Reader urges bicycle, pedestrian safety as school begins anew

Letter to the Editor, 

With school starting (this) week, this is a plea to parents, teachers and law enforcement:

Please do all you can to educate children to operate a bicycle properly and safely.

Make sure they understand that in order to cross at a crosswalk as a pedestrian, they must get of their bike and walk across. It would appear that many don’t know which side of the street they are supposed to ride on or else they don’t think it matters.

So, officer, please don’t ignore it when you see violations. Take a minute to help them make a correction.

You might be able to do something unsafely for hundreds of times without any bad consequences, but one tragedy is one too many.

I would like to see a positive reinforcement program implemented similar to Troy’s where policemen give a reward to children when they observe them doing the right thing.

Business owners are often asked to provide such things, so give them a break. If enough concerned citizens bought a few $5 gift certificates from appropriate local businesses and give them to cooperating policemen, we could probably get the kids thinking about safety themselves.

So, what about it?

Can you spare $10 or $20?

If you are willing to support this idea, contact Terry Watson of Libby Police Dept. at 293-3343.

—Tom O’Bleness

Libby