Go by Bike: Safe Bicycling Education for Adults

Go by Bike (GBB) is the newest addition to the Bicycle Alliance of Washington’s family of Safe Routes to School (SRtS) programs. This program complements two ongoing SRtS programs run by the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, one that runs programs statewide and another that is focused on King County. The GBB program will work with schools in the central Puget Sound region. 

I am the newest staff member here at the Alliance and I am excited and enthusiastic to be the program manager of GBB. This program will run for two years and includes two major programs. In one of the programs I will work directly with parents of students at two elementary schools (Suquamish Elementary in the North Kitsap School District and Pioneer Elementary in the Auburn School District) to teach them safe bicycling, encourage bicycling and encourage them to bicycle with their children. 

In the other program, I will be working with four colleges to help them develop safe cycling courses. This will include collaborative curriculum development, assisting with institutionalizing bicycle education programs at each college and mentoring the teachers who will teach the courses. I have made initial contacts with each collaborating school, and have had more detailed conversations with some of the more eager collaborators. This past weekend I completed my League of American Bicyclists instructor certification seminar.

In the Fall of this year we will have course offerings in each of the six collaborating schools. In 2012 we will have Spring and Fall courses at each school and the final round of courses will be in the Spring of 2013. I will also be developing an online forum for instructors participating in the GBB program; which will serve as a venue for information sharing, collaborative team-building, brainstorming and planning future programs.