Chandler said the road safety committee was formed in 2023 in response to a parent engagement survey that identified road safety as the second highest concern at their school. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm

Fall GoByBike week is kicking off from September 23 until October 6 across the province and in Nanaimo. With the weather and this event encouraging more students to ride bicycles to school, École Quarterway Elementary School’s Parent Advisory Council (PAC) is reminding drivers and cyclists to focus on road safety.

Kara Walsh is the PAC vice chair for École Quarterway Elementary School. She started overseeing the GoByBike program at their school two years ago. Walsh said she has two daughters that go to school and they try to be as active as possible with their transit.

“I'm trying to set a good example for my children. I just got an E-bike a couple of years ago. I actually worked up at VIU, and so I try to use my E-bike to go up as often as possible,” Walsh said. “We're always trying to juggle different activities and stuff like that, but we do try to bike as much as we can.”

She said Quarterway has a unique situation when it comes to students getting to the school as its catchment is different due to it being French immersion.

“So we're not like a classic neighbourhood school, where everyone lives a couple of blocks away and can easily walk to school because it's French immersion,” Walsh said. “Parents and children come from all over the city like they can be super far south, like Cedar and having to drive all the way in or in the north end, having to drive in as well.”

Walsh will ride with her kids to school as they live near the school and have a trail they can take. However, she said as the school is next to Bowen Road it can be a bit intimidating to get to.

“I think some parents probably feel a little bit cautious with their children biking on busier roads like that,” Walsh said. “Of course, having bike lanes and proper safety biking measures put into place would probably encourage more students to bike, but I'm actually really, really proud of our student body and our parents.”

She said out of a school of around 400 students there has been a steady increase in the amount of students who ride their bikes to school with over 90 students riding their bikes to school in June of this year.

“So I think consistency and building that positive environment into things, really helps and shows the kids that it's possible to ride their bikes to school, and we got so much more participation,” Walsh said.

While she said the number one reason preventing people from taking active transportation to school is the distances people may live, the busyness of Bowen Road, Townsite Road and East Wellington Road can deter some parents from having their kids ride to school.

“Just because of that safety aspect they not they might not feel super comfortable having their kids on the road, especially if their kids aren't strong bikers and haven't biked a lot,” Walsh said. “It might be a little bit scary for some kids and parents.”

Walsh said GoByBike offers online toolkits with resources on road safety for those riding to school. Some teachers may use the toolkit to teach their students about road safety.

One thing Walsh said the school needs to improve active transportation is new bike racks.

“Oh my gosh, we could use new bike racks so bad. We've talked about this at PAC meetings. Our bike racks are in such sad shape, they're like the old school metal–the ones that you stick your wheel in, and they're all bent and out of shape and resting and all that kind of stuff,” she said. “So they are very sad-looking.”

This fall GoByBike week is hosting a contest for participating schools where there is a chance to win $1,000 to go towards improving active transportation supports.

While the school has yet to win the grand prize they are still hopeful that maybe this year they will win the money to get new bike racks.

But Walsh explained that while they do not have the funding yet for the new bike racks, the school does have a five-year plan that includes getting new bike racks.

Kelsey Chandler is another member of the École Quarterway Elementary School PAC and is also the co-chair for the PAC’s road safety committee.

Chandler said the road safety committee was formed in 2023 in response to a parent engagement survey that identified road safety as the second highest concern at their school, with drug paraphernalia being the top concern.

“Pedestrian and cyclist safety in the immediate vicinity of the school is quite an urgent concern,” Chandler said. “Parents and administrators have been asking for mobility safety improvements due to the high volume and speed of traffic on Bowen Road, East Wellington Road and Townsite Road, and just the volume of the congestion that's caused by a lack of parking at the school.”

Chandler explained as the school is out of catchment a lot of parents have to drive their children to the school which can cause extra congestion in an already busy area.

“Parents end up parking way far away along Townsite Road, and then there's no crosswalk at Townsite Road, so kids are darting across the road, they're going through the Legion parking lot, and there's no real continuous sidewalk even,” Chandler said. “So it's quite a dangerous thing not only for the kids at our school, but it's a very densely and increasingly densely populated area.”

One thing the PAC has been doing to better safety at the school is working with the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District and the City of Nanaimo to request funding for programs.

“This past spring, the City applied for a Vision Zero BC grant on behalf of Quarterway to request some funding that would go towards installing that crosswalk across Townsite Road,” Chandler said. “So the Vision Zero Road Safety Grant Program was established a few years ago, and it's meant to fund improvements that are based on evidence-based solutions. So having the data to support and implement the changes.”

Chandler said right now they are trying to promote road safety at the school and by participating in GoByBike week, highlights the importance of road safety for riders and drivers.

“We're just trying to make the issue a bit more visible. We're hopeful that this year we can provide a safe street, commuter smarts kind of workshop that we could offer at the school,” Chandler said.

No matter if it’s GoByBike week or any other week, Chandler asks all drivers to slow down near school zones and to stay aware of any students that may be on the road.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.