Secure Bike Storage Can Help Cut Childhood Obesity

The number of children who choose to cycle to school is surprisingly low, with only 2% of students opting to do so. With cycling now more popular than ever amongst both younger and older generations alike, this tiny figure seems to make very little sense. After all, the majority of children will happily use their bikes every single day as both a way to have fun and a genuine mode of transport.

Since last summer, when Brits walked away with the most prestigious cycling trophies in the world, hundreds of thousands of people have taken up cycling, something that was no doubt buoyed by our surprisingly clement weather this summer. Yet, still, the figures remain low when it comes to the number of children cycling to and from school.

So why do so few wish to take their bikes to school?

The main concern seems to be safety, with parents worrying about how safe their children will be out on the roads, as well as how safe bikes will be once they are on the school grounds. Furthermore, with so many schools launching initiatives to get children active and promote good health, few are looking at ways to make cycling more appealing.

Of course, schools alone may not be able to change the views of parents and children, but by introducing secure bike storage, they may well make positive strides in the right direction. Cycle paths will still be needed, particularly in the vicinity of schools, but by helping to put parents’ minds at ease by virtually guaranteeing the safety of expensive bikes, right away there will be a bigger incentive for children not to leave their two-wheels at home.

Not only will unsecured bike storage allow other children to mess with bikes during school time, vandalizing them or even hiding them, but unsecured bike storage will also allow passersby to walk away with expensive cycles. The right cycle compounds will remove the potential for both, ensuring that all bikes remain safe whilst on the school grounds.

There are also plenty of ways to make cycling more appealing to children, from offering a ‘points’ scheme that can be translated into certain prizes to simply allowing such bikes to be used as part of physical education.

It is, of course, not just children who will benefit from cycling to school. Teachers too may well feel more refreshed, be financially better off and be more likely to arrive on time each and every day if they are able to cycle to school. In turn, looking into secure storage for bikes will benefit the school as a whole, rather than just helping to get children more active on a daily basis.

Childhood obesity is becoming a serious problem in the UK, and the more steps that schools take to tackle it, the better off our children will be in the future, and the happier and healthier – not to mention more focussed – they are likely to be throughout their school life. And whilst this may not be a panacea, secure cycle shelters are certainly a good place to start.