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‘Streets become safer when women and children use them’
Before I had a kid, six years ago, I rode my bike to work every day.
Once I became a mother, it took me ages to get back on my bike, and even longer to think I could ride with my kid on the back. I finally tried it when he was two and realised I had been missing out.
So in 2014 I started East Bristol Kidical Mass, a family cycling group with the idea to get other mums back on their bikes, with the kiddos in tow. Not only could we do something social, for free, but it would be active.
is needed now More than ever
The project, housed within Wellspring Healthy Living Centre, received funding to buy a Dutch cargo bike and some more seats for little ones.
In the last two years, we’ve led more than 50 rides with a few hundred participants.
Our rides use the Bristol & Bath Railway Path, a long linear park that acts as an ecological corridor; sometimes the Frome Way, immersing people in the tranquil riparian zone of the Frome; and occasionally we venture into central Bristol to visit the M Shed or At-Bristol.
Last spring we branched out to get more kids and mums on bikes with a pilot instruction project for reception age kids and their mums at Bannerman Road School.
There was overwhelming interest and more than 30 kids learned the basics of riding a bike.
Streets become safer when women and children use them. These kids who are now cycling to school are a part of making our city a safer, healthier place.
Zoe Banks Gross is the director of Easton Energy Group – a community group set up to help individuals reduce their energy use. She also founded East Bristol Kidical Mass, part of a national movement encouraging families to ride bicycles for transportation, exercise and fun.
Read more: Is a cycle hangar heading to your street?
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