BSAFE has successfully completed its third school year.

Whether I am walking, in a car or on the most common vehicle the planet has to offer…a bicycle:  “BSAFE” is a word I hear shouted out to me everyday.  The positive recognition BSAFE has generated with the public  is one of the main reasons I strive to carry on with the program.    

Since starting the BSAFE (Bicycle Safety Awareness For Everyone) program in October 2008 BSAFE has managed to touch the lives of many children.   Some of the accomplishments of this free program are:

Over 700 students have participated in a Level 1 class; ages 8 to 11, each of these students was given a helmet upon completion of the course.

Over 250 children have taken part in Learn to Ride weekends; ages 3 to 14.

Over 150 children participated in the Buzzbee race series; ages 5 to 15.

BSAFE has given away over $40,000 worth of equipment; bikes, t-shirts and most notably helmets.  One may ask why I have I given so much away?  The simplest answer is that I do not want a child to get excited about riding a bike and not be able to give them a helmet.  I don’t want this to be a financial choice because helmet use should be as automatic as seat belt use is in a car.  It is important to note that in 2009 I prepared a budget that reflected this much giving.  I was lead to believe that I had achieved this amount of support through private and government support. Unfortunately because of a shortfall within our own government’s budget, this did not happen. 

I continued to give and run the program in the manner that I had pledged until January 2011, when I finally ran out of helmets and t-shirts. I could no longer offer the same free Level 1 program, so I switched gears and started some extracurricular riding programs for students who had already gone through the BSAFE Level 1 course.  This was a huge success, so much so, that I decided to do a survey at Althea Scatliffe.  I found out that of all the 202 Class 4 and 5 students surveyed; over 95% expressed interest in participating in some form of cycling offered by BSAFE. 

My belief in using a bicycle as a tool, to teach young children respect for themselves and others, is the key to the success of the BSAFE program.  Everyone wants to ride a bike, not only is it fun, but it can change the way you approach a lot of life’s challenges, for the better. 

The involvement and support I have received from the private sponsors Caribbean Alliance Insurance and their agents Caribbean Insurers, Ogier, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Burke’s Garage has been met.  These companies have all pledged to continue their sponsorships into the new school year of 2011/12.  

To date the Ministry of Education has been unable to find the funds they pledged over two years ago.  Their support was to be as title sponsor and 50% of the budget BSAFE needed to operate correctly. 

I will be approaching the new school year cautiously and I hope I can find additional corporate sponsorship as well as renegotiate some form of financial commitment from the Ministry of Education, so that I may continue with the fundamental message of this program.   

BSAFE (Bicycle Safety Awareness For Everyone) is a free afterschool bicycle education program designed to build awareness of a student’s riding environment.  The program targets class three children because, statistically, children tend to have more bicycle related mishaps when they get a little older. 

BSAFE only exists because of the generous support of its sponsors.  If you or your company would like to find out how to help the BSAFE program visit www.bsafe.vg  or contact Chris Ghiorse at 542-1981 or chris@bsafe.vg