Every school student should learn about bicycle safety, Bike SA says Luke Schapel, who was knocked off his bike by a truck recently, on the Parade at Norwood. EVERY primary school student in South Australia should be provided with in-school bicycle education to increase greater road awareness and lower fatalities, the state's largest cycling organisation says. Bike SA wants to expand the State Government's Bike ED program, which currently visits around 50 schools and 4000 schoolchildren each year, to include all primary school children in a program they've dubbed "Every Chance For Every Child." At a cost of $3 million, Bike SA CEO Christian Haag said providing children with accredited bicycle education is a life skill that gives children greater road awareness that can flow onto when they become drivers. "This education provides life long skills," Mr Haag said. The kids learn really valuable skills in the sense of judging speed and distance of on road traffic and clearly what we're seeing is these skills translate through life when they get behind the wheel of a car. Bike SA is contracted to run the Bike ED program and Mr Haag said over ten hours of proposed training children would learn: BIKE and helmet check basics. GEARS and brakes BIKE security PASSING cars and making turns RULES of the road. BALANCE and how to ride your bike. SIGNALLING when riding. AWARENESS on the road. The Advertiser today launches its Cycle Safe campaign, designed to highlight the need for better cycle infrastructure and education among drivers and cyclists. Communications manager for the Amy Gillett Foundation, Sean Sampson, said the organisation supported Bike SA's idea. "The Foundation has been a strong advocate of the need for bicycle skills education in schools,"" he said. Through AustCycle, a joint initiative with Cycling Australia, programs are developed that allow students to learn the basic bicycle skills that could one day allow them to negotiate a potentially dangerous scenario with confidence and safety. "AustCycle also gives parents confidence in the manner in which their children will ride."" A spokeswoman for Road Safety Minister Michael O'Brien said the State Government had set a target of expanding the school road safety program from 100 to 150 schools by 2016. The State Government has also invested $3.5m into the new children's Road Safety Centre at Thebarton. "The centre, which includes a mock roadway, educates more than 10,000 students aged four to 13 each year about bike handling, road rules and road safety."" More: Cycling in the Hills - it's not that friendly The Opposition was unavailable for comment. Mr Haag said the Bike ED program - as well as providing valuable safety training - encourages children to exercise more by riding to school. "Part of the program clearly is to encourage kids to ride to school and we know with the amount of exercise that kids need to get each day," he said. It works wonders in getting that all important exercise. Why isn't the service being provided to all kids? The training is in two parts which is off road - basic cycling proficiency and then they go on road. It basically provides them with all the skills to get them from home to school. They have a clearer understanding of how to ride on the road and be aware of the issues they need to think about. In 2012 17 riders were involved with serious crashes on SA roads up from 12 in 2008 while there were 455 incidents with passenger vehicles last year, up from 425 in 2008. More: How bicycle school helped my kids In a survey conducted by Bike SA a majority of parents would only let their children cycle between 10-12 years of age. Out of the perceived barriers, the biggest barrier is the concern for children's safety (70 per cent). Mr Haag said the training would positively affect the number of cycling injuries and fatalities on South Australian roads. "I think that's a natural conclusion to ensuring that kids who receive training are much more aware of the road environment," he said. We advocate that training is evidence based and is well founded that those necessary life skills delivered in that context and therefore will work to mitigate and reduce the risk with kids riding on the road. Anybody can jump on a bike and then go on the road. The calls come in the wake of statistics revealing cycling collisions with cars and heavy vehicles are at a five-year high . Along with greater education, Bike SA is also asking for a further $90 million over four years to provide a safer road network for cyclists. $40m would be allocated to the Greenway Network, providing similar routes as the Linear Park trail and $50 million to the state's arterial network, fixing existing bike lanes, clearer signage and safer road surfaces.