By Agnes Winarti
Published in Bali Daily/The Jakarta Post | Tuesday, November 6, 2012
“Parents’ lifestyles determine their children’s inclination to ride a motorcycle or bicycle. Teachers are also significant role models in promoting the bike-to-school preference among underage students,” said parent and teacher Made Darwi on the sidelines of a bike-to-school campaign by the Denpasar-based association of bicycle communities (SAMAS) at SMP Sunari Loka junior high school in Kuta over the weekend. Around 300 first grade junior high school students attended the campaign.
He claimed that about 200 out of the over 1,200 students cycled their way to school, apparently because their headmaster was actively engaged in the Sunari Loka bicycle community, and sometimes biked to school himself.
For another parent, I Gusti Ngurah Wirata, who is also an active member of the Denpasar-based Lelasan Berseri bicycle community, similarly cycling to school is part of his way of educating his four children about the deeper philosophical importance of appreciating a process in life.
“Cycling to school is not only for health or to save the environment. As a father, I see it as a way for my children to understand that things in life do not all come in an instant. There’s a process in everything,” the clothing entrepreneur said. He only allows his children to ride motorcycles on public streets when they have reached the age of 17 and have a driving license.
Wirata applauded the school’s effort to drum up student appreciation for cycling through sightseeing activities to tourism locations like Nusa Dua, Taman Ayun in Mengwi and Garuda Wisnu Kencana cultural park, which take place by bike.
SAMAS secretary Endra Datta told Bali Daily that promoting bike-to-school among junior and senior high schools in Denpasar and Badung remained challenging work. “We are trying to strengthen the bike-to-school preference that is already present in schools like Sunari Loka. When we try to promote bike-to-school in schools that don’t possess a bicycling culture, it is extremely difficult.”
As of today, SAMAS has so far initiated visits to encourage the bike-to-school attitude among junior and senior high schools in Ubud, Denpasar city and Badung regency. It plans to widen its bike-to-school campaign at the upcoming Green Camp Festival on Serangan island, in which dozens of schools will participate.
Both Darwi and Endra regretted that the bike-to-school promotion efforts seemed to face a quite peculiar challenge from the law enforcers (police) themselves. “Just last week, personnel from the Kuta Police came to Sunari Loka junior high school promoting safe riding to the underage junior high school students. Apparently, the police said underage students may ride motorbikes after all, so long as they wore their school uniforms, a safety helmet, and carried the STNK [vehicle registration document],” said Darwi, shaking his head in disbelief, while he cited another occurrence where he saw the son of a policeman in his neighborhood allowed to ride his own motorcycle, although he is not yet 17 years old.
Endra noted that similar motorcycle safety guidance had been promoted by police personnel at another junior high school in Denpasar. “Supported by a motorcycle company, the police came to a junior high school located on Jl. Gunung Agung to raise awareness of safe motorcycle riding. While we come to schools asking underage students not to drive motorbikes, the police say otherwise. That’s just incomprehensible,” said Endra.
Meanwhile, head of Denpasar Police Sr. Comr. Wayan Sunartha told Bali Daily over the weekend that students without a driving license who rode motorcycles were violating traffic laws.
“We have repeatedly come to schools to remind students of this traffic regulation. Despite wearing helmets, underage students, who obviously do not have a driving license, will have their motorbikes confiscated. We will call their parents and teachers too. We can’t give them tickets as ticketing is not a solution for this problem. Parents and teachers must also take responsibility to keep reminding their children not to violate the law,” said Sunartha.
