Advocacy & Safety - Organizing a bike safety/advocacy event

I'm a police officer and avid cyclist and I would like to organize some sort of bicycle event aimed towards teaching kids to ride safely in our area. If anyone has experience doing this sort of thing, it would be great to hear some tips on how you pulled it off.

I'm thinking on offering lectures on:

How to ride a bike
Safe bicycle riding
Minor bicycle repair (fixing flats and other small repairs)
How to buy a helmet

I'd love to start receiving donated bicycles so that I can give them away to kids that do not have one. I've made friends with our local bike shop and he is willing to donate some mechanic time to help me with this.

I'm also considering putting together a "goody pack" containing our some wheel reflectors, a tail reflector, maybe a small roll of reflective tape, a safety reminder pamphlet and our city's cycling map.

Like I said, if anyone has other ideas or ways to improve this, please chime in!

Thanks

I have an acquaintance here in Portland who may be able to assist you. He's on the bike patrol for the police precinct in my neighborhood. If you PM me with an email address, I can ask him to contact you. He and his colleagues just put on a Bike Rodeo for our annual bike fun festival and it was fantastic. I got the impression that they had done it before.

I just finished a certificate course sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists (http://www.bikeleague.org/). I think that their programs are great. It might be helpful to contact them for suggestions. There is probably even a certified instructor somewhere in New York City that would help.

Contact the LOAB. They can surely help you get this running and at no cost to you.

You might also try regional advocacy groups. Here in Maine, our state bicycle coalition (http://www.bikemaine.org/) offers "Safety Instructor Training" for just such people as yourself. They also work with police departments, so you are just the sort of person they'd love to establish a working relationship with, if you lived here!

Our local police department does a "bicycle corral" for pre-schoolers and kintergardeners. Sets up cones and stop signs, then talks about safe riding, and helmets.

Find an instructor certified by the League of American Bicyclists from your area on this page:

http://bikeleague.org/programs/education/course_schedule.php

Here's the NY state list:


Joshua Poppel Albany, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/1445)
Stephanie Altman Babylon, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/1028)
Richard Conroy Bronx, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/1370)
Lizabeth Perez Bronx, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/1604)
Richard Sanford Brooklyn, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/389)
Peter Zimmer Buffalo, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/1357)
Jay Bender Dix Hills, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/25)
Louis Hernandez Flushing, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/179)
Lois Chaplin Freeville, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/54)
John Saraceno Holbrook, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/393)
Michael Fahey Holley, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/118)
Susan Powell Lansing, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/345)
David Gordon Liverpool, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/559)
Saul Lerner Merrick, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/1020)
Emilia Crotty New York, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/1613)
Peter Freedberger New York, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/1616)
Michael Miller Scarsdale, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/276)
Glen Cochrane Stony Brook, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/67)
Monica Gonzalez Sunnyside, NY. Instructor details (http://bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/instructor_detail/1617)

Are there any bicycle safety instructors who don't preach the VC gospel? :rolleyes:

You guys are worse than scientologists...

I'm a police officer and avid cyclist and I would like to organize some sort of bicycle event aimed towards teaching kids to ride safely in our area. If anyone has experience doing this sort of thing, it would be great to hear some tips on how you pulled it off.

I'm thinking on offering lectures on:

How to ride a bike
Safe bicycle riding
Minor bicycle repair (fixing flats and other small repairs)
How to buy a helmet

I'd love to start receiving donated bicycles so that I can give them away to kids that do not have one. I've made friends with our local bike shop and he is willing to donate some mechanic time to help me with this.

I'm also considering putting together a "goody pack" containing our some wheel reflectors, a tail reflector, maybe a small roll of reflective tape, a safety reminder pamphlet and our city's cycling map.

Like I said, if anyone has other ideas or ways to improve this, please chime in!

ThanksCheck it out:

Summer Bike Camp (http://bikeportland.org/2007/06/21/summer-bike-camps-get-rolling-at-the-ccc/)

Sounds like you have a great idea, jabsin. Good luck!

I am sure you will get lots of advice on how to ride safely, but dont forget to teach them how to have fun on their bikes. Bike fitting would also be useful.