Drunk+Bike=Safety? and other things you might learn at Bicycle Driver School
Drinking three beers in twenty minutes shortly after finishing a triathlon while watching a parade of nude cyclists doesn’t exactly enhance the memory, luckily the man who told me about Bicycle Driver Training was smart enough to give me his card, complete with the website. As I looked, my conversation came back to me–here is what I learned.
The course is designed for people (like me) who commute by bike, but have never had any formal training (weekends in the UW parking lot with my father at age 6 do not count) for biking in traffic. They cover topics like emergency stopping and rock avoidence. If you’ve ever seen me riding down 23rd on my converted mountain bike at 30mph like a puppy with its head out the window, you might realize I have no emergency stopping plan. Having one seems like a good idea. So if you are inexperienced like me, or would like to learn more about bike driving safety so you might be able to bike commute, this is a good place to start.
Not only is the course free, but you can get paid to do it!
I’m so glad you told me about this. I’ve actually been a little cranky that there’s was no good place to learn about this (like there is with cars). Not only are you responsible if you break the laws, but, you know … safety! Thanks!
Also see CycleU.
i was drunk bicycling at summer solstice too! well, with my clothes on though…
I’m probably going to get blasted for this, but bicyclists drive me crazy! I think what bugs the shit out of me about bicyclists is the inconsistencies that most seem to demonstrate when following the rules of the road. Many seem to just follow the rules when it suits them and then abandon the rules as soon as the rules become inconvenient. The most flagrant example I think we all see is running a red light at a dead intersection. Every time I see that I want to yell at the rider that they are making all cyclists look like idiots. So I for one am glad to see a class like this, maybe it’ll make for less willy nilly bicyclists and keep me from cursing every one I see!
Tony said: I think what bugs the shit out of me about bicyclists is the inconsistencies that most seem to demonstrate when following the rules of the road. Many seem to just follow the rules when it suits them and then abandon the rules as soon as the rules become inconvenient.
You could say the same thing about some car drivers.
One of the reasons bicyclists ride the way they do is because they don’t have the institutional support that car drivers do. Bicycle riding classes, when available, are viewed as an oddity and certainly aren’t mandated by a government body like driving classes are. There is no bicycle license required (although pet licenses are?). But, obviously, the biggest reason is the lack of suitable infrastructure. If we (the community and various gov’t bodies) decided to support bicycle riding as a primary form of transportation, then bicyclists would finally get the support they need in terms of training and infrastructure and the animosity between drivers and riders would all but disappear. Until that support is provided, bicyclists will be relegated to the fringe where they will either be ridiculed or idolized (like almost all fringe groups are). So, the next time a bike rider cuts you off or disobeys a traffic signal, you can place at least some of the blame on our screwed up system.
Cascade Bicycle Club also does classes.
Tony B: in what way are other road users inconvenienced by a cyclist running a red light at a dead intersection? And why is it that cyclists as a group are tarred because some of us do things that are stupid [I think there are better examples than running red lights, and there certainly are cyclists out there who need education]? By the same token, I could mouth off about how some drivers seem determined to run me off the road, and many don’t understand that just because they can squeeze past me with inches to spare instead of using lanes correctly and leaving a safe distance, doesn’t mean that they should do so.