Originally Posted by
bshanteau
Boy, if that is the belief of most of most bicycle advocates, I'm in the wrong group. I just may move to pedestrian advocacy instead.
It looks like we are paying dearly for
our failure 40 years ago to get bicycle education into the elementary schools. Now we have 2 generations of bicycle advocates who have no faith in the value of education. That's depressing.
The way I see it, the lack of faith in the value of education is just one item in a false set of beliefs that is the cause of most of the problems that bicyclists encounter. For more, see the
iamtraffic.org web site, particularly this video:
https://vimeo.com/64152426
As I stated several times in this thread... many motorists believe that driving is a right, and the only way to correct that assumption is to start with the basics... ALL ROAD USERS NEED TO BE EDUCATED AT THE BASIC SCHOOL LEVEL.
Bob, indeed it is too bad you were not able to get this stuff into schools 40 years ago. Oddly I got my first bicycle education from school sponsored event back in Fort Worth, Texas... the school system back there, with the fire department, put on an annual Bike Rodeo... where one would go to learn better cycling skills, register your bike, and practice your skills. Later in life I took drivers' ed at the public school. Why this same sort of education, with prerequisites, and written tests, and measured progression is not available today, is beyond me. Driving (or cycling) is a life long skill as basic as writing or math.
My son had no bike Rodeos here in San Diego. And Drivers' Ed was a for profit company joke... of several half Saturdays in a row.
I had classroom time... we discussed scenarios, we watched notoriously bad automotive safety films and then we worked on simulators... we finally went to real cars and spent time in various situations practicing. Finally we took tests and were prepared for the real DMV situation.
I believe education is the key... and the public school system is the means. Too bad it will take several generations to purge our society of the drivers that believe they own the road because they pay "road tax." No doubt, self driving cars will be here before the educated motoring public is ever in the majority.
Frankly I think early education is the best answer... starting with some basic road sharing and sign principals in early grades, progressing to on the road bicycle use, and finally, in high school, progressing to driver training.