About

How did Bikes & Bricks come about?

Faced with shelter-in-place conditions last March, parent and active transportation advocate/biking enthusiast Sonia Elkes finally got around to sorting (with her 4 children) the giant tub of LEGO®’s their family had purchased, received and inherited over the years. It was discovering a LEGO® Albert Einstein with his bicycle that sparked the initial idea of using bricks to teach bike and pedestrian safety.

The content of the slides was based around San Mateo County Office of Education’s outstanding “Walk & Roll to School Guide.” Once the first set of slides was finished and sent to local organizations for feedback, Palo Alto School District’s Safe Routes to School Coordinator, Rosie Mesterhazy was instrumental in editing and shaping them into their present form. As more and more transportation organizations copy and adapt the presentations, new slides are being created, students are getting ‘street smarter’, and young LEGO® enthusiasts everywhere are being encouraged to ‘think like traffic engineers’ when they build.

What Makes Bicycling so Special?

Bicycling combines the joy of movement, balance & rhythm with the satisfaction of purpose, independence & a heightened connection to one’s community, making it one of those rare, reliable sources of healthy, natural pleasure that is increasingly hard to come by in modern-day western culture.

As an avid biker, walker and bus/train taker, Sonia Elkes founded the biking and active transportation advocacy coalition, San Carlos Bikes, in her town. See more about the work she does in San Carlos, CA, where she continues to advocate for active, sustainable transportation and safe routes to everywhere, for everyone: www.sancarlosbikes.org.

Contact Sonia at SoniaElkes at gmail.com