Higher (Bike Safety) Education
Posted by David Jacobowitz on Jun 02 2011
Tags: Bicycling, Construction, Share the Road
A guest blog post by Local Motion volunteer and certified bike safety instructor, David Jacobowitz:
I teach bike safety education mostly to adults. Recently, it was a pleasure to address students in Luis Vivanco’s Bicycles, Globalization, and Sustainability course recently. I use the curriculum set out by the League of American Bicylists, which is based on John Forester’s principle that bikes fare best when they act like and are treated like vehicles.
The students want to go on field trips around the Burlington area, so it is a good idea to have them educated a bit on basic bike safety. These are good students. They have made it to higher education and they are good at learning complicated stuff. So bike safety would seem to be a breeze.
It was. We pretty quickly went over the basics of Vermont law, rules of the road, ABC Quick Check, skills you might need for safe riding and avoiding hazards.
In the discussion three scenarios came up which I want to present:
- Riding on the sidewalk to avoid construction. A young man described a time when he was riding downtown and saw a line of cars stopped by a flagman. He rode up onto the sidewalk and passed the line and the construction. Was this OK? What rules should he follow?
- That brought up another question, this time from a woman. Is it OK to ride as a pedestrian in the crosswalk during the pedestrian phase of a traffic light?
- A rider who often carries his kids in a trailer behind his bike asked where should you position yourself in a bike lane that goes all the way to the intersection with a line of cars to your left.
Sometimes bikes do not act like other vehicles on the road. When is it OK to deviate from Forester’s principle? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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on 04 Jun 2011 at 9:35 am 1.John said …
As you suggest, Forester's thoughts on vehicular cycling are incredibly helpful for a large amount of cyclists, however I feel that following his advice in every circumstance is a foolish game to play. Here are my thoughts in the above scenarios:
1. I'd position to stay in line and wait. You'll avoid any unforeseen dangerous obstructions ahead and as an added bonus; drivers will appreciate your respect for the situation.
2. No, I don't think so. Though, I think it's fine to walk your bicycle through a crosswalk.
3. If there's a bike lane, and my trailer could easily maneuver to the intersection; I'd ride to it. However, if I couldn't make it to the intersection (due to narrow bike lane, or traffic blocking the lane); I'd position myself in the lane behind a vehicle and wait my turn.
In general, I think that experienced (and somewhat fast) riders can use Forester's advice in most situations. However, in snow, or with trailer, or just learning, etc, scenarios that do not allow for keeping a momentum consistent with traffic flow; a cyclist has to use her own judgement for best course of action that situation.