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Working
Together for Safety Presentation
to ITE Saskatchewan conference Presented
by: Education focuses on behaviour, rather than the physical environment. The purpose of bicycle safety education is to improve practical knowledge of using bicycles and reduce conflicts between cyclists and other users of the transportation system. Most people - including cyclists, motorists, legislators, planners, engineers and transportation professionals - have developed a popular view of cycling that is inconsistent with factual evidence. We have developed this popular view because we were mistaught as children and have brought erroneous views with us into adult life, where we now pass them on to our children and use them to develop laws, policy, and roadway design. Here are some elements of that popular view that may sound familiar to you: bicycles are toys ridden mostly by children; bicycles and motorized traffic don't mix; separate bicycle facilities will reduce conflicts with motorized traffic and consequently reduce cyclist injuries. The basic principle of bicycle safety education is this: Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as as drivers of vehicles. This principle should guide all decisions about cycling affairs. When cyclists act and are treated as drivers of vehicles they make safer traffic movements and have fewer conflicts with motor traffic than cyclists who do not follow this principle or even those who ride on separate bicycle facilities. Vehiclular cycling is consistent with current traffic engineering knowledge, accident statistics, analysis of driving skills and practical transportation. For cyclists, this means learning at an early age the proper techniques for riding safely on road networks. Many cyclists who never have the opportunity to learn these techniques spend their lives dodging cars and fearing traffic, while the motorists who encounter them reaffirm their belief that cyclists do not belong on the roads. Specific skills that cyclists need to learn vary with their age and level of maturity as well as the kinds of cycling experiences they may be expected to encounter. Young children can learn to use residential streets safely on their way to school; college cyclists can learn to ride effectively on arterial roads and highways. Motorists are at fault in over 50 percent of collisions with adult cyclists. Although it's important for cyclists to learn to ride defensively so they can avoid driver errors, it's also important for motorists to become more aware of cyclists' rights to use the road and how to share the road safely with cyclists. Driver education teaches that school buses, motorcycles, farm equipment and even snowmobiles are legitimate road users, while cyclists are "hazards" in the same class as stopped vehicles, pedestrians and obstructions. Under highway legislation, cyclists have all the rights and duties of drivers of vehicles. Motorist education that reflects this makes it easier to get cyclists and motorists to share the road amicably. Legislators, policy-makers, planners, engineers and other professionals make decisions about how facilities are designed, who can have access to facilities, and how behaviour is regulated on those facilties. When it comes to cycling, professional training and judgement may be clouded by unfounded fears and erroneous assumptions that have not been challenged since childhood. The result is laws, policies and facilities that increase conflict between bicycles and motor vehicles, and endanger cyclists rather than improve safety. It's important for those who make decisions that affect cyclists to understand the principles of vehicular cycling, to encourage cyclists to behave as drivers of vehicles and to encourage other users of the transportation system to treat cyclists as drivers of vehicles. Effective education, based on current traffic-engineering knowledge, sound driving skills and rational beliefs, has the greatest potential to improve cyclist safety, motorist acceptance and facility design. |
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Borealis
Outdoor Adventure