The Cabildo of Lanzarote, through the Traffic Safety and Education Service, has just acquired 15 new bicycles that will be used for the practices of the different programs that are developed on the island, both in the educational and social fields.
The bicycles, which have involved an investment of 4,188 euros, have been financed by the Biosphere Reserve Area and will be used by students from all primary schools on the island who participate in the different activities organized by the Island Council in the area of Healthy and Sustainable Traffic Education.
"This is about promoting the use of bicycles in children aged 10 to 12 as a safe and sustainable means of transport, while reinforcing the concept of personal autonomy," explained the Councilor for the Biosphere Reserve, Rafael Juan González Robayna.
Promoting sustainable mobility among schoolchildren
From the Cabildo, they remind that several programs have been launched, such as 'Safe School Route' or 'Students in the road environment' aimed at promoting the safety and autonomy of students in their journeys to school.
"More than 4,000 primary school students participate each year in these activities, whose objectives are set in the 'Lanzarote 2020 Strategy' and which aim to recover the streets as spaces for coexistence for citizens and promote the reduction of polluting emissions and noise to create a healthier, safer and more sustainable urban environment," Robayna pointed out.
Raising awareness about the "serious consequences" of traffic accidents
Likewise, during the summer months, the Island Council also launches the 'Trenzando Huellas' Program, a free activity, aimed at children between the ages of six and twelve, for carrying out shared routes by bicycle or on foot through Arrecife, with the aim of teaching the little ones the rules of road safety and raising awareness of the importance of healthy and sustainable mobility.
"The preventive and awareness-raising activities that we carry out from the Traffic Education Service are extremely important to raise awareness among the population about the traffic accidents that occur on our roads and try to minimize, as far as possible, the serious consequences that these accidents generate," said the Councilor for Security and Traffic Education, Óscar Pérez.
"In this way", through recreational activities and in a dynamic and participatory way, the students of the island, from an early age, learn to use the bicycle correctly on public roads, how to behave as a pedestrian or the most important concepts of road safety, detecting errors and learning from them", he concluded.
