Bicycle and Traffic Training for Children from FETAV and the City Council
In the training program launched in collaboration with the Fethiye City Council Safe Pedals Working Group and FETAV, children aged 8-12 are taught safe bicycle use and traffic rules. The project aims to promote bicycle culture in Fethiye and strengthen the goal of becoming a bicycle-friendly city.
A training program aimed at instilling safe bicycle riding habits in children and promoting bicycle culture has started in Fethiye.
Within the scope of the program organized in cooperation with the Fethiye City Council Safe Pedals Working Group and the Fethiye Tourism, Promotion, Education, Culture and Environment Foundation (FETAV), children aged 8-12 will be trained on safe bicycle use and traffic rules.
“We wanted to promote bicycle culture through children”
Çiçek Özmen, a Member of the Fethiye City Council Executive Board and representative of the Chamber of Architects, said that the project’s starting point was shaped during the Safe Pedals Working Group meetings of the City Council.
Özmen stated that they believe starting with children is the most appropriate method to raise awareness about bicycle use and emphasized that bicycles hold an important place in the transportation planning of modern cities.
Özmen expressed that Fethiye has the potential to be a bicycle-friendly city and noted that habits acquired at a young age are sustained throughout life. She added that environmental awareness, a sustainable transportation approach, and the adoption of the bicycle as a means of transport will be supported through these trainings.
Özmen said they aim for children to grow up as individuals who can go to school by bicycle and use the city more freely in the coming years.
The first goal is safe bicycle training
FETAV Director Dilek Dinçer said that in the Safe Pedals Working Group meetings of the City Council, the question "How can we be a bicycle-friendly city?" was explored.
Dinçer said that one of the primary objectives of the working group is bicycle training, and therefore they took the first step with children. She stated that with the support of the Fethiye District Governorate and the District Police Department, the traffic police officer Fuat Kılınç provided practical training to children on safe bicycle riding and basic traffic rules.
Dinçer emphasized that the bicycle is an environmentally friendly, sustainable, and healthy means of transportation and noted that instilling this culture in children at an early age will contribute to the building of future bicycle-friendly cities.
