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Central Point kick starts bike safety plan for kids Saturday Mar 15, 2008 at 12:01 AM Brock Rowley cringes every time he looks out his office window at students on bikes or scooters. By BUFFY POLLOCK Brock Rowley cringes every time he looks out his office window at students on bikes or scooters. Usually, the Central Point Elementary School principal notes, they're without helmets, riding double or headed down the wrong side of the road without an apparent care in the world. An avid cyclist himself, he's hoping a recent donation of 32 bikes from the Portland Bicycle Transportation Alliance will jump-start a long awaited — and much needed — bicycle safety program in at least two of the district's schools. The bikes, donated this week to the Central Point Police Department's bicycle safety program, will be used in a two-week safety course with fifth- and sixth-graders in the district. The program will kick off in classrooms, with information on fitting helmets, rules of the road and safety. Then it will move outdoors where basic bike handling and hand signals are among the topics. Eventually, students will practice at their new skills on a mock street system on their playground. Graduation from the program will include a controlled community ride with local bike patrol officers. "We're hoping students get some basic vocabulary on the bikes and become aware of their rights and responsibilities when they use the roadways and sidewalks," Rowley said. "We're also hoping, when we do a community ride at the end of the course, the people in the community will see packs of bikers and realize they are sharing the road"¦ . We're hoping the awareness and the safety factor work both ways." Central Point police Sgt. Jeff Britton noted that the Police Department has coordinated a number of bicycle rodeos through the city's Parks and Recreation Department over the years. But the grant of nearly three dozen bikes — with a total value of about $5,000 — will allow the department to hold many more sessions and reach significantly more students. "The goal is to promote safe bicycling and to educate them on the rules of the road," said Britton. Britton hopes to offer the safety course immediately following spring break. The first session will be held with a small group of students in a trial run of sorts. "Then next fall we'll try to get to all the fifth- and sixth-graders," added Britton. "We want to get this program to as many students as possible. It's something they all can use"¦ . We want kids to be safe." The Police Department will store the bikes between sessions of the bicycle safety program. The bikes will be kept for use in the program and will not be given away or loaned out. Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected].