Effective Cycling Instructor's Manual

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EFFECTIVE CYCLINGINSTRUCTOR'S MANUALSixth Edition

JOHN FORESTER, M.S., P.E.Founder of the Effective Cycling League

First edition 1977Second edition 1980Third edition 1982

Fourth edition 1986

Fifth edition 1999, 2004Sixth edition 2008Copyright John Forester, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1999, 2004, 2008

This Instructors Manual is made available as a downloadable .pdf filefor noncommercial instructional use

at no charge.

John Forester, MS, PE7585 Church St., Lemon Grove, CA 91945-2306

619-644-5481


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1 General Information

1.1 Significance of the EffectiveCycling Instructional Program

You, the reader, may have opened this Man-ual simply to learn how to teach traffic-safe cyclingskills, either to yourself or to others. after all, muchof the reputation of Effective Cycling is in the traf-fic-cycling portion. However, the Effective CyclingInstructional Program has far more significancethan just a method for instructing a few cyclists. Ithas a vital part in the ideological struggle to pre-serve cyclists right to operate safely and effec-tively as drivers of vehicles, the method calledvehicular cycling. You, as a prospective instructor,have probably already recognized the need tospread vehicular-cycling skills through effective

instruction. However, you probably have not yetrecognized the greater significance of the Effec-tive Cycling Program itself.

American society has never recognized thatvehicular cycling is the safe and proper way tocycle. Instead, it has always insisted that cyclistsprime duty is to stay out of the way of same-direc-tion motor traffic, the method of cringing along theside of the road that is called cyclist-inferioritycycling. The traffic laws were equivocal about this,requiring that cyclists operate as drivers of vehi-cles (if they didnt, they would cause collisions) butwith only second-class rights, as if cyclists were

trespassers on roads owned by motorists. Childcyclists obeyed this instruction, but then, becom-ing adults, switched to driving. The few adultcyclists learned to operate as drivers of vehicles,and this did not matter much, because otherwiselawful cyclists were rarely prosecuted for disobey-ing the special bicycle restrictions thought fit forchildren.

These adult cyclists who operated in thevehicular manner organized themselves into localcycling clubs and a national organization, theLeague of American Wheelmen. These cyclingorganizations promoted cycling simply becausetheir members enjoyed cycling. Because vehicularcycling was better than cyclist-inferiority cycling,vehicular-cycling skills spread naturally among themembers. The organizations believed in cyclistslegal rights to operate as drivers of vehicles, butonly rarely was there need to formally support thisposition.

Then, in the 1960s, American societybecame concerned that the growing numbers ofadult cyclists might plug up the roads and incon-

venience motorists. Then, in the early 1970s,American society adopted its bikeway program tophysically impose cyclist-inferiority cycling on allcyclists. American society managed to impose thisdiscriminatory bikeway program upon cyclists

because everybody except adult vehicular cyclistsbelieved that cyclist-inferiority cycling is absolutelynecessary to make cycling safe.

The cycling organizations opposed thisimposition. The opposition has two main parts.The engineering part demonstrates that vehicularcycling is safer and better than cyclist-inferioritycycling on bikeways, and, indeed, that vehicular-cycling skills are still necessary with bikeways.The other part, Effective Cycling, demonstratesthat practically all people can learn vehicular-cycling skills with a reasonable amount of effort.This is direct disproof of the cyclist-inferiority claim

that vehicular cycling requires extreme strength,courage, and skill. As an Effective Cycling Instruc-tor, you need to always remember that provingthat vehicular cycling skills can be learned byalmost everybody is a vital part of the EffectiveCycling Program.

The cycling organizations might have sur-vived this challenge and continued operating asvehicular cyclists in parallel with the societal normof cyclist-inferiority cycling. If that had occurred,there would be no crisis today.

However, this did not occur. The cyclingorganizations became overwhelmed by the influx

of ideologically active members who promotedbicycling as the cure for motoring. These mem-bers chose to advocate cyclist-inferiority cyclingon bikeways, either because they believed thatthis was necessary for cyclist safety, or becausethey recognized that their target audience, themotoring public, believed this. The League ofAmerican Wheelmen changed its name to thepolitically-correct name League of American Bicy-clists, and the Effective Cycling Program wentdown the drain.

The LAB has shown temporary inclinationstoward reform, but nothing permanent; the anti-motoring bicycle advocates have always regainedcontrol. There is now no organization throughwhich vehicular cyclists are able to oppose thenationwide norm of cyclist-inferiority cycling onbikeways. You will read in this Manualof the Bicy-cle Transportation Institute as being that organiza-tion. However, that organization, designed toprotect and advance the interests and the activi-ties of vehicular cyclists, in the way that areformed League ought to operate, has not come


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into being. Possibly a reformed League will reformitself accordingly, possibly not. For the moment, asan instructor, consider that you are in the forefrontof vehicular-cycling activity and do your best toprotect and advance it.

You have two equally important responsibili-ties. You have the responsibility towards your stu-dents of teaching them how to operate properly intraffic and how to enjoy their cycling activities. Youhave the responsibility towards lawful and compe-tent cyclists of demonstrating that your instructionhas taught proper traffic-cycling skills to your stu-dents. There is only one way to carry out thesetwo responsibilities. You have to teach the fullrange of traffic-cycling skills, and you have to testyour students according to a test procedure thatprovides a quantitative measure of their traffic-cycling skills. Testing according to the Cycling Pro-

ficiency Test and recording the results on theCycling Proficiency Score Sheet for each cyclistprovides the data that demonstrate the practicalityand the effectiveness of Effective Cycling Instruc-tion. The accumulation of such data in a centralrepository is absolutely necessary to provide theevidence that the right to cycle according to therules of the road for drivers of vehicles must bepreserved. Without such evidence, it is unlikelythat that right will survive societal pressuresagainst it.

1.2 Instructional Material

The Effective Cycling Instructor's Manual isthe companion volume to Effective Cycling, con-taining the program for teaching Effective Cyclingat all levels. This program has been administeredsince 2000 by the Bicycle Transportation Institute,after having been administered in a less effectiveway by the League of American Bicyclists.

Effective Cycling can be taught only by highlyqualified instructors because it is based on thevehicular-cycling principle, a principle that directlyconflicts with both the popular cyclist-inferioritysuperstition and the typical governmental bicycle

transportation programs. Because the vehicular-cycling principle is based on scientific knowledgewhile the cyclist-inferiority superstition is just that -a superstition - the effective cycling instructorneeds much more than an expert knowledge ofcycling and of instructional technique. He or sheneeds to understand all three subjects:1: Scientific methods and criteria2: Psychology of superstitions, and the3: Rationales for governmental programs.

This volume contains the information that theinstructor needs to first become qualified to teachand then to teach Effective Cycling. It expands onthe information on accidents that is in EffectiveCyclingbecause the safety of cyclists is a matter

of great public concern. The instructor must haveaccurate knowledge about accidents to cyclists inorder to correct the mistaken notions that are soprevalent among those who may consider spon-soring or taking a course but are deterred by fearof accidents. It states why the Effective CyclingProgram is needed, and it compares that programagainst typical "bike-safety" programs that arebased on the cyclist-inferiority superstition andalso against the "on-bike" programs that have triedto imitate Effective Cycling without committingthemselves to the vehicular-cycling principle or toeffective instructional techniques.

Having covered the background knowledge,the Instructor's Manual then discusses the qualifi-cation process, the methods of organizingcourses, and of course the instructional tech-niques, materials, and lesson plans for courses atthree school levels and the adult level. There is achapter on testing students, and a closing one onspecial instructional problems that frequentlyarise.

Naturally, the instructor also needs to knowthe cycling skills and knowledge that are con-tained in Effective Cycling, for in teaching noamount of technique can replace mastery of the

subject; the instructor must have both. For theinstructor who is also interested in the science ofcycling transportation and in governmental actionsregarding cycling, the most useful book is For-ester's Bicycle Transportation, published, as isEffective Cycling, by The M. I. T. Press. For theinstructor who is also interested in the science ofbicycles as machines, the two most interestingbooks are Sharp's Bicycles and Tricycles.(origi-nally published in 1896) and Whitt and Wilson'sBicycling Science, both now available through TheM. I. T. Press, which with these four books has thebest list of serious and accurate books on cycling.

Finally, the Instructor's Manual guides andencourages the instructor with the many state-ments of Effective Cycling philosophy that appearwherever appropriate in the instructions. To besuccessful, the instructor must recognize that theEffective Cycling Program is deliberately designedto challenge the prevailing cyclist-inferiority super-stition, but he must carry out that challenge with agood-humored, easy-going but competent mannerthat puts people at their ease and dissipates their


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fear of traffic.

2 Effective Cycling Training:What It Is and Why We Need It

2.1 Safe, Useful Cycling:the Prime Objective of the EffectiveCycling Courses

Every Effective Cycling Course has oneprime objective that overshadows everything else.That objective is to develop in the students a levelof cycling skills that enables each student to safelyundertake a range of trips that are useful to him orher (considering the age of the student), and tohave each student demonstrate that he or she hasthose skills by successfully completing a drivingtest under traffic conditions of the specified

degree of difficulty. To provide a simple example,consider a course that teaches driveway exiting,stop signs, and right turns, but not left turns, eitherbecause these are considered too difficult, orbecause the course has insufficient time. Such acourse is unethically incomplete and dangerous,because the students will find that practically anytrip they desire will include left turns. They will bemaking left turns without the benefit of the instruc-tion, no matter what their diplomas proclaim ortheir parents believe.

For all students, even those at the very ele-mentary level, development of the traffic skills alsoinvolves the development of an understanding ofhow the traffic system operates. The students arenever taught, This is how bicycles operate; theyare always taught, This is how drivers operate.When a student learns that traffic exiting a drive-way must yield to traffic on the roadway becausethe roadway traffic will not stop, he has learnedboth sides of the issue, yielding when exiting adriveway, continuing when on the roadway. Thestudents learn the traffic operational rules not byverbal rote, but by practicing them, just as they dofor any other activity. That is what develops the

understanding of how the traffic system operates,without which no safety program will have signifi-cant effect. Cycling according to the rules of theroad for drivers of vehicles is called vehicularcycling (VC).

2.2 Cyclists Confidence in the Vehicu-lar-Cycling Principle: the SecondaryObjective of the Effective Cycling

Courses

Nearly all Americans, which means most ofyour incoming students, believe that same-direc-tion motor traffic is the greatest danger to cyclists.Therefore, cyclists should stay as much out of its

way as possible and need the protection of bikelanes and bike paths to be safe. This is the cyclist-inferiority superstition (CI). Some people prefer tocall this superstition the cyclist-inferiority taboo.Taboo and superstition operate in practically iden-tical ways. This suits motorists who wish cyclistsout of their way, and it also motivates bicycle activ-ists who believe that people will not cycle withoutbikeways.

To achieve, and later maintain, the under-standing of how the traffic system operatesrequires that the cyclist (at least, those above theelementary ages) understand that vehicularcycling is contrary to societys opinions and to thegovernments bicycle policy. Because most peoplebelieve in the cyclist-inferiority superstition, gov-ernment bases its bikeway-building bicycling pol-icy on it. The VC principle holds that cyclists farebest when they act and are treated as drivers ofvehicles; the CI superstition holds that doing so isdifficult and dangerous.

Confident belief in the vehicular-cycling prin-ciple is necessary both for safe and competentcycling and for defending cyclists rights to ridesafely and competently. This subject will be dis-

cussed later in the Manual. For the moment, theinstructor must remember that developing confi-dence in the vehicular-cycling principle is just asnecessary as developing the skills that are basedupon it.

2.3 Subsidiary Objectives of the Effec-tive Cycling Courses

Cyclists need to know many different things andpractice many skills to get the greatest pleasureand use from cycling:1: Mechanical skills: Selecting and maintaining

bicycles.2: Physical skills: Cycling gracefully and easily,getting the most speed and distance for the leasteffort.3: Traveling skills: Going to new places near andfar, up the valleys, over and down the mountains,carrying the necessities.4: Environmental skills: How to handle rain, cold,heat and darkness.5: Traffic skills: How to ride in traffic safely andeffectively, on all types of road and with all levels


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of traffic.6: Physical conditioning: Developing one's speedand endurance for both cycling and health.7: Competitive skills: Learning when and how toapply one's physical condition to go faster or fur-

ther.8: Family cycling skills: How to continue cyclingwith a young family, how to raise cycling children.9: Political skills: How to defend and advocate theright kind of cycling, how to tell fact from supersti-tion, friends from enemies.

Effective Cycling training for adults maycover any or all of these subjects, while training forchildren generally is limited to mechanical andtraffic safety for reasons of time. The goal of theEffective Cycling Program is to teach people allthat they need to know to cycle every day that theywish, for any purpose that they desire, under all

conditions of weather, terrain and traffic.

2.4 Typical Levels of Cycling Skills

With the recent successes of Americans incycle racing and the enormous growth of cyclingfor aerobic development and the triathlon competi-tions, you may think that Americans cycle quitewell. A few at the top do so, but most cycle poorly,with excessive fatigue, too many mechanical trou-bles, excessive fear of imaginary accidents but fartoo many accidents that are easily avoidable. And,generally speaking, they advocate programs and

policies that make things worse rather than better.The simpler of these errors are caused by simpleignorance, not knowing the correct methods. Themore complicated are caused by superstition,strong beliefs about the nature of cycling in trafficthat are contrary to known facts but are nonethe-less obeyed in the mistaken belief that the violatorwill certainly be killed by a car.

At a top estimate, of the 100 million Ameri-cans who say that they ride bicycles, no more than100 thousand ride even moderately well, andprobably the correct figure is less than half of that.When only one percent or less of cyclists ride

properly, the training system has failed. Does thismatter? If the failures were concentrated in long-distance touring or in competition, there would belittle social effect beyond the unhappiness ofunsuccessful athletes, but the reverse is true.

Athletic cycling, competitive or for self-devel-opment, has been the most successful part, whiletransportation, safety and public policy have beenmiserable failures. Americans cycle far less thanwould benefit them individually, partly because of

fear and partly because of social disapproval.About 80% of accidents are caused by cyclistignorance, and the public policy has been one ofkeeping cyclists frightened, ignorant and subservi-ent to motorists. These are failures of the first

importance, and Effective Cycling training is thebest (although not the only) corrective measurethat is available to us.

2.5 Reducing the Accident Rate

Two different comparisons suggest that rea-sonable cycling skill reduces the accident rate byabout 80%. American members of the League ofAmerican Wheelmen have an accident rate onlyabout 20% of that of the general public. Britishmembers of the Cyclists Touring Club reducetheir accident rate by about 80% in four years ofmembership. In short, the experience of cyclingwith better-skilled cyclists teaches better cyclingwith a much lower accident rate.

2.6 Contribution of Instruction

Instruction in any subject teaches the knowl-edge and skills that have been learned in the pastthrough trial and error. Experience teachesslowly, and at the cost of mistakes. (1)

The function of instruction is to convey inshort time the knowledge and skills that werelearned slowly in the past; it provides the results ofexperience without either the time used or the

accidents incurred while obtaining that experi-ence. The Effective Cycling Program does notteach anything new; the skills and knowledge thatit imparts have all been learned and proved bycyclists and by scientists and engineers of variousdisciplines. Naturally, the Effective Cycling Instruc-tor plays a key part in instruction. Unless theInstructor knows much more than just the outlineof the course, he cannot place the items of knowl-edge in their proper perspective, or teach the skillsin their relevant environments.

2.7 Responsibilities of InstructorsEffective Cycling instruction is not merely a

matter of informing willing or not-so-willing stu-dents of the content of a set curriculum. Today, theinstructor must often get the program started inthe area by persuading people that it is necessaryand possible. He must find organizations willing tosponsor and house the classes.

Because traffic-safe cycling is a controversialsubject, he must present his case diplomatically


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but soundly, to both sponsors and to students, ifsuccess is to be achieved. Because participationis voluntary, he must cover the subject matter andmaintain standards while still keeping the interestand enjoyment of the students. It takes a well-

informed, well-trained, vigorous and perceptiveman or woman to do that job.The Instructor Training and Certification Pro-

gram will help you become a well-qualified, com-petent instructor of cycling, and later to keep yourcompetence and knowledge up to date. The Bicy-cle Transportation Institute aims to assist you inestablishing classes, both directly and by improv-ing the public acceptance of Effective Cyclingtraining. Since most training of cyclists is poor butpublicly accepted while the Effective Cycling Pro-gram is excellent but controversial, the BTI insistsupon continued high standards and excellence.

Only in that way can the program do its job.These high standards give value to the emblemsand certificates earned by instructors who com-plete their training by successful performance indifficult examinations. And in turn, all these char-acteristics give value to the emblems and certifi-cates earned by your students who complete theirtraining by successful performance in the real-world driving test that you will give them in actualtraffic conditions. The real test always is cyclingitself.1. James Anthony Froude

3 The Psychological Position ofCyclists in America

3.1 The Cyclist-Inferiority Superstition

Almost all adult Americans strongly believethe cyclist-inferiority superstition (CIS). This is thefeeling that cars belong on the roadway and thecyclist does not, that cars are deadly dangerous,that same-direction motor traffic is the greatestdanger to cyclists, so that the cyclist must stay farout of the way of cars. I often express this as: The

cyclist who rides in traffic will either delay the cars,which is Sin, or, if the cars dont choose to slowdown, will be crushed, which is Death, and theWages of Sin is Death. Because the cyclistdoesnt belong on the road, riding there is some-thing you should not do. Doing what you shouldntproduces the sense of guilt, and guilt means thatyou that you deserve to be punished. The punish-ment that you deserve for cycling on the roadwayis death. That feeling, that belief, is a very power-

ful psychological condition. In many people it fitsthe definition of a phobia.

The CIS affects people both when they arecycling and when they are motoring, even whenthinking about either. It dictates how they feel

about cycling and about how cyclists ought to ride,including the facilities and laws that should be pro-vided for cyclists. The hold that the CIS has uponthe American public explains why it is that a gov-ernmental bicycling program, bikeways, that wasdesigned to make motoring more convenient byclearing the roads of cyclists, is believed to be thepre-eminent bicycle safety program. The vehicularcyclist looks at that program and jeers, knowingthat it is all wrong and based on completely incor-rect theories. However, the person who stillbelieves the CIS cannot see the governmentalbikeways program for what it is, and believes that

it makes cycling safe.The CIS makes it more difficult to teach

cycling to adults than to teach motoring, becausethe cyclist is always bothered by feelings of guiltand danger that dont reflect reality. It is not untilhe gets over the CIS that he is comfortable andcompetent while riding in traffic.

3.2 The Importance of Overcoming theCyclist-Inferiority Superstition

The CIS makes it very difficult to defendcyclists right to operate as drivers of vehicles,

because the public believes that cycling as adriver of a vehicle is deadly dangerous. Therefore,the public believes the nonsense that bikewaysboth make cycling safe and eliminate the need tooperate as drivers of vehicles. That nonsense isthe prime driving force behind the governmentalbicycling program, the prime force making cyclingless useful, less efficient, and less safe.There are two very important reasons why theEffective Cycling Instructor must overcome theCIS in his students.1: As long as a student feels the emotions created

by the CIS, he will not ride properly and he

cannot feel confident and comfortable on theroad.2: Only those people who have overcome the

CIS (or the few who never suffered from it) canpromote the right kind of cycling program and fightto defend cyclists against the current governmen-tal bicycling programs.

3.3 Methods of Overcoming the


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Cyclist-Inferiority Superstition

There is only one known method of overcom-ing the CIS: successful experience in traffic ofgradually increasing difficulty. We discovered thistruth though hard experience. Later, we discov-

ered that this is in accordance with the standardknowledge about phobias. In more general terms,successful exposure to the feared condition insequences of gradually increasing intensity, is theonly known method of overcoming phobias, theonly successful treatment for them.

The Effective Cycling Instructor needs to beaware of this emotion in his students and develophis teaching sequence accordingly. Even if he hasa class of accomplished motorists, who reallyought to know almost all that is necessary aboutoperating in traffic, he must not take them out intointense traffic without some practice in easy trafficin the weeks before. I say weeks before, because,for many people, it takes several successful week-end training classes in easier traffic, and perhapssome personal experience over the interveningweekdays, for them to be ready to take on fast,intense traffic, no worse than that in which theyhave been motoring daily. I know of several fail-ures from attempts to hurry the course faster thanthe students can change their feelings.

Of course, if the class consists of cyclistswho are already reasonable traffic cyclists, whoreally want to sharpen their traffic skills and learn

other skills such as touring, then the instructor canstart training them in the best ways to operate inintense traffic; they wont need the usual time tochange their emotions. Therefore, I am quite com-fortable teaching a one-weekend course to clubcyclists, because I know that they will be able tolearn what I teach, wont be held back by unjusti-fied fears and worries. But I wont ever try thesame schedule for students who are not alreadytraffic cyclists, because all that I will accomplish isto frighten them some more.

4 Accident Statistics and

Prevention

4.1 Accident Statistics

Because so much of the concern aboutcycling, and about Effective Cycling in particular,is about accidents, the instructor must be well-informed about accident statistics and able to per-suade concerned people to believe truths thatthey do not expect.The first thing to do is to learn the material in the

chapter on accidents in Effective Cycling. Themost important conclusions to be drawn from thisinformation are:1: There are many types of accidents2: Car-bike collisions are not the most frequent

type3: Being hit from behind by a car is a very infre-quent type of accident4: Most accidents are caused by cyclist error5: Those cyclists who would appear to be mostcautious have the higher accident rate, whilethose who appear to take greater risks have thelower rate6: Cyclists learn through experience to avoidabout 80% of accident situations

Here are some data that are not in EffectiveCycling, but come from my Bicycle Transportation.Table 1:, Rank Order of Urban Car-Bike Collision

Types gives the relative percentages of each typeof car-bike collision for urban areas, which is thearea for which people are concerned. These dataare taken from the Cross study, but are reclassi-fied to show urban areas only and to separate theaccidents caused by different riding actions.

Table 1: Rank Order of Urban Car-BikeCollision Types

Code

Collision TypeRank

Percent

5c Cyclist on proper sideruns stop sign

1 9.3

23c Motorist turning left hitscyclist head-on

2 7.6

9w Motorist restarting fromstop sign hits wrong-waycyclist

3 6.8

18t Cyclist turns left in frontof overtaking car

4 6.1

Types with less than 1% omitted.Codes: Numbers are as in Cross study.

c= correct roadway positions=sidewalk cycling

w=wrong side of roadt=cyclist swerve


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The effect of age and experience on the car-bike collision frequency is graphically shown in Fig1: Typical Car-Bike Collision Types Arranged byMedian Age of Cyclist.

The crux of the problem for most people whoworry about bicycle safety is that they believe thatan aggressive style of riding causes cycling acci-dents, and they equate Effective Cycling with thataggressive style. They are so imbued with the

6c &7c

Cyclist hit as traffic signalchanges

5 5.9

24c Motorist turns right 6 4.8

1c Cyclist exists residentialdriveway

7 4.3

9c Motorist restarts fromstop sign

8 4.2

2c Cyclist exits commercialdriveway 9 3.9

3s Cyclist on sidewalk turnsto exit driveway

10 3.0

5w Wrong-way cyclist runsstop sign

11 2.6

26w Wrong-way cyclist hithead-on

12 2.6

8s Motorist exiting commer-

cial driveway hits cycliston sidewalk

13 2.4

25c Uncontrolled intersectioncollision

14 2.2

8c Motorist exits commer-cial driveway

15 2.1

Bc Cyclist runs red light 16 2.1

19t Cyclist turns left fromcurb lane, hits car fromopposing direction

17 2.1


Code

Collision TypeRank

Percent




10w Motorist exiting commer-cial driveway hits wrong-way cyclist

18 1.9

13c Motorist overtaking doesnot see cyclist

19 1.9

8w Motorist exiting commer-cial driveway hits wrong-way cyclist

20 1.5

24w Motorist turning right hitswrong-way cyclist

21 1.5

16c Motorist overtaking tooclosely

22 1.4

20t Cyclist swerves left 23 1.3

21t Wrong-way cyclistswerves right

24 1.3

36 Miscellaneous 25 1.3

23s Motorist turning left hitscyclist riding in oppositedirection on sidewalk

26 1.2

27c Cyclist hits slower car 27 1.1


Code

Collision TypeRank

Percent





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Fig 1:Fig 1: Typical Car-Bike Collision Types Arranged by Median Age of Cyclist.


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notion that cyclists must stay away from traffic thatthey consider any deviation from that rule to beaggressive, a form of fighting with cars that thecyclist cannot win. The age pattern of car-bike col-lisions shows an entirely different picture. If there

is any kind of aggression by cyclists againstmotorists, it would have to be getting in front ofmotorists so they have to stop or swerve to pre-vent a collision. That means, such actions asentering the roadway without yielding, swerving infront of an overtaking car, running stop signs toforce motorists to wait, and the like. As the car-bike collision age pattern shows, these are allactions of children that older cyclists quickly learnto avoid. As for simply cycling straight along theroadway, no matter how much motor traffic thereis, that cannot be considered to be aggressive atall. Effective Cycling teaches cooperation with

how traffic operates; it does not teach violating orfighting the traffic system.

The instructor must handle that problem gen-tly, acting in an obviously gentle manner to defusethe charge of aggressiveness. He must also iden-tify the major types of car-bike collisions, givingpercentages to show his knowledge, and for eachtype point out that the Effective Cycling methodtakes the cautious approach. Effective Cyclingtechnique never requires the cyclist to ride intotrouble; whenever the cyclist may cycle into con-flict with any other lawful driver, it always requireshim to look and wait.

Then there is the person who believes thattraffic volume is itself a great danger. He or shewill say that nobody should ride a bike on X streetbecause there are so many cars there. Of course,what he means is that there are many cars over-taking cyclists, and he believes that the greatestdanger to cyclists is same-direction motor traffic.Look at Table 1:, Rank Order of Urban Car-BikeCollision Types. Same-direction traffic appearsonly in ranks 19 and 22; it cannot be a major dan-ger. However, this argument is harder to handle,because Effective Cycling does not take explicitsteps to prevent a lawful cyclist who is proceedingstraight ahead from being hit from behind. Itdoesn't do so because the steps that might betaken are worse than the minute hazard (in day-light) of being hit from behind. Probably the bestanswer is a combination one: we don't take stu-dents out in heavy traffic until we are sure thatthey will not swerve about, we require that theyride far enough right to let motorists overtake eas-ily, we teach them how to handle all the traffic situ-ations that they are likely to meet, and this

particular danger is of very low importance, being(in daylight) more than 20 down from the top of thecar-bike collision list.

You should also know the relative importanceof the various causes of injuries and deaths to

cyclists as shown in Table 2:, Factors Responsiblefor Cycling Injuries and Deaths, because mostpeople have a very distorted view of these. As youcan see, the popularly-believed causes of motortraffic and defectively-designed roads are low onthe list, while the topmost one, by far, is cyclisterror and the next is road-surface defects.

You may be asked questions of the oppositetype, such as why you don't schedule your rideson the favorite bike path. There are severalanswers to that question.

1: The class is intended to teach traffic safety, andthe place to learn traffic safety is in traffic.2: The class is intended to teach useful cycling,traveling by bicycle, and the typical trip is unlikelyto go where there are bike paths.3: Such places are dangerous and there is notechnique available for counteracting those dan-gers. The dangers are both from motor traffic andfrom non-motorized traffic.

This discussion has focused on the concernsexpressed to you, rather than on the concerns that

Table 2: Factors Responsible for CyclingInjuries and Deaths

FactorPer-cent

Cyclist error 50

Road surface defect 20

Motorist error 8

Bicycle equipment failure 6

Pedestrians 4

Dogs 2

Insufficient signal clear-ance time

1

Road design defect


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you may have in the conduct of the course.This is because there is little reason to consideraccident rates or types in the conduct of thecourse. So long as you ensure that your studentsare ready to take the next step in training before

you introduce them to its conditions, there is noreason to believe that any one situation is signifi-cantly more dangerous than another. You baseyour choice of routes and situations on their skill,not on relative dangerousness. The skilled rider indifficult conditions is safer than the unskilled riderin easy conditions, as the statistics show. Thatrelieves you of a considerable burden.

4.2 Accident Prevention

The more positive aspect of studying acci-dent statistics is the design of accident preventionprograms and prediction of their results. As isshown in Table 3:, Estimated Reduction in Injuries,and Table 4:, Estimated Reduction in Deaths,Effective Cycling is by far the most promising of allthe bicycle-safety programs that have beendevised. It addresses the correct aspects of theproblem, which most others don't, and it does soin the best manner that we know. The next-best isthe wearing of helmets, largely because of thevery large proportion of deaths that it ought to pre-vent.

5 Educational ProgramsCompared

5.1 Conventional Bike-Safety Courses

The instructor needs to recognize the differ-

ences between bike-safety education and Effec-tive Cycling training. Knowing the differences willenable him to explain them and it will also helphim to teach people whose opinions have beenformed by conventional bike-safety education. Theinstructor needs to know the problem, and bike-safety education is a large part of the problem.

The conventional bike-safety program hasconsisted of a classroom lecture, frequentlyaccompanied by a film, and a workbook contain-ing pictures and sentences of doubtful accuracy orrelevance. Some of these programs areaddressed to elementary-school students, others

to middle-school students. The worst are so inac-curate and misguided that it is impossible to relatethem to any useful standard. Even the better onesare a litany of mistakes. For example, practicallyall say to stop at stop signs without saying what todo next. Practically all illustrate the left-turn signalfrom the rear and show the cyclist looking straightforward. Many illustrate curb hugging (for exam-ple, swerving out to the curb between parkedcars). Many advise walking one's bicycle across

Table 3: Estimated Reduction in Injuries

ProgramInjuries

Reduced,per year

Effective Cycling course 100,000

Intersection Improvement 8,000

Dog Leash Laws 8,000

Bicycle Mechanical Repair 4,000

Helmet Wearing 3,000Headlamps and RearReflectors

2,000

Roadway Widening 2,000

Bikeways, optimistic 2,000

Bikeways, realistic -X0,000

Table 4: Estimated Reduction in Deaths

ProgramDeaths

Reduced,per year

Effective Cycling course 500

Helmet Wearing 300

Roadway Widening 180

Headlamps and RearReflector

160

Intersection Improvement 100

Dog Leash Laws 80

Bicycle Mechanical Repair 30

Bikeways, optimistic 180

Bikeways, pessimistic -X00


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intersections, and those that don't, show thecyclist looking both ways at every intersection withthe implied duty to yield to all traffic, even if thecyclist has the right of way. Most illustrate leftturns from the curb lane without looking behind.

Every one that I have seen advises reliance onreflectors instead of headlamps for nighttime pro-tection.

The films are just as bad, although onewould think that the difficulties of making suchdangerous films would have alerted the producersto the deficiencies of the subject matter. The mainpoint of one film was advising against "riding fast",illustrated by a prominent entertainer acting thefool by dodging incompetently between lanesrather than riding safely in the lane appropriate forhis speed. This was followed by siren sounds, if Iremember correctly. Another showed cyclists turn-

ing right onto a busy street after signalling a rightturn but without checking for traffic coming fromtheir left. They could have been hit as the film wasbeing shot!

Even the American Automobile Associationpublishes defective materials. It published aposter of a cyclist making a left-turn signal with thecyclist looking straight ahead, and its film OnlyOne Roadadvised cyclists to ride between right-turning cars and the curb.

Even a person experienced in such mattersfrequently cannot figure out a program's intendedmessage. These programs are hodgepodges of

confused thoughts. If somebody with my experi-ence cannot figure them out, how can the stu-dents? For example, in most programs it isobvious that cars are considered dangerous andpowerful, so that cyclists must stay out of theirway. Yet the same programs advise their studentsto stick out their left arms and force their waythrough traffic, trusting to the motorists to protectthem.

What message can be deduced, or will thestudents deduce, from such a presentation ofunlawful and unsafe behavior? It is the vocifer-ously defended belief that sticking out the left armhas the magical power to make it safe to turn leftfrom the curb lane without looking. That is the onlyobvious belief that fits the instructions, so as thestudents try to build a picture of the world that theycan obey, which is how this kind of instructionworks, that is the belief that they construct. Theyare not yet sufficiently aware of human motives todeduce that the basic motivation for bike-safetyinstruction is to preserve the supremacy of motor-ists rather than to protect themselves.

The confused state of adult thinking aboutcycling shows that confusion is the main productof "bike-safety" education. The only other conceptthat I can logically develop from the typical pre-sentation is this: Cars are usually terribly danger-

ous and will get you if they can, so you must stayout of their way as much as possible, but whenyou must get in their way there is nothing you cando but trust to luck. Quite probably that was notthe authors' conscious intent, but it is the veryprevalent public attitude. That's what the publicthinks; isn't it likely that the public opinion hasbeen developed by several generations of suchpresentations?

Two other conditions allowed so absurd asystem to develop. The first is that cycling stoppedattracting first-class brains by 1898, the end of thefirst cycling boom. It was then obvious that motor-

ing would supersede cycling for those who couldafford it, and shortly after that it was aviation, radioand the other modern developments that attractedpeople with brains and ambition. Cycling becamean intellectual backwater and remained so untilthe 1970s.

The second condition is that there was nofinancial support for intellectual work in cycling.Government wasn't interested in developingcycling theory; the big challenge was developingthe highway system for motoring. Cyclists had lowstatus and generally had low incomes and educa-tions. As the status and income of cyclists fell, so

did the profitability of cycle manufacturing. In theUnited States, the manufacturers aimed only tosell to children as the adult market disappeared.While this change to a child market created a veryimportant intellectual challenge, this challengewas so radical that its existence was not recog-nized. The challenge was this: How is it possiblein a motoring and noncycling society, such as theUnited States, to teach children how to ride safelywhen children are the only cyclists? Not recogniz-ing this challenge, the manufacturers supportedonly foolish and incompetent work, mostly propa-ganda rather than investigation, and much of itdevoted to promoting bikeways, an idea that hadno intellectual support whatever.

The absence of intellectual work on cyclingtheory, the low intellectual and educational level ofthose engaged in the field, and the progressivegrowth of confusion prevented the developers ofAmerican bike-safety programs from recognizingthat they had undertaken an impossible task.

They assumed that children are unskilledand incapable of judging vehicle speed and dis-


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tance and the movements of vehicles in traffic,that children cannot look over their shoulders, thatchildren are mentally incapable of understandingtraffic concepts such as right-of-way, and are inca-pable of observing and predicting traffic move-

ments. These assumptions certainly favor childrenby giving them the lightest intellectual load of anydrivers; in this sense they are ideal for child safety.The program developers' task was to devise asystem of traffic-safe cycling that would notrequire any of these abilities. However, not once,so far as I know, did any of them try to performthat task, or ask himself how to accomplish it,whether he had accomplished it, or whether it waspossible. Neither, so far as I know, did any of themanalyze how traffic maneuvers were actually per-formed, by cyclists or by motorists. Lastly, it neveroccurred to any of them that if there was a reason-

able prospect of developing such an easy drivingsystem, the motorists would have been develop-ing it for themselves.

Having dismissed from consideration everyskill by which child cyclists could save themselvesand could operate in traffic, the safety-programdevelopers were left with only a few possibleinstructions (to stay close to the curb, to signalwhen leaving the curb, to stop at stop signs, tolook both ways at minor intersections, and to walkacross major intersections), all to be done by rotewithout the possibility of exercising judgement oreven modifying a movement in accordance with

the traffic. The result contradicted traffic behaviorand the law, and is, as I have said before, the larg-est identified cause of American car-bike colli-sions. By denying that cyclists have the ability toreact to traffic, it denied them that ability becauseit denied all instruction to develop that ability, andit denied them the insight to consider whether theymight be able to develop that ability. Therefore, itplaced nearly all of the responsibility for traffic-safe cycling on the motorists, although it did notseek to change the traffic laws to accommodatethis supposed change in responsibility.

Yet nobody questioned this system. I thinkthat the whole bike-safety instructional systemwas such a crazy house of cards that its own cra-ziness prevented rational thought about it. Sincenothing made sense, and any attempt to makesense of it failed, people were dissuaded fromapplying any rational standard to it. It becametaught as a system of quasi-religious belief in life-saving magic with a tradition of unquestioningintellectual obedience.

Even the modernized bike-safety programs

continue in this failing. The older ones concen-trated on teaching what not to do - basically "Don'tget in the way of cars." The later ones, like DonLaFond's Illinois and Maryland programs, bene-fited from Ken Cross's studies of car-bike collision

hazards by concentrating on "hazard recognitionand avoidance." The apparent concept was thatthe cyclist could do anything he pleased so longas he recognized and avoided hazards. Thisapproach has four serious defects:1: Since the cyclist so trained does not know how

the traffic system is supposed to work, he haslittle ability to recognize when someone ismaking a mistake.

2: This technique implies that the cyclist must dis-tribute his attention over all of the traffic scenelooking for hazards, instead of concentratingon those particular parts of the traffic scene

that present the greatest difficulty in traversingand the greatest probability of accident.

3: Without knowing how the traffic system oper-ates, who has right-of-way and who mustyield, this prevents the cyclist from concentrat-ing on those other drivers who have the right-of-way, those to whom he must yield.

4: Most of all, this approach neglects the verygreat safety advantages of understanding traf-fic principles and developing the safe operat-ing habits that generally keep the cyclist out oftrouble.

Proper cycling habits greatly reduce thenumber of potential accident situations the cyclisttraverses and enable him to devote full attention tothose that he must traverse. The latest crop ofprograms all claim to be "on road" programs, theirauthors attempting to join our bandwagon as peo-ple start to understand that cycling is not a skillthat can be learned in the classroom. It is onething to get out of the classroom but another thingto get into real road conditions, and still a far differ-ent thing to teach cycling as it should be taught.

These programs waste time on nonessen-tials, they still contain many errors and their teach-ing is still not based on an understanding of thevehicular-cycling principle (so they cannot teachthat, either), and they do not allow the time neces-sary to learn the necessary skills in traffic of grad-ually increasing intensity. In fact, some of themmerely take the students to look at traffic, ratherthan riding in it.

Another problem of conventional "bike-safety" programs is that they are unintentionallydesigned to be taught by people who don't believe


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in safe cycling practices. They are designed to bepresented by the typical schoolteacher, who suf-fers from the cyclist-inferiority superstition andtherefore cannot present safe cycling practices ina logical, confident way. Of course, such a teacher

might present accurate information verbatim, butthe teacher's doubt would show through and themoment that students started discussion or askedquestions the teacher would be answering in thelanguage of the cyclist-inferiority superstition.Cycling must not be taught by people who disbe-lieve in vehicular-cycling practices. Today's situa-tion requires special cycling instructors whobelieve in vehicular cycling.

Conventional bike-safety programs are nottraining programs at all; they do not train studentsin the sense that the word "training" is used in anyother activity. There is no practice, criticism of the

students' technique, or repeat practice after criti-cism, at all; it is all talk. People cannot learn activi-ties like cycling unless they do them; they cannotlearn them efficiently unless their performance isobserved, evaluated, and criticized.

In summary, expecting conventional "bike-safety" programs to reduce cyclist casualties to areasonable level is unrealistic; no sensible personshould ever have had that expectation.

5.2 Governmental Policy RegardingCyclist Competence

The bicycling program of the United Statesgovernment is based on the claim that 95% ofAmerican cyclists will never learn how to rideproperly, will never learn how to obey the rules ofthe road while riding a bicycle. This is explicitlystated in the Federal Highway AdministrationManual Selecting Roadway Design Treatments toAccommodate Bicycles, 10 July 1992. The high-way design treatment recommended for cyclistswho dont know how to obey the rules of the roadis the installation of bike lanes. Although it isalways claimed that bike-lane stripes reduce theneed to know how to ride properly, how to obey

the rules of the road, nobody has ever been ableto explain how this works.

In other words, this bikeway system is the lat-est version of the traditional bike-safety program.The government proclaims: We have a system bywhich cyclists can operate without having to learnhow to obey the rules of the road, but we haveonly a fuzzy idea of what that system is and wehave no explanation of how it actually works. Nev-ertheless, we firmly believe in that system and

insist that all else is wrong and dangerous.The National Highway Safety Administration,

the Injury Prevention part of the Center for Dis-ease Control, and the Federal Highway Adminis-tration held a National Bicycle Safety Conference

in the summer of 2000. The conference wasdivided into separate discussion groups namedMotorists Will Share the Road, Bicyclists Will RideSafely, Bicyclists Will Wear Helmets, The LegalSystem Will Support Safe Bicycling, Roads andPaths Will Safely Accommodate Bicyclists. Iattended, at my own cost, and participated in thefacilities group. John Allen participated in thecyclist behavior group. The report is NationalStrategies for Advancing Bicycle Safety, May2001.

The strategies are so worded that there is noindication of any controversy (except about man-

datory helmet laws). There is no reference to theconcept that cyclists should obey the rules of theroad for drivers of vehicles, and, therefore, none tothe idea that bikeway designs conflict with thatconcept. The motorist behavior strategies concen-trate on the idea that certain aspects of the trafficlaws cause car-bike collisions, without identifyingany of these supposed legal situations (whichreally dont exist). There is a list of proposed traf-fic-law changes taken from previous work bycyclists for the National Committee for UniformTraffic Laws and Ordinances, but the recom-mended changes are not of that type. The bicyclist

behavior strategies presume simply more of theconventional bike-safety programs. The helmetgroup promoted mandatory helmet laws, which allthe others absolutely refused to accept. That con-troversy took up all the remaining conference time.The legal system strategies suggest investigatingto see whether or not motorists get off too easily inbicycle collision cases. (We know of cases; arethese prevalent?) The facilities group producedtwo specific strategies to carry out the govern-ments bikeway program. Stripe 100,000 miles ofbike lanes. Get a not-yet-seen bikeway textbook,written for the FHWA, into university highwaydesign courses across the nation. What is particu-larly interesting about the facilities strategies isthat the group leader, Andy Clarke, who wasExecutive Director of the Association of Pedes-trian and Bicycle Professionals (the bike planners)and is now the chief executive of the League ofAmerican Bicyclists, admitted in writing in his ini-tial paper that there was no evidence that the bike-way programs of the previous thirty years hadreduced the cyclist casualty rate.


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In short, the recommended strategies are sowritten that everybody who reads it, or considerstrying to implement any strategy, will be urged tocontinue along the present governmental policythat is based on cyclist-inferiority and bikeways.

Vehicular cycling is carefully concealed from viewso that nobody will become aware of the concept.This is the environment (social, legal, urban plan-ning, educational), in which the Effective CyclingInstructor must operate, because it is the environ-ment that exists and permeates American society.The Instructor who does not recognize this andwork out how to operate within it will not succeedin developing students who both ride properly ini-tially and continue to know why they should do soin the face of contrary social opinion.

The instructor who does not develop suchstudents will have both failed his students and

failed to do his part in the defense of cyclists rightto ride safely as drivers of vehicles.

5.3 Effective Cycling Imitations

There have been, and maybe still are, imita-tions of the Effective Cycling courses, or coursesthat used to go under the name of EffectiveCycling. These often describe themselves as on-bike courses that teach cycling, or safe cycling, orsome such name. I have seen several importantdeficiencies in these:1: The courses dont teach a safe, useful bundle of

traffic-cycling skills. The adult students who com-plete true Effective Cycling courses are pos-sessed of traffic-cycling skills that enable them tocycle on all reasonable roads and in all reason-able traffic conditions. Not only is there no point inteaching an adult only enough traffic skills to rideon residential roads or rural bikepaths, but qualify-ing so limited a cyclist is harmful to both the stu-dent and to the rest of the cycling population.2: The courses dont end with a full driving testthat demonstrates whether or not the student haslearned a full set of traffic-cycling skills. If the stu-dent is not tested, the previous training could well

be useless.3: Even if a full bicycle-driving examination isgiven, it is not scored in a quantitative manner.You cant tell whether or not a cyclist has learnedthe skills without observing more than one exam-ple of each maneuver, and without a quantitativescore there is no way of evaluating the value of thecourse, of comparing one course against another,or even for correcting for one mistake by a stu-dent.

These deficiencies stem from severalsources. One is the desire to have short coursesbecause these are thought to be popular. Thetrouble with that concept is that it is impossible toteach beginners how to ride safely in a short

course. They need time to learn (even though, asmotorists, most adults already know how to drivea vehicle), they need time to change their emo-tional state from one of fear to one of confidence.

The public has two major mutually incompat-ible strong beliefs about traffic cycling. The first isthat theres little to learn, that they learned it aschildren. The second is that it is extremely difficult,that only supermen can do it. As a result, themembers of the general public are unwilling toinvest the time to learn the skill. Why should theybother to learn something that they already know,and, in any case, if they did learn how to do it they

couldnt do it anyway. It is true that courses suffi-ciently long to teach traffic cycling are not popular.

However, it is equally true that courses thatare too short cannot teach people to ride safely forthe normal range of trips that they might take.

The Effective Cycling Program alwayschooses the safer and most effective of thechoices: teaching students a kit of traffic-cyclingskills that enable them to ride safely anywhere intown, and testing them to ensure that those whopass indeed have those skills.This policy is quali-fied for children; for them the conditions of instruc-tion and testing are limited to those suitable for

their ages.The defective driving tests stem from two dif-

ferent causes. The first is that too many of thesecourses dont teach the skills that are required topass the test. The second is plain laziness, to putthe best face on it, on the part of both instructorsand administrators. They dont want to take thetime to score the driving tests, just as they dontwant to take the time to read and score properwritten examinations. Possibly, also, is the desireto have no quantitative scores that could be usedto make comparisons between instructors andbetween courses.

The Effective Cycling Program alwayschooses the proper testing and scoring proce-dures, both for the benefit of the students whoknow whether or not they have really demon-strated the required skills, and for the benefit ofthe Program, by allowing analysis of the scoresachieved for both scientific and public relationspurposes.


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5.4 Effective Cycling Courses

There are several reasons for the success ofEffective Cycling courses. The first is that they arebased on the secure foundation of the vehicular-cycling principle. There is ample evidence that the

rules of the road for drivers of vehicles provideworkable procedures for traffic operation, both interms of how vehicles operate and in terms of thehuman ability to control them. Nobody disputesthis principle: if it were not correct, the motoringsystem could not exist. The dispute is overanother matter. Conventional wisdom claims thatriding a bicycle makes one incapable of operatingaccording to the rules of the road, a view for whichthere is no scientific support whatever, and whichis contradicted by the success of the EffectiveCycling Program.

Because the vehicular-cycling principle is soimportant a foundation of the program, it is equallyimportant for the instructor to recognize that he isteaching theory as much as practice, and tophrase his instructions in terms of the vehicular-cycling principle. Even when teaching children,who are not sufficiently mature for instruction inabstract theory, it is important to ensure that theteaching embodies the theory and enables thechildren to figure out the theory for themselves,even before they are ready to state it in words.This is how children learn about the world. Follow-ing the vehicular-cycling principle gives success in

three forms. It reduces accidents, it gives legiti-macy, and it produces practical mobility forcyclists.

The second reason for the success of theEffective Cycling Program is that each course isbased on the generally-recognized method ofteaching similar subjects to students of that age.

We consider Effective Cycling to be trainingin the practical operation of bicycles, and we teachin the ways that have been proved successful forteaching other practical skills. Young studentsrequire a great deal of practice and do not learnmuch from verbal instruction in what to them is

abstract theory. Older students can learn morefrom verbal instruction and a base of that instruc-tion enables them to benefit more quickly frompractice. Therefore, they can learn more in thesame time and we use that opportunity to teachmore. Adult and young adult students who takethe course for their own interest both can learnmore and want to learn more. For them there ishomework, both reading and practical, as well aslonger and more detailed lectures before the

riding portion of each class. However, even withthe greater proportion of verbal instruction, theystill get more hours of practical instruction on theroad because the course has greater length. Prac-tical instruction is the base of the Effective Cycling

Program.This brings us to the third reason for the suc-cess of Effective Cycling: it is a useful course. Itaims to impart the knowledge and develop theskills that cyclists need to use their bicycles everyday, for whatever purposes they desire, under allconditions of terrain, weather and traffic. The stu-dents recognize that they are learning valuableand useful skills, and they respond accordingly.

Even in the restricted format of the school-based courses, in which little more than traffic-safe cycling is covered, the students recognizethat this training gives them the practical mobility

that they desire.The fourth reason for the success of Effective

Cycling is the knowledge possessed by its instruc-tors. They not only know cycling, but they under-stand the scientific questions concerning cycling,the social position of cycling in our society and thepsychology of cyclists that these have produced.Effective instruction in a controversial subject ispossible only when the instructor understands thecontroversy.

6 OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS

6.1 Full Course for Adults

6.1.1 Objectives of the Full Adult Course

The first objective of the Effective CyclingCourse for Adults is to impart the knowledge anddevelop the skills that are necessary for usingone's bicycle every day that one wants, for what-ever purposes one desires, under all conditions ofterrain, weather, road conditions and traffic. Thismay also be stated as developing the beginnerinto what most people now consider to be anexpert cyclist or a good club cyclist, although with-

out the connotation of great speed or endurance(which can hardly be developed from scratch inthe duration of the course and which some cyclistsdon't desire).

The mechanical skills should start withchoosing a bicycle for fit and quality desired. Thestudents progress to performing all the routineadjustments and inspections on their own bicy-cles, and to the theory of all the operations neces-sary to inspect and replace all the moving parts.

The objective of the theory section is to give


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the students the theoretical knowledge and theconfidence that by following the instructions inEffective Cycling they will be able to perform eachof the operations required whenever it becomesnecessary and they have the tools to do it.

The manual skills are developed by severalexercises: changing and patching a tire, disas-sembly and reassembly of sample hubs and bydisconnecting and rerivetting a section of chain.

The students are encouraged to undertakefurther mechanical tasks at home by instruction inthe principles of bicycle maintenance and simpledemonstrations by the instructor. The objective isto make the student as independent of mechani-cal assistance as is reasonably possible, both incase of mechanical trouble on the road and toobtain reliable and consistent service from his orher bicycle with a minimum of special trips for

repairs at bicycle shops.The bicycle-handling skills to be developed

cover all aspects of bicycle handling that are use-ful when riding on the road. These are: startingand stopping; pedalling smoothly and selectingthe correct gear; riding straight even when lookingbehind; use of the brakes at maximum safe decel-eration; rock dodging swerves; instant turns;crossing potholes and diagonal railroad tracks;handling gravel and slippery places; high speedsand high-speed turns on descents.

The physiological knowledge and exerciseskills cover all that cyclists need to know about

their bodies and minds in order to travel the fastestand furthest that is comfortable for them, with theleast fatigue possible. This covers: smoothpedalling style; high-cadence, low-force pedalling;replenishing food, water and salt; physical trainingprograms; saddle comfort; avoidance of exerciseinjuries, particularly those in the knee; pacing one-self for the ride; time-trialling technique. These aredeveloped in part through lecture and in part withas much riding as we can get in.

The traffic-cycling objectives are to providethe confidence, knowledge and skills to ride underall conditions of traffic. Since many students in thiscourse will be adults who have had bike-safetycourses and motor-vehicle driving courses, a verybasic objective is to counteract the fear of cyclingin traffic that these have produced. This fear isovercome by repeated, successful use of traffic-cycling skills in traffic of gradually increasing inten-sity. This will not be successful unless the cyclingexperience is successful, so that the instructormust prepare for success by providing a basis ofverbal instruction in theory and method, then dem-

onstration of the method, and then practice ineasy traffic. Only when the students perform amaneuver substantially perfectly in easy traffic is itproper to ask them to perform the same maneuverin more difficult traffic.

This foundation process is started withinstruction in the principles of traffic law, to givethe students both a basic understanding of howthe law works and the recognition that the laws fordrivers of vehicles (not those for cyclists alone)treat cyclists as fairly as they do other drivers andare the basis for our rights and safety when on theroad.

The objectives of the traffic skills section are:knowledge of the basic principles of traffic law andits value to cyclists; knowledge of the accident sta-tistics to learn that the most frequent accidentscan be avoided and that the most feared accidents

are the least frequent; the skill of selecting the cor-rect position on the roadway under all conditions;the skill of knowing when and how to yield to crosstraffic; the skill of changing lanes under all condi-tions; the skill of selecting the correct startingposition at any intersection for any turn; the skill oftaking the proper path through merges anddiverges; the skill to recognize and evade themore common mistakes made by other drivers;the knowledge of the extra hazards commonlyfound in bikeways; the confidence to use all theseskills in traffic of all intensities.

In addition to teaching competence in the

traffic environment, the Effective Cycling adultcourse has the objectives of teaching the compe-tence to handle other environmental conditions:darkness and rain, heat and cold. Even if none ofthese conditions occurs during the instructionalperiod, the students should understand the infor-mation in Effective Cycling, why each item isimportant and how to obey it.

Cyclists also need to possess the skills forenjoying cycling. Effective Cycling covers cyclingaround town and to work, over the mountains,cycling with clubs, cycle touring, some knowledgeof racing and the skill of time trialling, and cyclingwith mate and children. For each subject, theobjective is to enable the student to start eachactivity correctly, avoiding the mistakes of mostbeginners and starting to acquire the proper skills,even though there is insufficient time in the coursefor the students to develop great skill. The classrides should have developed the skills of riding intown and in a group, and of riding a time trial,which are the basic skills for commuting, clubriding and racing. The skills of mountain riding,


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touring, mass-start racing, and of cycling with lovecan only be introduced verbally within the course(unless the class of students is very unusual).

Lastly, it is highly desirable for students ofcycling to acquire some understanding of the polit-

ical and social situations in which they find them-selves as cyclists. People who have studied thetechnique of cycling in traffic are in the best posi-tion to understand and support the vehicular-cycling principle and to learn of the ways in whichthat principle is opposed. The objective of this partof Effective Cycling is to make the students awareof the reasons why Effective Cycling differs fromthe traditional bike-safety course, the deficienciesin the federal bicycle regulation (particularly aboutnighttime protective equipment, brakes, and theregulation's inability to reduce injuries), the politi-cal opposition to proper cycling and the reasons

for it, the psychology of the cyclist-inferiority com-plex, and the resulting social status of cyclists.There is insufficient time for students to acquire adetailed understanding of any of these subjects,but they should leave the course with knowledgethat these problems exist and that EffectiveCycling and the vehicular-cycling principle are theproper criteria for what's right for cyclists andwhat's wrong with much of present policy.

Results are of two types: skills and knowl-edge that should be measured to determine howwell students have done in the course, and atti-tudes and opinions that, while important, should

not be used to determine student performance.Performance measurement is the heart of thecourse. Practically all students learn to performthe basic mechanical operations and at least halfof them progress to doing more complicated oper-ations at home during the duration of the course.Practically all develop acceptable cycling postureand pedalling motion and increase their speedand endurance. The average increase in speedbetween the two time trials is about 20%.

They show that they know the physiologicalreasons for eating and drinking while riding, theimportance of salt replacement in hot weather andhow to stay warm in cold weather, even thoughthey may have little practice in extreme conditions.Practically all learn to perform the bicycle-han-dling maneuvers with acceptable speed andsmoothness. Class averages for the road test inheavy traffic are about 90% and practically no stu-dents who have proceeded that far with the coursefail it. Students do not answer written questionsabout traffic behavior as well as they perform intraffic itself, which suggests that either their verbal

skills are not as good as their operating skills, orthat they have not yet fully incorporated the vehic-ular-cycling principle into their understanding oftraffic.

6.1.2 Attitudinal Results of the Adult CourseAttitudes and opinions are harder to mea-sure, both technically and because they shouldnot be considered in evaluating student perfor-mance. However, most students show significantchanges in behavior that are related to changes inattitude and opinion. They ride more and over awider choice of roads, with less worry about traffic.

They talk about, and take pride in, being driv-ers of vehicles. They expand their cycling horizonsto longer trips to more different places. In placeswhere there are bad bikeways, they conclude thatthey won't ride on them. Rather than worrying

about the dangers of bicycling, a rather typical atti-tude at the start, they have a confidence that theircycling skills will carry them through.

6.2 Partial Courses for Adults

There has been a long history of complaintsthat the Full Adult Course (FAC) is too long, thatpeople dont want to commit ten Saturday morn-ings to learning cycling. In one sense, that is areasonable complaint; cycling skill (except for spe-cific parts) is so denigrated that most people seeno reason to want to learn it. In another sense,

that is a most unreasonable complaint; it takestime to learn the skills that make cycling safe andenjoyable.If the FAC is too long, then what parts should bedeleted? One can consider that the FAC consistsof four parts:1: Bicycle Mechanics: Those skills that are desir-able to keep your bicycle operating2: Bicycle Handling: Those skills that enable youto direct your bicycle on the course and speed thatyou desire3: Traffic Cycling: Those skills that enable you totravel safely and effectively in the traffic environ-

ment4: Cycling Enjoyment: Those skills that enable youto enjoy various cycling activities The typical plandivides the time into several blocks of about twomornings each, supposedly more convenient forthe participants, who are expected to continuethrough several blocks. Such plans also reducethe content.

The typical first block limits the Mechanics tosafety check, bicycle size adjustment and fixing


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flats, the Handling to starting, stopping, and shift-ing, the Traffic to two-lane easy roads, and elimi-nates Enjoyment. The result is useless(insufficient practical skill), dangerous (insufficienttraffic skill), and unattractive (no enjoyment), and

few participants continue.The most serious purpose of EffectiveCycling training is to develop the skill of cyclingsafely and effectively in the traffic environment.That means, passing the Cyclist Traffic ProficiencyDriving Test. If the participants do not learnenough to pass the driving test, the training hasbeen both useless and dangerous. However,when potential beginning participants considertaking the course, traffic cycling is the part thatthey think they will most dislike and most fear.After all, they have been raised to dislike and tofear cycling in traffic.

Beginners cannot be taught traffic-cyclingskills in a hurry. It is not that so much must belearned; most adults already know how to drive intraffic. The difficulty is in adjusting the emotions sothat that knowledge can be used when cycling.Hurrying through the instruction subjects the par-ticipants to the new stress of cycling in traffic with-out sufficient time to adjust to it. It also is poorinstructional technique because it reduces theopportunities for the instructor to evaluate theprogress of each participant, thus possibly push-ing a participant into a maneuver for which he isnot yet ready. Notice that it is not until the sixth

meeting of the FAC that the class does a series ofleft turns in fast, heavy traffic. Only after that is theclass ready to take the Cyclist Traffic ProficiencyDriving Test. Therefore, assuming that the partici-pants are mostly beginners, the course cant beshortened by more than three meetings. Andmuch of those three meetings are devoted tocycling enjoyment, which are activities to whichthe participants look forward with pleasant antici-pation. It is necessary to have sufficient enjoyableand desired activity in the course to attract and tokeep participants despite what they anticipate tobe the drudgery and fear of traffic cycling.

However, not all classes will consist largely ofbeginners. When the participants all have consid-erable experience of cycling in traffic and want tosharpen up their traffic-cycling skills, a two-meet-ing course works fine. Two mornings with a weekbetween is better, but I have done this on twomornings of one weekend.

This must be emphasized. The EffectiveCycling Certificate can be awarded only to thosewho have passed the Cyclist Traffic Proficiency

Driving Test and who have shown a reasonablycomprehensive knowledge of other cyclingaspects. It is up to the instructor to decide thedepth of the course that will lead up to such tests,and, therefore, the level of skill and knowledge

required for enrollment in the course.

6.3 Effective Cycling for Children

The objectives for the Effective Cyclingcourses for children are much less. In most situa-tions there is insufficient time to do more thanteach the traffic skills in terms of obeying the fivetraffic principles in real traffic of the appropriatelevel. If more time is available when teaching stu-dents of 12 or 13 years, then it is used to teachelementary bicycle inspection and maintenance.

The typical course is only 20 class sessions(say 15 hours), yet in this time children aged from8 years to 13 years (in age-separated classes)learn to ride acceptably well in traffic of the typethat they probably need to traverse in their dailytravels. Eight-year-olds learn to ride on two-laneresidential streets, ten-year-olds and older learn toride on multi-lane streets, and thirteen-year-oldslearn to ride on multi-lane streets with medium-speed, dense traffic. In each case, these studentsdo better than average adult cyclists in the samecircumstances. The class average scores on thetraffic cycling test in real traffic are about 90%, justas for adults in their course. All of the students

learn confidence in what they are doing. Theyoungest learn that by doing the right thing theycan cooperate with motorists. The ten-year-oldslearn enough to tell each other how to ride betterand to criticize each other's mistakes. The olderones acquire sufficient confidence and under-standing of the traffic system to start telling otherdrivers how to drive better. It is obvious that evenwithout formal instruction in it, these students areacquiring the vehicular-cycling attitude at an earlyage, before the cyclist-inferiority superstition hashardened in their minds. I hope that they will retainthis attitude despite subsequent exposure to the

cyclist-inferiority superstition, an exposure thatmust be expected in today's milieu. The experi-ence of adult cyclists, who rarely, if ever, retreatfrom the vehicular-cycling principle to the cyclist-inferiority superstition, supports this expectation.

6.4 Attitudinal Results

The traditionalists criticize the inclusion ofthe above attitudinal objectives, considering thatthese constitute undesirable social engineering,


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the promotion of cycling and the expression of un-American values. This is not so. Individual adop-tion of the vehicular-cycling view does not comeso much from propaganda as from the individualrecognition that it is correct for the cyclist, provid-

ing the safety, speed and convenience that herequires. It explains the way that traffic operatesand how to use its characteristics to achievesafety, speed and convenience. As Francis Baconremarked: "Nature (the traffic system, in thiscase), to be commanded, must first be obeyed."That this truth conflicts with current popular opin-ion merely shows the popular error. While thegrowth of the vehicular-cycling opinion will eventu-ally overcome current popular error, it is justifiedby its value to individual cyclists (in providing themwith safety, speed and convenience in their cho-sen mode of travel) rather than by some appeal to

mysterious social values.However, most bicycle activists criticize this

range of objectives for being too meager, for notincluding the social engineering measures andvalues that they desire. In their desire to convertthe world to cycling they want to inform studentsthat bicycles are non-polluting, fuel efficient, muchused in China (seemingly forgetting about India,probably because of its politics), still used in Hol-land (forgetting the deplorable conditions of thatuse), and a valuable weapon in the wars againstthe automobile and against urban sprawl. Thesethings are unjustified social engineering propa-

ganda that is controversial, frequently falsely pre-sented and, in any case, useless to the cyclist.

What matters it to the American cyclist howmany Chinese cycle, unless he intends to take acycling tour in that country? What does matter ishow to best cycle in America, and that is the sub-

ject of the Effective Cycling course, without propa-ganda for anything else. What some consider tobe propaganda is merely learning the truth abouthow to best use bicycle transportation in the mod-ern cities of modern industrialized nations, andthe attitudes needed to protect that use.

7 INSTRUCTOR QUALIFICATIONPROGRAM

Effective Cycling Instructor qualification ought tobe administered by a Bicycle Transportation Engi-neering organization. However, at this time (2004)no such organization has decided to do this work.The League of American Bicyclists failed misera-bly at this task. The reformers have not correctedits problems. Although other groups of persons

have talked, no alternate organization has formed.As the author of this Manual, I can be found at:John Forester7585 Church StLemon Grove, CA 91945-2306

Or through the website:johnforester.com

7.1 QUALIFICATION PROCESS

Qualification as an Effective Cycling Instructor isearned through a five-step process:1: Admission2: Preparation3: Written Examination4: Cycling Proficiency Examination (Road Test inTraffic)5: Practice Teaching

The qualities sought in candidates are expe-rience, knowledge and competence in cycling;understanding of cycling sport and compatibilitywith cyclists; teaching ability; the ability to orga-nize a course (which means an understanding ofthe social and political problems of teachingproper cycling technique).

7.1.1 ADMISSION

Admission into the Instructor Training Pro-gram is through review of your cycling experienceand personal qualifications as shown on yourapplication form, and of recommendations from,

preferably, responsible cyclists who know you andhave cycled with you. The cycling experiencerequired is regular cycling for both utility and plea-sure under all conditions of traffic, terrain, andweather, sufficient to develop the automatic per-formance of cycling techniques and the attitudesthat cycling under all conditions is a normalhuman activity that is best performed according tothe vehicular-cycling principle.

Upon admission, you will be assigned to anAdvisor, an experienced instructor who willanswer your questions, help you along, keep yourprogress records, and arrange for you to take

each examination when you are ready. The advi-sor will live as close to you as can be arranged.

You will also be placed on the mailing list forinstructor information. You are then eligible to par-ticipate in instructor seminars, which often includecycling proficiency examinations (road tests).

7.1.2 PREPARATION (STUDY)

Many candidates have successfully preparedfor the examinations without attending any semi-


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nars. If you are already a highly competent cyclist,which you ought to be before applying, you knowthe subject that you will be teaching. However, youmay know it without having carefully consideredwhy you operate as you do, the scientific basis for

it, and how to explain it to others. Careful study ofEffective Cycling will sharpen up your cyclingknowledge and enable you to recall it quickly.

You also need to know why Effective Cyclinginstruction is necessary and its scientific basis.The first chapters of the Effective Cycling Instruc-tor's Manual summarize this subject. We have dis-covered that certain instructional techniques andsequences are more effective than othersbecause they match the students' cycling psychol-ogy. Successful instructors not only use these andsimilar techniques, but they do so with empathy foreach student's emotions. By careful study of the

Instructor's Manual you will learn these instruc-tional techniques and understand why they work.

Lastly, most instructors today have to estab-lish the first classes in their areas, because fewareas now have cycling instruction. There aremany 'bike-safety' programs and events, which thepublic incorrectly believes provide adequate bicy-cle safety instruction to participants. The publicdoes not understand that people cannot learnbicycle safety without learning and practicing safebicycle operating technique; the public's conceptof safe bicycle operating technique is limited tocurb-hugging, stopping at stop signs, and signal-

ling without looking; and the public believes thatwhat we know to be safe bicycle operating tech-nique is a dangerous activity for super-skilledenthusiasts. Instructors who have been successfulin gaining sponsorship and students have suc-cessfully persuaded or circumvented officials whoprobably believed the common 'bike-safety' super-stitions; they were able to do so because theyunderstood, without believing, the common socialattitudes about cycling. Probably you don't yetunderstand why you think differently about cyclingthan most people do. By careful study of theInstructor's Manual you can learn to understandthe difference in attitude and how to persuade orcircumvent those who believe the common cyclingsuperstitions.

With careful study, and maybe some conver-sations with your advisor, you will be well pre-pared to take the examinations.

7.1.3 WRITTEN EXAMINATION

The examination covers three types of mate-rial: cycling knowledge, teaching knowledge, and

social and psychological knowledge. Most ques-tions require short essays in answer, because theessay form shows how you think about the subjectand how you present it. The subjects include: bikemechanics and maintenance; bike handling princi-

ples; emergency maneuvers; cycling physiology;techniques for cycling in traffic; techniques fordealing with exceptional conditions of weather,lighting, grades and the presence of other cyclists;sporting touring and social aspects of cycling;teaching skills and the recommended curriculum;social and political issues that affect cycling andthe teaching of cycling. You will need to studycarefully both Effective Cycling and the Instruc-tor's Manual.

There is no time limit for taking the examina-tion, but most instructor candidates take 3-4 hoursto complete it. It is a "closed book" examination.

Normally the Written Exam may be takenclose to your home. You should make arrange-ments for someone to supervise your exam; thatis, someone acceptable to your Advisor to whomthe Examination Committee can mail the exami-nation questions and who can provide you with acomfortable, quiet place for a few hours to take theexamination. Postage and a return envelope areprovided to the supervisor for returning the ques-tions and your answers to the appropriate personfor grading. The person whom you ask to super-vise the examination must be acceptable to yourAdvisor (and through him to the Examination

Committee). That means that he/she must be aperson with a reputation for probity in the cyclingcommunity. We suggest, in order of preference: aperson suggested by the Advisor, a CertifiedEffective Cycling Instructor, the officer of a bicycleclub, one of the persons who recommended youas an instructor candidate, some other responsi-ble person outside your family. After asking anappropriate person to supervise your examination,you should notify your advisor, sending the per-son's name and address and a statement that youare ready to take the exam, or will be ready by acertain date.

Examinations are given two or three times ayear, but candidates are allowed to take theirexamination at any time that suits their conve-nience within a week of the appointed time.

Bring to the examination room a pad of 8.5" x11" paper for your answers to the essay part of theexam, and a supply of pens or pencils. You willwrite each answer on a separate page, in order toassist in dividing up the grading work among sev-eral readers.


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Grading normally takes from two weeks totwo months, depending on the time of year (maybe slow during good cycling weather), vacationschedules, job obligations, and other correspon-dence of the volunteer instructors who grade the

exams. You will be no

Documents

Effective Cycling Instructor's Manual