ROANOKE, Va. – Watch out world, Roanoke’s youngest drivers are hitting the streets – well, the parking lot – and just on bikes.
“I learned that it’s a really safe place for kids to realize how to learn how to ride a bike and how different people will help you and guide you,” said 5th grader Kalise Flood.
While fine-tuning their bike skills is a plus, the Traffic Garden at Westside Elementary is to teach students the rules of the road.
“It’s a tool to have students learn about proper ways to use the streets, the crosswalks, and the bike lanes,” said Dwayne D’Ardenne, Transportation Division Manager for the City of Roanoke.
It’s the first of its kind in the Start City. The course is fun and filled with traffic signs that students can familiarize themselves with.
“Red means stop, green means go. And to be able to have an authentic learning experience out here using the traffic garden to teach those principles in a real-world way is important,” explained Westside Elementary School principal Kristen English.
It also helps kids navigate streets and intersections in a safe place, away from vehicles.
“You never what that driver is doing, or the other person on the bike is doing, or what a pedestrian is doing. So you always have to pay attention to your surroundings,” added D’Ardenne.
A Traffic Garden, teaching little tikes how to tackle the road together.