Week and Bike to Work Week, which has its kick-off at City Hall Monday morning, are jointly sponsored by the PG Cycling Club, the Brain Injured Group and PG Air. The focus is on safe and enjoyable cycling.
Sunday’s event included a Bike Rodeo, which teaches kid how to handle and manoeuvre a bicycle in a safe, proficient manner. Local bike shops had booths set up and there was information on training programs. Kids were also treated to some healthy snacks and beverages.
And the Prince George RCMP had its own booth set up. Corporal Craig Douglass says “there are several reasons why we’re involved and first and foremost is safety. It’s a very busy week, lots of bikes on the road and we want drivers to be aware that these events are taking place and that there will be more bikes on the road. It’s beautiful weather, people will be out and about so keep an eye out for them.”
The other reason they were on hand was the security aspect. Everyone with a bike was welcome to drop by to have their bike registered, “for free by us through the 529 Garage app, which is a third-party app that we’ve partnered with. This weekend we expect to have registered well over one hundred bikes.”
Cpl. Douglass says there will be other opportunities to register bicycles throughout the summer, and the next four events will be posted on the RCMP website, www.princegeorge.rcmp.ca . They’ll be at the BMX track Wednesday night and at Canadian Tire next Saturday for Jump Start Day.
Bike thefts are up in the city, according to Douglass. “We’ve definitely seen a spike over the last couple of years, hundreds and hundreds, and we recover hundreds of bikes. But because most people don’t record their serial numbers we have no way of getting it back to the rightful owner.”
“This is a method to prevent that because everybody that registers their bike will have their serial number and will have the important information, including photos, of their bike so that we can not only help to locate it but get it back to its owner.”
Douglass says bikes are stolen from school yards, “some right out of living rooms during break and enters, out of shed and garages. We do encourage you to lock your bike up, even if it is in your living room, to make it as difficult as possible to be stolen.”
Bike to Work Week has its official kick-off Monday morning with a breakfast from 6:45 to 9 am at City Hall.
Comments
Lock your bike even when it’s in your living room? When does it end, when do we stop blaming victims and do something about the perpetrators of these crimes?
While you’re at it, put a hasp and padlock on your fridge so they don’t steel the food once they’ve broken in. Chain your furniture to floor and rig your electronics to explode if they cross the property line without being disarmed. Barricade yourself and your children in bedrooms and hope nobody has to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Sleep with loaded guns under your pillow. Bar all the windows and doors of your home. There, now you’re safe in jail at home and free from the menace of criminals.
Ridiculous. I’m seriously surprised more people don’t get killed breaking into people’s homes. The criminal justice system doesn’t seem interested in doing anything about it. I bet they would crucify the homeowner though. Don’t want to set a positive example for community members or criminals.
Trust me, I know! The system I made a career out of for over 35 years is pathetic and marshmallowy. Bulldog with rubber teeth! It is all about the damn, poor offenders and they seem to forget about the victims. Revolving door bar none! I would vote for anybody that has the balls to take a bite out of crime and to hell with the multitude of lawyers who get fat off the system. Too many social workers out there for my liking, look around PG at all the services available, I will leave it at that.
No argument here, Lien!
We have an entire and very huge industry that does very well financially by making sure that we can’t or don’t hold the criminal element responsible for their actions!
Lien, everyone I know expresses the same feelings of frustration!
Almost 4 decades ago Canada adopted the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms! Great! But, why did it not draft a Canadian Charter of Human Duties and Responsibilities! We all live in a society in which we ought to respect law and order! Instead of that we have a revolving door system of which the vast majority has gotten extremely tired of!
Anybody else find the irony of this article encouraging cycling being posted 5-1/2 hours after an article on yet another cyclist being injured in an incident with a vehicle?
If anyone is concerned with bicycle safety, the best action is to park it in the garage and drive.
Yea, what a coincidence? Like to know the specs just for the heck of it. Helmet involved, swerving through the traffic, blowing stop signs, after all probably over half of the cyclists figure that road signs etc. don’t believe it is for them! Just as long all are okay!
oh, i love it when there is a story on bikes on this site. cue the angry drivers. cue the predictable comments about all the scofflaw bike riders out there. we’re such a crazy, risk taking, bad ass bunch. give me a break. I ride as soon as the snow’s gone, until the late fall. I wear a helmet, I obey all traffic rules, I ride on the proper routes, and I’ve still had things thrown at me and been screamed at, probably by people like you.
did you guys see the report on the news last night about a driver that blew a cross walk at Granville island last night in Vancouver? ran over two kids and an elderly man? remember last week, the story about the car that flipped on westwood drive somehow, in the middle of the day, with great road conditions?
no matter what you’re doing, there will always be bad apples. I’m not sure why it’s so hard to understand this and place all the blame on bike riders. Your anger and vitriol towards bike riders is so strange, so disproportionate to what you could and should be angry about. everyone that reads the negative comments from the same old commenters just figures either you are; a. old b. out of shape c. senile d. all of the above.
do you know what a great stress reliever is? not angrily smacking your keyboard, but getting out on a bike and enjoying the weather. even you guys can do it.
The story is about this:
“Douglass says bikes are stolen from school yards, “some right out of living rooms during break and enters, out of shed and garages. We do encourage you to lock your bike up, even if it is in your living room, to make it as difficult as possible to be stolen.”
So one person expressed his frustration about the suggestion to lock up a bike in the living room!
Another one mentioned how some cyclists openly do not traffic laws and common sense! Rightly so!
Why do you think somebody offended you personally?
I used to drive my motorcycle into the living room, had no choice due to lack of criminal justice system working in our favour. Do what ya gotta do as opportunity and criminals/thiefs go hand in hand!
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