bike safety

National Organizations for Youth Safety hosted a Twitter Chat, inviting partner organizations, parents and youth leaders to join a conversation about the state of youth traffic safety today – and what we can do to improve it.

I still remember getting my first bike. It was a lovely fall day, and I was celebrating my 5th birthday at the local park when my parents wheeled it over. And it was beautiful – a light pink frame and white tires with a white basket on the front adorned with purple, blue and yellow daisies, and shimmering multicolored streamers flowing from the handlebars.

Have you ever seen a bike train? Picture lots of excited little kids perched on bicycles, scooters, skateboards and anything else with wheels, anxiously awaiting a signal from a parent or teacher to start pedaling and rolling to school.

I was in a 7-by-10-foot room in Coyoacán, Mexico City, when Paco saw the tweet.

“A child was hit by a car in Mexico City this morning,” he announced, and I heard the combination of frustration, sorrow and exhaustion in his voice.