Dear Ross Road parents,

Some of you may have noticed the new signage to control the flow of traffic down Kilkenny during the busy morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up times.

My daughter, Sadie, and I ride bikes to school almost every day, and we’re happy to see them.

The engineers at the department of transportation at the District of North Vancouver took an opportunity to install new “Do Not Turn” and “Bicycles Excepted” signs in early February.

The signs may have changed but nothing has practically changed for motor vehicles coming to the school.

• Motor vehicles are prohibited from turning westbound onto Kilkenny from Hoskins and must get to the school by turning onto Bushnell from Ross Road.
• What is different is that bicycles have been clearly and officially excepted from the turn restriction. This establishes Kilkenny as the preferred route for bicycles to get to and from Ross Road. See map below.
• Drivers of motor vehicles should please note that while you cannot turn onto Kilkenny during the restricted times, Kilkenny remains a two-way street. You should be prepared to share the road with bicycles.
• Bikes should come to a complete stop at the intersection of Bushnell and Kilkenny.
• Parent volunteers with the Valet Service will stop motor vehicle traffic from making the turn so cyclists can safely cross Bushnell to the school grounds.

Sadie and I hope to see more bicycles joining us on the road, especially as the weather starts getting warmer. And drier.

If you need a little extra encouragement, you might find it in a new study [http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2013/02/kids-who-walk-or-bike-school-concentrate-better-study-shows/4585/] released last year. It found children who walked or biked to school performed better on concentration tasks than kids who didn’t. The effects lasted for up to four hours after school began.

Thanks for driving safely, and for sharing the road.

– Blaine Kyllo
(Ross Road parent)