When Sgt. Lance Koppa, Community Relations Officer for the Town of Highland Park for the past 12 years, speaks to school students and adults about bicycle safety, he knows about that which he speaks. He has the scars to prove it.
As a youngster, Koppa competed in BMX racing, and he continued to be an avid bike rider through his adolescence. So one night in 1996, while the Fort Worth-area native was out riding his bike with a friend, he thought nothing about racing down a hill.
Koppa crashed his bike and suffered multiple injuries—many the result of not wearing a helmet. Among the injuries was a crushed eye socket, an almost completely detached ear lobe, a broken collarbone and damaged teeth.
Koppa faded in and out of consciousness upon impact, and for a while was in the hospital. He recalls being in the emergency room and hearing the heels of his mother’s shoes clicking their way toward the room. He knew he was in bad shape, he said, when he felt her gasp.
Taking a full year off of cycling, Koppa fully recovered. A year to the date of his accident, he got back on his bike, and rode down the same hill—safely this time. Koppa said, “After that (experience of getting back on my bike) everything fell into place.”
In 2001, Koppa began working for the Town of HP as an officer. One day early in his career, Koppa ran into a resident who was talking about the Bike Rodeo at Armstrong Elementary. Koppa asked his supervisor if he could go check out the event on his day off, and after Koppa saw that the children were exposed to lessons on bike safety, he knew he could make a big impact on the event.
Soon, part of Koppa’s job as an HP officer involved attending the annual Armstrong, and then Bradfield Elementary, Bike Rodeo. Riding the course with the kids and telling the story about his terrible bicycle accident when he was not wearing a helmet, has made a big impact on the students.
Koppa said, “The kids are asking better and better questions over the years. They actually ask things related to my talk. For example, one thing I tell the kids is to use hand signals when you turn, such as point right or left. A kid asked if it is unsafe to take a hand off of the bike when you ride. I was impressed that he thought to ask that.”
This year’s Armstrong Elementary Bike Rodeo Chair Meredith Mabus had many kind words about Koppa. “Sgt. Lance Koppa has worked with the Armstrong Bike Rodeo for a number of years. He speaks from personal experience and the kids love him. We are certainly thankful for his service to our school and our town!” After all of these years how much longer will Koppa be involved with Bike Rodeo?
Said Koppa, “The kids from my first year of Bike Rodeo will be graduating from high school next year. As soon as I see those students participating as volunteers for their children at Bike Rodeo, I am going to retire.”