Tennessee Highway Safety Office Supports Collegedale Police Department’s Local Bicycling Initiative

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, October 24, 2016

Contact: Arriale Tabson
Office: 615-253-5152

Tennessee Highway Safety Office Supports Collegedale Police Department’s Local Bicycling Initiative
Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy Students Participate in Six-Week Bicycling Program

CHATTANOOGA – The Collegedale Police Department (CPD) is partnering with the Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy to offer a free bicycling program for students. The Tennessee Highway Safety Office (THSO) provides CPD with grant funding to support bicycle and pedestrian safety initiatives on the local level.

The Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy offers a physical activity program that consists of a six-week initiative encouraging students in eighth grade and eleventh grade to participate in activities like bicycling, dance, swimming, volleyball, canoeing, and more. Each participating student has chosen one activity for the program. The girls meet biweekly until December 7, 2016, to partake in the activity of choice.

Molly Boyd, Program Manager for CPD’s Safety Initiative for Bicyclist & Pedestrians, leads the bicycle program, which allows the girls to explore bicycling ventures through the Chattanooga River Walk, Enterprise South Trails, Chickamauga Battle Field, and more. The Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy does not currently have sports teams or after-school clubs; however, the success of this program may lead to the development of such.

“Partnerships like these reflect the power and impact of federal funding filtered down to the local level,” said THSO Program Manager Sharmila Patel. “This program not only promotes confidence, physical health, and healthy habits, but it teaches young girls traffic safety skills they will remember for the rest of their lives.”

To learn more about CPD’s Safety Initiative for Bicyclist & Pedestrians, please contact Molly Boyd at mboyd@collegedaletn.gov.

 

About the Tennessee Highway Safety Office:

The Tennessee Highway Safety Office (THSO) is Tennessee's advocate for traffic safety. THSO works in tandem with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to implement statewide programs addressing occupant protection, impaired driving, speed enforcement, pedestrian and bicycle safety, and crash data collection and analysis. Programs administered by THSO are 100 percent federally funded. THSO’s mission is to effectively develop, implement, and evaluate these programs. To learn more about THSO, please visit www.tntrafficsafety.org.

For more information, contact Arriale Tabson at 615-253-5152 or arriale.tabson@tn.gov.

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