Twenty-eight students from P.S. 199, The Shakespeare School, were the lucky recipients of new bikes last week thanks to the Montefiore School Health Program and the Montefiore Einstein Center for Performance Improvement.

 

The bikes were presented to the students at their school, located at 1449 Shakespeare Avenue in the Mt. Eden section of The Bronx on Friday, May 19.

 

Montefiore officials said the Grade 1 to 5 students, who were entered into a raffle after demonstrating respect, readiness, and responsibility, also learned about bike safety during the giveaway event.

 

As reported, May marks National Bike Safety Month and New Yorkers of all ages are being reminded of the importance of wearing a helmet when riding a bike and are being urged by New York Department of State’s Division of Consumer Protection (DCP) officials to wear helmets to reduce the risk of severe head injury and save lives.

On March 9, Kingsbridge Unidos and Cash Cow NYC held a “Buckets for the Bronx: 3v3 Tourney” event at Lehman College during which community members were invited to stop by a drop-in bike repair workshop hosted by volunteers from the Bronx Bike Collective, to avail of basic repairs, safety checks, and to get their input and vision for a more bikeable Bronx.

 

It followed a successful bike repair event previously organized by the same two groups, as reported. NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) officials were also on hand to provide helmets and resources on safety tips at the March event. The Bronx Bike Collective was selected to receive a 2023 Community Leader grant from the Citizens Committee of NYC.

 

Meanwhile, as previously reported, despite new speeding laws which came into effect last August, the number of bikers injured and killed in the borough in traffic accidents has gotten worse in recent years. Often, among those killed are food and other delivery workers / deliveristas. As of August 2022, there were five fatal accidents involving cyclists in the borough. The 7th Annual Bronx “Ghostbike” Memorial Ride was held in July 2022, an annual bike tour spearheaded by Transportation Alternatives in memory of cyclists killed on the borough’s streets.