Originally Posted by patc
Given how much of our time is spent on roads, I have to think that basic traffic education - including cycling - should be part of the high school curriculum.
The education needs to begin at the same time the cycling begins. Attempting to teach someone pedal vehicle driving after they've already been taught to cycle in the gutter (or even further to the outside) is remarkably ineffective.
BTW, about a year ago there was a post in a Yahoo group which asserted that the Hawaii Bicycle League's BikeEd program is "an extremely effective program". The poster also stated that the HBL has "worked with others wishing to start up similar programs."
Quoting from
BikeEd Hawaii
The BikeEd Hawaii Program is aimed at fourth grade students, and is taught within Hawaii's public schools during school hours.
A
newsletter article from 2001 stated that
It [BikeEd Hawaii] has helped about 60,000 O'ahu public school children since its inception in 1989. City and state funds pay for BikeEd salaries, equipment and other operating expenses.
The
State of Hawaii Master Bike Plan discusses a possible correlation between BikeEd Hawaii and a lower bicycling accident rate on their
Accident Data page.