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The Center for Cycling Education

> Online traffic skills courses / learn-to-ride lessons

  • ONLINE COURSES
    • Traffic Smarts for Cyclists
      • Purchasing for your organization
      • Purchasing for friends & family members
      • Applying a coupon code
    • ‘Defensive Cycling’ (ticket dismissal)
      • Info for courts, attorneys, & LEOs
      • Info for course participants
        • Austin, TX and region
        • Houston, TX
        • Resources
    • Navigation, interactivity, & quizzes
  • CYCLING SKILLS
    • Equipment
      • Choosing & fitting your bike helmet
    • Bike handling
      • Shifting gears
  • CYCLING LAWS
    • Canada
      • AB – Alberta
        • AB – Alberta Traffic Safety Act
      • BC – British Columbia
        • British Columbia Motor Vehicle Act
      • SK – Saskatchewan
        • Saskatchewan Traffic Safety Act
        • Regina: Traffic bylaw — Cyclists
        • Saskatoon: Cycling bylaw
    • USA
      • Uniform Vehicle Code
      • CA – California
        • CA Vehicle Code
        • Santa Monica
          • Santa Monica Municipal Code
      • TX – Texas
        • TX Transportation Code
        • Austin Code of Ordinances
        • Houston Code of Ordinances
      • VA – Virginia
        • VA – Code of Virginia: Motor Vehicles
  • ON-BIKE TRAINING
    • Riding in traffic
    • Learn to ride a bike
      • Read one mother’s story
      • About the training
      • Saskatoon, SK
      • Austin, TX
Home » Bringing the Traffic Smarts course to your organization

Bringing the Traffic Smarts course to your organization

Governments • Businesses • Colleges & universities • Advocacy groups • Charity ride organizations • Cycling clubs

  • Trigger an unresponsive traffic light on your bike. Experienced rider? Make your next ride even better. New to riding in traffic? Put years of experience in your tool kit right now.
    Trigger an unresponsive traffic light on your bike.
  • Improve your daytime (and nighttime) visibility. Seasoned rider? New to cycling in traffic? Add years of experience to your tool kit right now.
    Improve your daytime (and nighttime) visibility.
  • Move away from the curb to make yourself more visible & gain maneuverability. Experienced rider? Make your next ride even better. New to riding in traffic? Put years of experience in your tool kit right now.
    Move away from the curb to be more visible & maneuverable.
  • Pass parked cars without concern. Seasoned rider? New to cycling in traffic? Add years of experience to your tool kit right now.
    Pass parked cars without concern.

 

Here’s what is explored in the course:

How people behave in traffic

How people behave in traffic

  • Our reaction to other people’s errors
  • Video: It’s a 3-Way Street
  • How do these behaviors come about?
  • Our attitude and its impact
  • Monitoring our thoughts
  • Evaluating our skills
  • Learning from our experiences

Bike handling skills

Bike handling skills

  • Parts of the bike
  • Does your bike fit you?
  • Braking
  • Pedaling cadence
  • Riding in a straight line
  • Scanning behind
  • Optional section: Shifting gears

Being an MVP-C

Being an MVP-C

  • Maneuverable: Creating space around you
  • Visible: Being seen, day and night
  • Predictable: Helping others make the right decisions
  • Communicative: Getting across the right messages

Your rights & duties

Your rights & duties

  • Knowing your true place in traffic
  • “But you don’t pay for the roads!” (Yes, we do.)
  • What’s the point of the law?
  • What we expect, and what drivers expect of us
  • Our effect on other cyclists
  • A summary of traffic laws for cyclists:
    • Three levels of traffic laws
    • Definition of a bicycle
    • Required equipment
    • General operation
    • Where to ride on the road
    • Obeying traffic control devices
    • Right of way
    • Riding on sidewalks
    • Parking your bike
    • Legal doesn’t equal safe
    • What if we disagree with a law?

Scanning & signaling

Scanning & signaling

Scanning for traffic

  • Why it’s important
  • Review of steps to make it easier
  • When to scan
  • Using mirrors

Signaling

  • Why it’s important
  • What we need to signal, and tips to make it easier
  • Turns
  • Lane changes
  • Change of position within a lane
  • Stops
  • Pulling onto the roadway
  • Waving thanks
  • Signaling–how, and how often?

Putting it all together

  • Scan, Signal, Scan, Go.
  • How this looks in real life

Choosing your place on the road

Choosing your place on the road

Choosing a lane and lane position

  • A reasoned approach
  • Seeing things from a driver’s perspective
  • Ride with traffic
  • Risks of wrong-way riding
  • How we choose our lane position
  • Avoiding roadside hazards
  • Giving ourselves space
  • How far right?
  • When we can move left
  • Controlling the lane
  • How this helps drivers
  • What our options are
  • Communicating with others
  • Some important considerations
  • Riding on one-way streets
  • What does controlling the lane look like?

Parked cars

  • The potential risks
  • What’s a safe distance?
  • Legal responsibility for drivers & passengers
  • What a safe distance looks like

Bike lanes

  • Do we have to ride in them?
  • What are our options?

Intersections

Intersections

Lane position at intersections

  • A, B or C position?
  • Common driver errors at intersections, and how to discourage them
  • Stopping at an intersection
  • Positioning in bike lanes and at 4-way stops
  • Travelling through the intersection
  • If you ride in ‘C’ position
  • If a driver turns across your path
  • Regardless of what lane position you take…
  • Right turn only lanes

When stopping is required

  • Stop signs and red lights
  • What might you miss?
  • Go! No, stop!
  • Fewer decisions are needed
  • Drivers’ perceptions
  • The cost of a ticket
  • What is the point of the law?
  • Where to stop

Right of way

  • Don’t assume you have it
  • First come, first served
  • Yield to the person on the right
  • Yield if you are turning
  • Taking your turn
  • Pedestrians’ right of way
    • Which is a legal crosswalk?
  • Communicate with others

Traffic lights

  • Why a green light doesn’t mean ‘go’
  • Judging the timing
  • Starting off quickly
  • Triggering traffic lights

Making turns

  • Right turns
  • Left turns
  • Changing lanes: moving from ‘C’ position
  • Changing lanes: with traffic around you
  • Changing lanes: signaling
  • Changing lanes: with no traffic around you
  • Using the gaps
  • Preparing for the turn
  • Lane position for the turn
  • Waiting position
  • Making the turn

Traffic circles & roundabouts

Other riding situations

Other riding situations

Passing on the right

  • Good reasons not to
  • When and how we can do it
  • Lane-splitting

Sidewalk riding

  • Why do people ride on sidewalks?
  • Potential risks
  • Making the decision

Other situations

  • Riding near buses
  • Riding in parking spaces
  • Riding side-by-side
  • Riding on paths & trails

Equipment

Equipment

Required & optional equipment

  • Brakes
  • Lighting: what’s needed, and when
  • Helmets

ABC Quick Check (bike)

A more detailed check

Sizing, configuring, & adjusting your bike

Parking your bike

  • Deterring bike theft
  • Where to park your bike
  • How to lock it up
  • What kind of locks?

Summary & feedback

Summary & feedback

  • Includes an option for a brief survey so you can let us know what you think of the course.
4 hours of interactive content incorporating video, descriptive text, photos, graphics, animations, and quizzes.
Visit this page for more details. link opens in new window

Coming soon—briefer versions priced to allow purchase for larger numbers of participants:
• 2-hour version
• 30-minute version

For complimentary course access and to request a bulk-purchase discount, complete the form at the bottom of the page.

Why purchase online cycling skills training for your staff or volunteers?

  • Increase the number of your organization’s staff / members / volunteers who ride bikes to work.
  • Boost the confidence and competence of current riders.
  • Reduce their likelihood of crashes or collisions, or receiving traffic citations.
  • Improve your company’s image by improving their behavior and interactions on the road.
  • Help you gain or improve your organization’s ranking in the League of American Bicyclists’ Bicycle Friendly America program
    Bicycle Friendly State link opens in new window / Bicycle Friendly Community link opens in new window / Bicycle Friendly University link opens in new window / Bicycle Friendly Business link opens in new window

checbox-checked-30h By taking this course, they will:

  • Gain significant skills to help them be more competent & comfortable riding in traffic.
  • Discover the rights and duties they have while riding their bike.
  • Explore proven ways to encourage more drivers to respect them.
  • Understand the impact of their actions in traffic, and how they can bring about positive interactions.
  • Represent your organization in a more positive way while riding.
  • Reduce their likelihood of crashes or collisions, or receiving traffic citations.

checbox-checked-30h Features and benefits of our training:

  • We handle all the logistics:
    • Course registrations.
    • Questions from participants.
    • Tracking and reporting of course progress, completion, and feedback.
    • Issuing verified Certificates of Completion.
  • Created by skilled and experienced cycling instructors, specifically for cyclists.
  • Proven content and platform.
  • Customized to include legislation and ordinances for each state/municipality/county.
  • Multiple features to ensure full compliance with training requirements.
  • Security features for Certificates of Completion and their delivery.
  • We have years of experience in multiple jurisdictions.

checbox-checked-30h Exceeds national cycling education standards.

The course significantly exceeds the traffic skills training requirements for the national programs in the United States and Canada:

  • League of American Bicyclists’ ‘Smart Cycling’ program link opens in new window
  • Cycling Canada’s ‘CAN-BIKE’ program link opens in new window

Its content and methodology were modeled after state and provincial government standards for defensive driving courses.

With more than 18 years’ experience as an instructor, the primary course developer has been both a Master Instructor with the League of American Bicyclists and a National Examiner with the Canadian Cycling Association (now Cycling Canada). Others with these credentials, and numerous instructors with each program, helped develop and review the content and delivery.

checbox-checked-30h Highly effective

In a survey directly following the course, participants have been asked the following questions. Here are the responses to date:

“Has this training influenced you to ride according to the law?”88% said 'Yes.'
“Did this training help you feel more confident about cycling in traffic?”93% said 'Yes.'

Would you like to review the course first, to see if it fits your needs?

Simply complete the form below, and we will provide you with complimentary access.

The course can be offered in one of three ways:

  1. As an option for staff to purchase on their own.
  2. Partially subsidized by your organization (we provide you with a customized coupon code).
  3. Purchased outright by your organization as a benefit for staff (bulk purchase discounts are available).

Purchasing information:

  • Regular cost: $35 per person for 6 full months of access.
  • Coupon code: We can create a customized coupon code for you to pass along to interested individuals.
  • Bulk purchase discount: Discounts are available (minimum purchase limits apply – contact us for details).
  • Guarantee: 30-day money-back guarantee for all registrants.

Purchase access for your staff / members / volunteers:

Traffic Smarts for Cyclists USA   Traffic Smarts for Cyclists CANADA

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Get complimentary access to the course, and request a bulk-purchase discount.

Simply complete this form, and we will provide you with complimentary access so you may review the course. We will also send you information on discount options.

Please note that the course enrollment process is done manually. It may take up to a full business day to complete, but we make these requests a high priority. If you need access more immediately, feel free to call or text us at the phone number on our contact page.

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Here’s what is explored in the course:

How people behave in traffic

How people behave in traffic

  • Our reaction to other people’s errors
  • Video: It’s a 3-Way Street
  • How do these behaviors come about?
  • Our attitude and its impact
  • Monitoring our thoughts
  • Evaluating our skills
  • Learning from our experiences

Bike handling skills

Bike handling skills

  • Parts of the bike
  • Does your bike fit you?
  • Braking
  • Pedaling cadence
  • Riding in a straight line
  • Scanning behind
  • Optional section: Shifting gears

Being an MVP-C

Being an MVP-C

  • Maneuverable: Creating space around you
  • Visible: Being seen, day and night
  • Predictable: Helping others make the right decisions
  • Communicative: Getting across the right messages

Your rights & duties

Your rights & duties

  • Knowing your true place in traffic
  • “But you don’t pay for the roads!” (Yes, we do.)
  • What’s the point of the law?
  • What we expect, and what drivers expect of us
  • Our effect on other cyclists
  • A summary of traffic laws for cyclists:
    • Three levels of traffic laws
    • Definition of a bicycle
    • Required equipment
    • General operation
    • Where to ride on the road
    • Obeying traffic control devices
    • Right of way
    • Riding on sidewalks
    • Parking your bike
    • Legal doesn’t equal safe
    • What if we disagree with a law?

Scanning & signaling

Scanning & signaling

Scanning for traffic

  • Why it’s important
  • Review of steps to make it easier
  • When to scan
  • Using mirrors

Signaling

  • Why it’s important
  • What we need to signal, and tips to make it easier
  • Turns
  • Lane changes
  • Change of position within a lane
  • Stops
  • Pulling onto the roadway
  • Waving thanks
  • Signaling–how, and how often?

Putting it all together

  • Scan, Signal, Scan, Go.
  • How this looks in real life

Choosing your place on the road

Choosing your place on the road

Choosing a lane and lane position

  • A reasoned approach
  • Seeing things from a driver’s perspective
  • Ride with traffic
  • Risks of wrong-way riding
  • How we choose our lane position
  • Avoiding roadside hazards
  • Giving ourselves space
  • How far right?
  • When we can move left
  • Controlling the lane
  • How this helps drivers
  • What our options are
  • Communicating with others
  • Some important considerations
  • Riding on one-way streets
  • What does controlling the lane look like?

Parked cars

  • The potential risks
  • What’s a safe distance?
  • Legal responsibility for drivers & passengers
  • What a safe distance looks like

Bike lanes

  • Do we have to ride in them?
  • What are our options?

Intersections

Intersections

Lane position at intersections

  • A, B or C position?
  • Common driver errors at intersections, and how to discourage them
  • Stopping at an intersection
  • Positioning in bike lanes and at 4-way stops
  • Travelling through the intersection
  • If you ride in ‘C’ position
  • If a driver turns across your path
  • Regardless of what lane position you take…
  • Right turn only lanes

When stopping is required

  • Stop signs and red lights
  • What might you miss?
  • Go! No, stop!
  • Fewer decisions are needed
  • Drivers’ perceptions
  • The cost of a ticket
  • What is the point of the law?
  • Where to stop

Right of way

  • Don’t assume you have it
  • First come, first served
  • Yield to the person on the right
  • Yield if you are turning
  • Taking your turn
  • Pedestrians’ right of way
    • Which is a legal crosswalk?
  • Communicate with others

Traffic lights

  • Why a green light doesn’t mean ‘go’
  • Judging the timing
  • Starting off quickly
  • Triggering traffic lights

Making turns

  • Right turns
  • Left turns
  • Changing lanes: moving from ‘C’ position
  • Changing lanes: with traffic around you
  • Changing lanes: signaling
  • Changing lanes: with no traffic around you
  • Using the gaps
  • Preparing for the turn
  • Lane position for the turn
  • Waiting position
  • Making the turn

Traffic circles & roundabouts

Other riding situations

Other riding situations

Passing on the right

  • Good reasons not to
  • When and how we can do it
  • Lane-splitting

Sidewalk riding

  • Why do people ride on sidewalks?
  • Potential risks
  • Making the decision

Other situations

  • Riding near buses
  • Riding in parking spaces
  • Riding side-by-side
  • Riding on paths & trails

Equipment

Equipment

Required & optional equipment

  • Brakes
  • Lighting: what’s needed, and when
  • Helmets

ABC Quick Check (bike)

A more detailed check

Sizing, configuring, & adjusting your bike

Parking your bike

  • Deterring bike theft
  • Where to park your bike
  • How to lock it up
  • What kind of locks?

Summary & feedback

Summary & feedback

  • Includes an option for a brief survey so you can let us know what you think of the course.
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The Center for Cycling Education

3 weeks ago

The Center for Cycling Education

A worthwhile article. Thanks very much to Ron Richings for sharing.

"Cycling alone in the dark is still a privilege."

"Planners need to be thinking about the people who are the least likely cyclists: older people, the disabled, women, and children,” Clement said. “And if you think of disabled people first, in particular, you’ll often cover everybody’s needs.”"

usa.streetsblog.org/2021/02/12/how-to-support-women-on-bikes-in-winter/
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How to Support Women on Bikes in Winter

usa.streetsblog.org

“In order for the bike boom to continue, we have to include everyone, and that’s not just about snow clearance,” said one panelist at the Winter Cycling Conference.
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The Center for Cycling Education

6 months ago

The Center for Cycling Education

Framing things in the right way. This is fun to watch.

(Thanks to Christopher Stanton for making me aware of this.)
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How I Deal With Kids Playing in My Driveway | The Saga of My Driveway Racetrack

www.youtube.com

Every night I would get an alert from my driveway security camera, and at first I was a bit annoyed, but then I found myself looking forward to the evening a...
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The Center for Cycling Education

1 years ago

The Center for Cycling Education

Superb individual, master designer and builder of bikes and trailers, philanthropist, activist, and professional cyclist. Above all, a truly decent and caring person.

Tomorrow it will be two weeks since I and many others lost our good friend, Tony Hoar. It has taken me some time to come to grips with this loss, and to write this post.

I had the distinct fortune of knowing Tony as a good friend for nearly twenty years. We spoke several times a week, about life, the world, and our respective vocations.

This man was singularly farsighted, caring, and influential. He gave so much of himself on a regular basis, and devoted his life to reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. His bike trailers transformed the way that I view transportation, and helped me live my life and do my work by bike instead of by car.

Tony my friend, you will be deeply missed, and always remembered. I promise you this, and to continue working on the things we both know to be so important. Thank you for everything you are, and always will be.

www.timescolonist.com/news/local/tour-de-france-cult-figure-inventor-tony-hoar-dies-at-87-1.23971311
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Photo

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The Center for Cycling Education updated their cover photo.

1 years ago

The Center for Cycling Education

Southbound on 5th Avenue, Manhattan, NYC, just north of 59th Street--Central Park is to the right.

The initial signal was straight out with the left arm. The lowered left arm is to let those following know that I'm changing lanes, but only moving into the right part of the adjacent lane.

Important points:
1) There's no room for the driver at left to move into my lane, which is why I moved far left in my lane to prepare to move over--ya gotta be quick here.
2) I looked far down the road, and know that the cabbie in front of me has plenty of space ahead and no possible fares on the sidewalk to the right; there will be no braking.

Subtleties matter.
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Photo

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The Center for Cycling Education

1 years ago

The Center for Cycling Education

Let's be honest. When you ride in traffic:
1) How comfortable are you, and
2) How often do you have negative interactions with drivers?

Many riders have become accustomed to daily frustrations and near-misses. That doesn't equate to comfort.

There are ways to address these.

What do you put up with on a regular basis?
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