Poll/Discussion: Barriers to taking Traffic Skills 101 (TS101)?

[Daniel Norton]

What are your barriers to taking TS101?  Is the fee the only reason? Is $60 an unreasonable amount? What's a reasonable amount? What's an affordable amount? If it's not the fee, what do you think might encourage more people to take the course?

Besides increasing knowledge and skills that are proven to increase safety, what's the best proven way for a cyclist to increase her or his own safety on the road? Is there a better way to do this other than taking TS101?

I for one would like to see the League publish more details online about the course. This is all I could find, from www.bikeleague.org (at http://tbik.org/XPXLf):

[Traffic Skills 101] [g]ives cyclists the confidence they need to ride safely and legally in traffic or on the trail. The course covers bicycle safety checks, fixing a flat, on-bike skills and crash avoidance techniques and includes a student manual. Recommended for adults and children above age fourteen, this fast-paced, nine-hour course prepares cyclists for a full understanding of vehicular cycling.

Incidentally, at the ACA general meeting this month, Laura King announced the addition of a new class venue for TS101: REI Downtown at 6th & N Lamar (The other venues are the REI near US-183 at Loop 360 and the REI in Round Rock.) No other city in Texas has so many cycling safety class offerings. (I don't know of any city anywhere that has more.)

--
Daniel Norton, TexBIKE
www.texbike.org

[Wes Robinson]

I'm a junior instructor, have just graduated my first few classes of TS 101 students in cooperation with a more senior instructor (and ACA President) so if I miss anything, I hope the more senior instructors (Eileen is one and we are fortunate to have 20-30 in Austin) will step in. Brevity is not my strength, but we basically try to retrain cyclists to overcome some of what they learned as children (i.e., don't play in traffic). Instead, we try to teach a cyclists how to "play" safely in traffic and to explain why doing so will dramatically increase one's personal safety. We try to teach cyclists how to integrate with traffic and stress the importance of communicating effectively with other users of the roadway.

Our current TS 101 format is a two-day format. Friday evening is the 3.5 hour classroom portion of the course where we cover the following issues:

1. The Basics
a. The Bicycle (types, parts, fit, gearing, maintenance, adjustment, and repair)
b. Clothing and Equipment (helmet fit, weather related clothing choices)
c. Handling Skills (proper start/stop technique, scanning, turning, and communication)
2. Rules of the Road
a. Principles of Traffic Law (speed positioning, intersection positioning, lane choice and positioning)
b. How and when to control a lane v. share a lane in an assertive, but thoughtful and polite manner.
c. When to use a bike lane v. when it is unusable and a cyclist should use the main traffic lane instead.
d. How to navigate busy intersections.
e. Avoidance and control maneuvers.
3. Crash Statistics and Prevention Skills
a. The Five Layers of Safety (Bike Control, Compliance with Rules, Lane Position, Hazard Avoidance, and Passive Safety)
b. How consistently following these principles will protect a cyclist from the overwhelming majority of bike crashes.
c. How to avoid or safely navigate common road hazards such as railroad crossings.
d. Shifting and Efficient Cadence
e. Nutrition and Hydration
f. Safe Group Riding (often overlooked, yet one of the most common causes of bike crashes)
g. Multi-Use Paths (hike and bike trails)

The second part of the class is on Saturday and includes on the bike instruction as well as testing. We start at 8:00 and usually finish around 1:00 to 2:00. We generally follow the following format:

1. Pre-ride discussion
2. Parking Lot Drills (practice bike control and emergency avoidance maneuvers)
3. On road test by riding approximately 7 miles through downtown Austin. During the ride, we rotate ride leaders and the instructors score the students on how well they practice what was taught during the classroom course (i.e., riding technique, lane choice and positioning, and hazard avoidance).
4. Flat repair, where each student will be guided through repairing a flat.
5. Written test.

Each student is provided with the League of American Bicyclists "League Guide to Safe and Enjoyable Cycling." We are fortunate in Austin to have so many qualified League Cycling Instructors and ACA has really done a great job coordinating and scheduling this program. Laura King takes great care of both the LCIs and the TS 101 students by coordinating registration, mailing out materials, and submitting TS 101 certification to the League. It is a unified and coordinated effort, unlike what the overwhelming majority of cities in the US experience. When I first took TS 101 (then Road I) a few years ago, I had been riding my bike as an adult in Austin for about 15 years. I had raced for UTCC in the early nineties with a collegiate national champion teammate and considered myself an "experienced" cyclist. Yet, TS 101 taught me many things about safe cycling that I did not know before and it opened my eyes to a better and safer way of getting around on my bike.

Wes Robinson
LCI #2217



________________________________

[Dave Aronson]

I doubt I would pay $60 for the course but that is just me.  I'm sure the course is great, I'm just cheap.

--
- The Aronson's

[Dora Smith]

Hey, thanks for having this discussion.

I could afford a twenty dollar class, not a sixty dollar one. I plain have
no interest in those events you want people to help out at, and they're
typically held in places not accessible to me with my asthma adn on the far
corners of the Earth besides, and I have time constraints that make that
impractical.

$60 is too much to ask of anyone not on Lance Armstrong's income, and it
appears to thumb your nose at the world into the bargain. You're coming
across as outright elitist, and you must BE elitist to think nothing of
charging that much.

People like me, who need to ride their bike home from my $8 an hour job, on
Burnet, Braker, and 183, at midnight, hardly have enough to live, let alone
pay elite level fees to take a bicycle safety class. The other main group
you need to reach are young people, and they don't make a hundred grand a
year to pay $60 to take a bicycle safety course either.

These classes would be a tremendous public service if they were more
accessible to people.

Yours,
Dora Smith
Austin, TX
tigge...@yahoo.com

[Doug McLaren]

On Sun, Jun 07, 2009 at 01:36:40PM -0500, Dora Smith wrote:

| I could afford a twenty dollar class, not a sixty dollar one. I plain have
| no interest in those events you want people to help out at, and they're
| typically held in places not accessible to me with my asthma adn on the far
| corners of the Earth besides, and I have time constraints that make that
| impractical.

Which events are you referring to? The class doesn't really help with
races or whatnot, it's meant to help with people just riding on the
road, to work, to the store, etc. People like you, I assume.

| $60 is too much to ask of anyone not on Lance Armstrong's income

Are you *trying* to be insulting?

Have you ever taken a class at a college? Perhaps a UT informal
class? $60 is rougly the same as the informal classes. And the class
size is very small -- around six or so? For what you get, it's a
bargain. The $60 even includes rather decent text books!

| and it appears to thumb your nose at the world into the bargain.
| You're coming across as outright elitist, and you must BE elitist to
| think nothing of charging that much.

$60 is elitist?

| People like me, who need to ride their bike home from my $8 an hour
| job, on Burnet, Braker, and 183, at midnight, hardly have enough to
| live, let alone pay elite level fees to take a bicycle safety class.

OK, now you're being a bit more reasonable, explaining why you can't
afford it without invoking Lance. The suggestion that should come out
of this would be that maybe they should try to create a scholarship
program or something?

I'll tell you what. If you want to take the class, I'll cover the $40
you can't afford if you cover the other $20. Just let me know ...

| The other main group you need to reach are young people, and they
| don't make a hundred grand

Lance Armstrong makes somewhat more than $100,000/year ...

(And no, I don't make Lance Armstrong's salary. I don't even make
$100,000/year ...)

I took the class. It was pretty well done. I basically knew most of
what they were teaching already, but there were a few things I learned
that I'd never thought of before. The classroom part had about six
students total and two instructors and the on-road part ended up with
just me and one instructor (I assume that this was an anomoly.)

--
Doug McLaren, dou...@frenzied.us
I didn't claw may way to the top of the food chain to eat vegetables!

[Daniel Norton]

Thanks, Dora, for elaborating your complaints in a more constructive manner.

I think ACA realizes that $60 is beyond some people's budgets, and that's why there's the option of being a ride starter. Note the word "starter" here. For the “classic” rides there's no requirement to actually ride the ride or even to bring your bike. Starters are expected to bring copies of maps, but I'm sure someone would be willing to cover that for someone with limited funds. The ride starter hands out maps, collects signatures, reads the guidelines and, if feeling friendly, wishes everyone a good ride. After that, you can go back home or do whatever else you had planned for the day and mail in the sign in sheet. You don't have to be interested in the ride itself at all. You do have to give a little.

There are several rides that start within Austin.

Start a couple of rides and, if I understand ACA's offer correctly, your TS101 class is free. Consequently, I'm hard pressed to understand the barriers you describe.

While I can sympathize with trying to manage limited time, I can't see how ACA or the instructors can help you with that besides offering more venues and times, and there's no place in Texas that offers more venues and times than are offered in Austin.

If at some point there are more ride starters available than rides, the issue of limited funds might need to be addressed differently, but perhaps if the classes get larger, the cost of presenting the classes might come down. Then again, maybe the solution to that “problem” would be to have more rides to start.

--
Daniel
www.texbike.org

[Wes Robinson]

Austin really does have a great thing going for it on bike education, thanks in large part to ACA's generous support and the fact that approximately 1% of all the LCIs in the nation call Austin home. We probably have more cycling educators than any city in the US and certainly more per-capita. I assure you that none of the cycling instructors paid the $300 for the class and dedicated three days of their time, not to mention the many hours that go into preparing for the course to become LCIs because we hope to get rich. In fact, I know of no practicing LCIs in Austin who can afford to teach TS 101 full-time except perhaps the League's Director of Education, who does sooo much more than just teach TS 101. There just isn't any way to make a living doing it with current demand. It's something that we do because we believe in the material and we know that if you learn and practice the skills, it very well may save your life. It will also increase your enjoyment of cycling, at half the price of a good set of clipless pedals or a new helmet.

We often read on this listserve and others about cyclists' frustration with motorists. If you follow the principles taught in TS 101, I firmly believe you will reduce the level of frustration you experience on the road and cut down on the number of negative interactions you have with motorists. I certainly can't promise the class will eliminate all of them, but following the principles of the class will eliminate many of them. Believe it or not, most motorists hate to try and squeeze past a cyclist in a narrow lane. Your choice of position on the roadway can eliminate that anxiety for both you and the motorist. I used to get really angry when a motorist would try to share a lane with me when it wasn't safe to do so. I mean it really ticked me off. Now, I recognize when a lane isn't safe to share before I ever encounter a motorist and I chose a position in the road that dramatically reduces the number of times a motorist will not respect my space.

I think the initial question about how many had taken TS 101 was probably prompted in part by the recent collision that has caused some discussion on this board. I know of no details of the collision other than what has been in the press and I am certainly not pointing any fingers at anybody because I know none of the facts, but there are things entirely within your control to avoid becoming a victim of a right cross collision with a motor vehicle and when all else fails, we teach a quick turn maneuver to help you avoid the accident or at least mitigate the impact. As I said, I don't know any details regarding this specific crash nor do I know if it could have been avoided through vehicular cycling principles, but this type of collision between cars and bikes is one of the more common ones and we all have the power to dramatically reduce our chances of being involved in them. Sign up for TS 101 and learn how. The classes are offered at REIs in Round Rock, North Austin (Gateway), and will soon be offered at the downtown store. www.austincycling.org/classes/ts101

Wes Robinson
LCI #2217

[Fred Meredith]

I understand that the instructors ACA funded for their certification seminars will be giving their training classes for free, or maybe in exchange for some volunteer hours. You'd have to check with them.

Fred (accepting warm fuzzies and ignoring any cold pricklies) Meredith

When in doubt … ride your bike, or at least write about it.

Fred Meredith

Southwest Cycling News, editorial

P.O. Box 100*

Manchaca, TX 78652

512/636-7480 (mobile/office)

512/282-1987 (home)

http://2merediths.com

www.austincycling.org

*12702 Lowden Lane for UPS, FedEx, etc. with same city, state, and zip.

[David Stevens]

I took the class in February and I think Fred may have been one of the "on the road" instructors.  Well worth the money.  I was a little apprehensive about getting my back wheel off the bike, but the class covered that part and the first time I got a flat out in the middle of no where with no one around, I knew what to do.

And all that riding around tennis balls was fun too!

Dave.

[JohnBerry]

Some points from a partial outsider:

1. In at least one respect Dora is absolutely right. $60 is a lot of
money for someone working for $8/hr, in fact, it is a day's gross
wages. This amounts to a rather large part of the population, and when
you add young people and seniors on fixed incomes, probably half the
population would feel strained to afford $60 (including myself, I
might add - it's about the same amount as some of the Professional
Society annual dues that I feel I cannot continue to afford now that I
am retired.). So some sort of scholarship scheme is a necessity,
not an option.
I doubt if Dora has ever taken an informal class at the University,
and if she has, she'd be extremely atypical of anyone in her salary
bracket.

2. The requirement to be a ride starter to take the course free
sounds reasonable, but is is not, because the very people who can't
afford the fee are likely to be either working two jobs or spending so
much time living without a car that have little time or energy for
anything else. In fact, if Dora has to work until midnight, it's
unlikely she COULD take the Friday evening part of the course.

3. I actually would love to take the course, but it is very poorly
advertised. I read the "Cycling News" every month, but can't remember
seeing it advertised. I'm sure it is - it just doesn't leap out from
the page. But then, I'm a senior - I miss things.

4. There is definitely an undertone of elitism in the correspondence,
the most obvious example being the statement that the course "costs
less than a pair of clipless pedals." Well, there are a lot of us
out there who do not use clipless pedals. For one thing, you then have
to buy clipless pedal shoes. From everything that Dora has written, I
would assume that clipless pedals are an extravagance she neither
needs nor can afford.

5. Dora sometimes can state things in an aggravating way, and she may
have an attitude, but if I were living in Austin on $8/hour, with no
car and therefore no choice about putting up with the situation that
passes for a bicycle plan in this city (country?), I'd have an
attitude, too. I know the areas she has mentioned in her
correspondence from time to time, and they are among the most
unpleasant to ride in. In fact, I can be found riding along Burnet
towards Dora's place of work at the time that ACA meetings start, to
attend a meeting at JJPickle, but I won't do it after dark, as Dora
has to.

The fact that there are only six or so students at each session of the
course tends to reinforce points 1 and 3: the price may be too high
for some, and it is not easy to get specifics on when and where unless
you're "part of the group". I am now trying to fix in my mind that
it's at REI on a Friday and Saturday. As fas as the hints of elitism
go, I'm afraid they are inevitable in a group that is trying to serve
both those who love cycling and can afford it, and those who cycle
because they can't afford to get about any other way. We should all
try to see others' perspectives.

John Berry

>  winmail.dat
> 7KViewDownload

[Wes Robinson]

John and Dora,

I apologize if my comment about clipless pedals came across wrong. That was not my intent and I truly am sorry if I offended you. I hope that you will accept my apology. I also agree with your point about scholarship opportunities. ACA is a charitable organization and this may be a worthwhile endeavor for them to pursue. I don't think it is anyone's intent for this class to be out of anyone's price range and that is likely the reason ACA offers it free for anyone willing to start a ride, but it will take some time and effort to develop a scholarship program, identify needs-based eligibility criteria, and develop scholarship applications, as well as review and approval procedures, if that is something ACA decides to pursue.

Another thing we have to consider is that we have had some less than desirable experiences when students are not "invested" in the class beforehand. I helped teach a Community Instructor class recently that was offered free of charge to the students through a grant from a national organization and half of the students who were originally signed up simply did not show up. A lot of work and preparation goes into putting on these classes so requiring some sort of personal investment (whether it be financial or volunteering one's time) helps to ensure that students who sign up attend.

Wes Robinson
LCI #2217

[Eileen Schaubert]

The Austin cycling community is very diverse economically so we are
making strides to reach those who truly cannot afford to take the
class. A little more background - ACA granted scholarships for 12
Yellow Bike Collective members to become LCIs so that classes could be
offered at their discretion to further meet the needs of the community
they directly serve. One of the benefits that this provides YBP is
that as LCIs they have insurance coverage when teaching these courses.
Those classes will come about after their new building is ready. But
we know it is not sustainable to teach TS101 citywide using only
volunteer instructors - if you think taking the class is a large time
committment, compare that with teaching the class. I don't think that
it is unreasonable to expect that the portion of the community that
can afford to pay tuition will do so.

A lot of volunteer time has gone into providing these programs so I'm
disappointed when the community complains that we haven't given
enough. The local instructors are considering alternatives to making
the class shorter and more convenient but, again, that is more
volunteer hours on our part to restructure the courses, finding
alternative venues with media equipment, charting our new road
courses, etc.

My original point was that many cyclists have concerns about their
safety but choose not to learn many of the simple ways to mitigate
risk. It can be either through the TS101 class or through reading
materials online. The ACA Hosted Ride program requires the ride
leaders to take a course that includes material on safety so that even
our hosted rides contain a learning component. Information is out
there but cyclists keep asking for motorists to receive education that
they are not proactively learning themselves. I'd like to save our
concern for when cyclists truly are victims of motorist actions.

I still contend that our most effective way to reach motorists is to
communicate by our actions on the road how to safely share it and we,
as cyclists, have complete control over our own behaviour.

Eileen Schaubert
LCI #1876

[Fred Meredith]

Oops, I left out an important part of this first sentence. I meant to say, Yellow Bike Project instructors that ACA funded.  Sorry about that.

I understand that the [Yellow Bike] instructors ACA funded for their certification seminars will be giving their training classes for free, or maybe in exchange for some volunteer hours. You'd have to check with them.

Fred (accepting warm fuzzies and ignoring any cold pricklies) Meredith

On Jun 7, 2009, at 1:36 PM, Dora Smith wrote:

[Wallace, Jerrel]

Eileen,

Your last paragraph says it all!

"I still contend that our most effective way to reach motorists is to
communicate by our actions on the road how to safely share it and we, as

cyclists, have complete control over our own behavior."

My biggest complaint is fellow cyclists that forget responsibility comes
with our rights. My co-workers continually call to my attention the
stupid cyclist they have encountered on their way to work or home the
day before: the ones without lights, running the red lights, busting
stop signs, weaving in and out of traffic, riding between cars, etc.

It is hard to defend our rights when we do not accept our
responsibilities.

Jerrel Lee Wallace

-----Original Message-----
From: aca-...@googlegroups.com [mailto:aca-...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Eileen Schaubert
Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 11:32 AM
To: ACA-list
Subject: ***SPAM*** [ACA-List] Re: Poll/Discussion: Barriers to taking
TrafficSkills 101 (TS101)?

[Monica]

I would be happy to contact ACA's leadership about the possibility of
developing a scholarship program for the TS101 class and report back
to this forum. If it is something the organization can support,
through current funding or with some outside funding source, I can
help with the steps Wes describes in his email (eligibility,
application, approval, etc.).

Ms. Smith -- I know most of the people who have posted on this issue,
including the author of the first post. I can absolutely assure you
that these are some of the most inclusive, least elitist people I
know. Many of them, and certainly Eileen, volunteer countless hours
of their time to promote bicycle riding in Austin for people of all
income levels, interest levels, and skill levels. They teach, lead
rides, advocate for improved infrastructure and laws, and do much,
much more so that you and I can ride safely and enjoyably. Their
thoughtful and measured responses to your insulting posts are further
evidence of their admirable character. They deserve to be treated
with more respect than you have shown in many of your posts -- on this
and other issues.

Monica Leo

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[JohnBerry]

Wes, Eileen, Monica:

Thanks for some great comments. Wes, I don't want to leave you with
the impression that I was offended by your comment about clipless
pedals: I was just using it as an example of how easy it is not to
fully realize how a situation looks to others in different
circumstances. No need for an apology, but yours is gratefully
accepted :-). And I want to apologize to Eileen and all the
volunteers and LCIs out there if I left any impression of downgrading
their contribution - I think it is marvelous and they make me feel
guilty. Sorry.

Eileen's comment about the diversity of the Austin cycling community
goes to the heart of the matter, and Wallace's only emphasizes that
point: there are a lot of people who ride bicycles out there who ACA
will never, or only with great difficulty, reach. I am thinking of
all the (almost exclusively male) teenagers and not-so-teenagers that
I see riding around, typically on mini-wheeled bikes, often at night,
all over the road with no lights, no helmets, no rules. I have
intimate knowledge of these people: one of them was my son, and
nothing I nor his Mother could say would persuade him that he needed
to follow rules, use lights, least of all wear a helmet or take a
course: after all, he was 14 years old, and we were dumb, old, fuddy-
duddy useless people. Nor would anything persuade him that he was
mortal. Their numbers thin as they get older, and they often end up
riding more conventional bikes, some of them perhaps even graduating
to lycra and loud jerseys, but many of them continue their reckless
ways into, I suspect, their 30s (in other words, they grade into us,
eventually), and the rest of us get tarred with their misdeeds.

These people exist in all cultures: years ago we used to send them off
by force to fight wars in which many of them were only too happy to
put themselves in harm's way.** In cultures where there are many
cyclists, motorists just say "Stupid kids!", but here where there are
few cyclists, motorists say "Idiot cyclists, they get what they
deserve!"

I'd be interested to know if anyone has ideas how to deal with this
issue (drilling sense into the heads of juvenile idiots on bikes), and
how to separate responsible adult cyclists from the mad youth in the
minds of motorists.

** What I am hinting at is that these kids are called heroes when they
exhibit the same behavior under orders that gets them (and by
extension, us) vilified in peacetime. This disregard for life and
limb is a normal part of growing up: it may be inevitable.

John

[Daniel Norton]

On Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 5:10 PM, JohnBerry <jlba...@flash.net> wrote:

...there are a lot of people who ride bicycles out there who ACA

will never, or only with great difficulty, reach.   I am thinking of
all the (almost exclusively male) teenagers and not-so-teenagers that
I see riding around, typically on mini-wheeled bikes, often at night,
all over the road with no lights, no helmets, no rules.

It's not just the "no rules" attitude, but the many myths about cycling safety that TS 101 helps address. Many teens and adults believe that riding on the sidewalk is generally safer than riding on the street, but here's an example of a teen who broke the rule of not stopping when entering the street from the sidewalk (presumably intending to ride on the crosswalk -- also generally not allowed). A truck that might have seen him on the street didn't see him on the sidewalk, or presumed that he was going to stop, and pulled in front of him. The kid T-boned the truck and, fortunately, "only" broke his arm.

  http://tbik.org/CkwoV

As many know, there are several places in Austin where it's illegal to ride on the sidewalk, illustrated in detail on this map:

  http://tbik.org/bbM2z

--
Daniel
www.texbike.org

[Dave Marquardt]

"Daniel" == Daniel Norton <dan...@texbike.org> writes:

Daniel> *What are your barriers to taking TS101?* Is the fee the only
Daniel> reason? Is $60 an unreasonable amount? What's a reasonable
Daniel> amount? What's an * affordable* amount? If it's not the fee,
Daniel> what do you think might encourage more people to take the
Daniel> course?

For me, I read about the course and say "yeah, I should take that."
But it's difficult to find the time for one session let alone two. So
my issue is I'm not motivated enough about the course to rearrange my
schedule. I think your comments below go to the heart of it. It
doesn't *sound* like anything I don't already know. So where's the
motivation to take a class if I think I already know the things the
class teaches?

Daniel> I for one would like to see the League publish more details
Daniel> online about the course. This is all I could find, from
Daniel> www.bikeleague.org (at http://tbik.org/XPXLf):

Daniel> [Traffic Skills 101] [g]ives cyclists the confidence they need
Daniel> to ride safely and legally in traffic or on the trail. The
Daniel> course covers bicycle safety checks, fixing a flat, on-bike
Daniel> skills and crash avoidance techniques and includes a student
Daniel> manual. Recommended for adults and children above age
Daniel> fourteen, this fast-paced, nine-hour course prepares cyclists
Daniel> for a full understanding of vehicular cycling.

Daniel> Incidentally, at the ACA general meeting this month, Laura
Daniel> King announced the addition of a new class venue for TS101:
Daniel> REI Downtown at 6th & N Lamar (The other venues are the REI
Daniel> near US-183 at Loop 360 and the REI in Round Rock.) No other
Daniel> city in Texas has so many cycling safety class offerings. (I
Daniel> don't know of any city anywhere that has more.)

Yes, it is nice to have these options!
--
Dave Marquardt
Round Rock, TX

[Daniel Norton]

On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 12:35 PM, Dave Marquardt <dave.mar...@gmail.com> wrote:
> For me, I read about the course and say "yeah, I should take that."
> But it's difficult to find the time for one session let alone two.  So
> my issue is I'm not motivated enough about the course to rearrange my
> schedule.

Yes, it's difficult to schedule that much time, especially back-to-back. That's why the organizers and instructors have provided a way to allow you split it up. You can schedule the classroom portion first, then schedule the riding portion another weekend (even at a different location). (current schedule w/locations)

--
Daniel

[Kelli G]

I admit I was not a great rider in traffic before I took this course. I got
to take it for free as I was a ride leader. At that time I worked with
people with Spinal Cord Injuries and Brain Injuries and had seen the carnage
wracked upon cyclists by vehicles. The course did teach me about what my
rights and responsibilities as a cyclist were according to the law. But more
importantly, I learned about what the most common vehicle vs. bike accidents
were and how to avoid them. I also learned about the one accident that
really can't be avoided (without a mirror) and that is being struck from
behind. This is what happened to my cycling coach Michael Argall. Because of
the course I have avoided several collisions with methods taught to me in
class. The second day was spent riding in traffic and was a bit scary. We
had to traverse 5th street to take a left into the Whole Foods Parking Lot.
I can't recommend the course highly enough.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Marquardt" <dave.mar...@gmail.com>
To: <aca-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 12:35 PM
Subject: [ACA-List] Re: Poll/Discussion: Barriers to taking Traffic Skills
101 (TS101)?


>

[debra crosby]

I agree 100% with Kelli. Don't assume you already know it all -- you will learn things in that class that you NEVER knew, and you will hone skills you already have.  Well worth the time and money.  I can't recommend a class like his highly enough.
 

Debra Crosby

debra_...@yahoo.com

---

From: Kelli G <ke...@att.net>
To: aca-...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2009 12:51:29 PM

[len...@cyclistlaw.com]

Here is food for thought (a bike lawyers perspective-hypothetical and actual): 

 

You are cycling and you are injured by a motorist's negligence.  You bring a claim to recover your damages.  Motorists, not unlike some cyclists, have a great deal of prejudice against cyclists already, and are not only the majority of who makes up a jury but very likely to find liability on the part of the cyclists, even where the cyclist was not at fault at all!  My statistitcs are not precise, they are based on a seven year sampling of cases litigated and reported to JuryVerdicts in the US-  Jury's tended to find a cyclist 30% liable-even where there were no facts to support cyclist liability.

 

 

More commonly in deposition of our clients the question is beginning to arise (and it is new) and the question is typically, "Have you taken a bicycle safety course?"

 

This question goes to the heart of what an insurance company is after-limiting your recovery.

 

By taking a bicycle safety course, you are saying you are educated in the rules of the road-as compared with the slight mention of the word bicycle in the driver safety and education manuals given to new drivers.  Not only are you more educated, you are demonstrating to those with lesser knowledge that you took the time to be defensive, safe, and ride in a manner responsible and in harmony with motorists/jurors.

 

When you get the police report and it says you had on a helmet, were riding with brakes, lights, mirrors, safety colors, and it is later learned you were responsible enough to take a bike safety course- there is very little else you can do and it shifts the burden back where it properly lies-with the negligent motorist.

 

lenore shefman

 

 

"I truly believe that in making honorable choices about our lives, we can acknowledge sacrifices we make and the risks we take and recognize that what others view as losses and foolhardiness are the nourishment upon which our spirits thrive." Derrick Bell, Ethical Ambition

 

 

The Shefman Law Group

4015 Marathon Boulevard

Austin, Texas 78756

T: 512-386-8117

Toll Free: 877-366-7677

www.cyclistlaw.com

www.bicycleaccidentattorney.net

 

 

> Daniel> http://www.bikeleague.org/ (at http://tbik.org/XPXLf):