Originally Posted by GGDub
What determines that the instructor of these courses is competent to teach them? Just because you take a bunch of these courses in a row? Obviously for people new to cycling on the road these courses may offer a good starting point, but for someone like myself who has been riding on heavily trafficked (sp?) roads for close to 17 years, I don't see much value in them.
I also suspect these courses will be heavy on the liability avoidance side, i.e. teaching one to obey all the rules of the road, regardless of whether the law was contrived with motorists in mind, which in my experience is bunk. They wouldn't be able to teach skills which might contravene laws because of a threat of a lawsuit.
All that being said, if it makes you feel better on the bike, or if it gets more people riding then its a good thing.
BTW - I have never been hit or hit anything on my bicycle and the reason is because I use common sense, observation and have a healthy survival instinct.
I believe the LCI course involves peer evaluation... But I am not sure.
I know in the SCUBA community the final test was evaluation by other instructors who used the standard "could I trust this potential instructor to teach a loved one." Some instructors failed... and this was a costly program. You don't just buy your way in.
As far as what is taught... it is really quite common sense... not liability motivated. There is a subtle lesson that prevails that encourages you as a cyclist to realize you have rights to the road... that you are not just some second class "bastard step child."
The class focuses on improving rider ability and confidence... using discussion and on road riding with other cyclists as examples. Cyclists are pushed a bit to do things they might have otherwise have shyed away from... such as merging with traffic... makeing proper left turns and how to avoid conflicts.
It is about legal cycling... it is NOT about "taking the lane" or being militant in any way. But the course does teach "fast turns" and emergency braking... It also teaches flat fixing, and other simple mechanical things that frankly bike shops do not bother with.
I was lucky that when I decided to really persue cycling beyond high school, I fell in with a crowd that was willing to teach me some of these things... the rest I learned the hard way.
In taking a class (out of a desire to improve and couriosity) I saw folks that really knew very little of the basics... had a difficult time changing gears, did not know how to fix flats. Tended to avoid all traffic situations and did not know if what they were doing was right or wrong (including how to wear a helmet).
A lot of folks here on BF are experienced cyclists... so it may be difficult to imagine that there are folks out there that do not have basic cycling skills or understand their rights to the road.
The classes did not "dismiss" bike lanes, nor did it focus on "VC correctness." This was straight forward, common sense, smart cycling. But compressed... so several years of "learning by the school of hard knocks" is compressed to 4 weeks. It gets folks off on the right foot.
As far as "dealing with laws contrived with motorists in mind..." well, "red light running" was not taught... If that is what you mean.