Most everyone is taught by a parent or other instructor how to drive a car in traffic.  Bicycle driving can be taught the same way.

Bicycle Driver Education

The most successful way to improve cycling safety is to improve cyclists' traffic skill. Not only is adequate traffic skill essential for cycling on public roads, but it is easy for older children, teens and adults to learn in a short amount of time with proper instruction. Classes such as "Bike Ed" developed by the League of American Bicyclists or simply learning by example from other vehicular cyclists can accomplish this. People who first learn proper vehicular traffic skills on bicycles move on to become safer motorists later.

Young children who lack the perception and judgement required to negotiate traffic are often given bicycles as toys. Such children should stick to parks, driveways, and very low-traffic streets and should not be encouraged to travel near traffic as sidewalk cyclists. As they grow old enough to understand traffic, however, they can begin to learn the rules of the road and travel on busier roads as bicycle drivers.

Adults who drive automobiles can also benefit from bicycle driver education in order to un-learn non-vehicular bicycling habits and improve their traffic negotiation and bike handling skills. Bicycle driver education is especially important for traffic engineers, planners, and police officers whose understanding of vehicular cycling will assist in their handling of bicycle transportation issues.

Bicycle driving classes taught by certified LAB instructors are available in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. Click on the link below for more information.

• Triangle Roadway Bicycling: Providing Roadway Bicycling education since 1995
  

• NCCBD Gallery of Bicycle Driving Demonstrations
  
• Online Movies (including Drive Your Bike)
  

• Road Vogue  by Wayne Pein
  
• Street Smarts  by John Allen (also in print)
  

Check out the online movie
Drive Your Bike

Don't miss the
Gallery of Bicycle Driving Demonstrations

"Give a man a ride to work and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to ride a bike to work and you feed him for life."

- anonymous commuter

Bicycle Safety,
Safe Bicycling,
Bike Safety,
Bicycle Helmets,
Bicycling Rules,
Traffic Safety,
Bicycling in Traffic,
Cycling Safety,
Bicycle Facilities,
Vehicular Cycling,
Bicycle Lanes,
Bike Paths,
Bicycle Commuting,
Reducing Bicyclist Injuries