Kids on Bikes: Health and Safety

This is a story product from CEC Awardee Kids on Bikes (KOB). KOB is a nonprofit organization working to increase the number of kids who regularly ride bicycles. The organization promotes the benefits of physical activity for children, by creating pathways for youth to earn their own bicycles and toolkits.

Only 13% of Colorado kids walk or bike to school compared to nearly 50% of kids 30 years ago. In this time, childhood obesity has grown 300%. We see this daily in our work with schools and in many cases, we witness far less than 13% of a student population walking or biking to school. Bicycling to school has been shown to improve cardiovascular health (Borrestad, L., et. al., 2012). Importantly, children who are obese are more likely to remain obese as adults (Whitaker, R., et al., 1997), while overweight adolescents who bike three to four days per week are 85% more likely to become healthy-weight adults (Menschik, D., et al., 2008).