By Do Je-Hae
Staff Reporter
Seoul's elementary schools will conduct mandatory courses on bicycle riding, with an emphasis on safety, officials said Wednesday.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has instructed the schools to introduce four hours of lessons on bicycle riding and safety tips a year.
"Many students ride bicycles to school or for physical exercise, but schools have been negligent in providing safety lessons," an official with the education office said. "This is one of the reasons for the rise in bicycle accidents."
According to police, there were a total of 10,915 bicycle-related traffic accidents in 2008. In particular, accidents involving children have been on the rise.
In 2005, 257 elementary school students reported injuries from bicycle accidents. The figure rose to 388 in 2007.
With collaboration with the Seoul city administration, the education office has also distributed safety guidelines to schools.
They are aimed at helping children dress properly for bicycle riding, abide by traffic signals and in how to deal with accidents.
According to a recent survey by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Management (KCDC), only three percent of children aged from three to 18 wear helmets while cycling.
The survey said 2.4 percent of children from 3 to 11 years old wore protective helmets in 2007 and 3.2 percent did so in 2008. In 2008, bicycle accidents accounted for 14 percent of traffic accident victims with 46 percent of them being under 20 years old.
In the United States, the helmet-wearing rate was 3.8 percent in 1991, but education and guidance campaigns raised the rate to 14.9 percent in 2007.
The KCDC suggested wearing fitted helmets and avoiding bicycling under the influence of alcohol as good ways to stay safe.
"It is necessary to wear bicycle helmets to prevent possible injury. Parents and teachers should educate children to wear them," a KCDC official said.
Bicycles are becoming popular nationwide as an energy-saving means of transportation.
The Ministry of Public Administration and Security recently announced plans to promote the use of two-wheelers, including the construction of a total of 178 kilometers of bicycle paths in 10 key cities. In addition, department stores and big malls will be obligated to install bicycle racks.
Konkuk and six other universities will start, as a pilot program, on-campus free bicycle rentals, enabling students and faculty members to borrow bikes from stations located across the campuses.
Also "Green Traffic" labels will be given to shops and other business entities that provide discounts to consumers who ride bicycles.
The government has announced a plan to invest a total of 1.5 trillion won until 2019 to create bicycle paths totaling 3,120km in length.