Trying to take a stab at the 134 cycling deaths and over 2000 cycling injuries, England is planning on teach and test children how to safely ride a bike. The program is sponsored by the cleverly named “Cycling England,” and they hope to have 100,000 children trained and certified by 2009. Here are what the tests will consist of:

The National Standard for Cycle Training will consist of Level 1, for basic bike handling skills and manoeuvres, which is carried out off road; Level 2, which incorporates simple junctions in moderately built-up areas and is designed for safe cycling on minor roads; and Level 3 for all cycling trips including complex junctions and journeys and route planning.

I think the program is a great idea, but kind of hope something like this doesn’t show up in America. I don’t think we need to give kids a reason to stay inside and play video games or watch TV. I guess it will be interesting to see if the tests really stop the cycling injuries from occuring.

Here is some more information from the BBC.