Advocacy & Safety - Had any cycling education?

Looking over the recent postings about accidents, incidents and general cage/bike interactions, I started wondering how many members have had any cycling education. I think better riding tactics could have either prevented or moderated some of the recent accidents posted in these forums.

The local school system has a cycling educator. He teaches Effective Cycling at the 7th grade level at all the area schools. Now he is leading an effort to get more instructors League certified to teach effective cycling to adults, using some government grant money (from the DOT?). Courtesy of this program, I should be certified to teach Effective Cycling this month. Anybody up for a class?

Last time (about a year ago) I checked the web site, there were no Effective Cycling instructors in Colorado.

Never knew such programs were available.. I think there should be..I would be interested. Does anything think cyclists' training can make much of a dent on crazy motorists habits? Well, there is defensive driving classes.Would apply to us... I recall years ago, the City of Calgary,Alberta,Canada had a city parks web site that dealt with cyclists safety. It was pretty good.

For those who prefer self-education, I strongly recommend reading the three "Gospels of John":
Forester: "Effective Cycling"
Allen: "Street Smarts"
Franklin: "Cyclecraft"

For those who prefer self-education, I strongly recommend reading the three "Gospels of John":
Forester: "Effective Cycling"
Allen: "Street Smarts"
Franklin: "Cyclecraft"

and don't forget a complete reading of Ken Kifers bicycle traffic safety articles @

http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/traffic/index.htm

I took an effective cycling course about 10 years ago and have been trained in defensive driving for my work which carries over to cycling always be aware of your surroundings and never assume what the other person is going to do

I tend to translate my pilot training over to both cycling and driving. I believe in the adage of, "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots."

Last time (about a year ago) I checked the web site, there were no Effective Cycling instructors in Colorado.
There is one listed in my 2003 League almanac. He lives in Aurora. Also lists cycling instructors in Durango, Fort Collins, and Littleton.
Have you contacted Bicycle Colorado ( http://bicyclecolo.org/site/intro.cfm ) or the League of American Bicyclists ( http://www.bikeleague.org )? LAB is the organization that trains Effective Cycling (aka Bike Ed) instructors.



I'm a League Cycling Instructor and for those of you living in the Atlanta area, I'll be co-teaching an Effective Cycling class on Nov 8 and 15. If you want to enroll in a class or want more information, contact Sharon at Atlanta Bicycle Campaign.
http://www.atlantabike.org/ec.htm (The phone number and email contact is at the bottom of the page.)

Looking over the recent postings about accidents, incidents and general cage/bike interactions, I started wondering how many members have had any cycling education. I think better riding tactics could have either prevented or moderated some of the recent accidents posted in these forums.

It depends what sort of "education" you are talking about. We have a number of "bicycle safety officers" around here who I doubt have ever actually ridden further than their driveway. Much of what they preach (footpath/sidewalk cycling, wrong-way cycling etc etc) is of no value whatsoever.

In answer to the original question, my cycling education was at the "school of Hard Knocks", with emphasis on the word "hard". Personally, I'd like to see more "effective cycling" classes out there, but I hope they can find content that is of some value.

It now occurs to me I left out a category: Have you read up riding? Like the "Gospel of John" or Ken's website?