Last Friday, Safe Moves, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating children on traffic safety, held a Bike-to-School-Day event at New Designs Charter School (at 23rd St. and Figueroa Ave.) to close out Metro’s Bike Week.

Students arriving as early as 7:00 A.M. were met by representatives of Safe Moves and Metro, former 2000 Olympic Team Cyclist Antonio Cruz, and life-size traffic signs. The speakers talked to the middle-schoolers about alternative forms of transportation, safety around the new Expo Line, and the health and environmental benefits of getting on a bike.

While I was pleased to know that students were learning about bikes and bike safety throughout the day — even getting a safety course in their P.E. classes — I’ll admit I was most thrilled about the thing that probably excited them the least: the life-size traffic signs.

How much more fun would it be to navigate L.A.’s streets if some of its busiest and least friendly intersections were monitored by traffic signs that you could high-five?