Cycling safety course created

A cyclist with Clarke Central High School’s cycling team rides last month in Athens. Photo by David Manning.

by Jennifer L. Johnson
news@onlineathens.com

Published Monday, May 31, 2010

Lots of people learn to get around on two wheels by the time they're 6 years old, but that doesn't mean their bicycling education should end there.

A group of University of Georgia graduate students have created an online bike safety course for BikeAthens, a group that advocates for alternate transportation.

"Bikes are different than cars because they're human-powered and small, but they're vehicles under Georgia state law, and they need to operate under the same traffic laws cars do," said BikeAthens co-chairman Brent Buice.

A spring semester project brought together three grad students in the university's learning, design and technology program, where students are expected to create Web-based instructional materials for real-world clients.

A BikeAthens board member had heard about the project requirement and thought the work could meet a BikeAthens need.

"A bike-safety module seemed the most valuable thing for the community, because there was nothing out there that we could find, even on a national level," Buice said.

The free safety course - 36 slides of biking do's and don'ts - incorporates videos, text and interactive quizzes to teach viewers about situations they might encounter while riding in urban areas like Athens.

"Essentially, these are defensive-driving techniques for cyclists," Buice said.

The online course teaches riders how to do a 30-second safety check of a bike before riding, how to turn left in risky conditions and how to navigate safely around parallel-parked cars.

Students Clayton Shaw, Nicole Goddard and Julius Gantt polled riders on BikeAthens' e-mail listserv and Facebook page about trouble spots around town, places they find difficult to navigate.

"What we did was give them some ideas about the sort of things we were interested in, in general," said BikeAthens board member Jason Perry. "After that, the students came up with a lot of the safety information on their own."

The two groups got together to film riders in several locations over a two-day shoot, and BikeAthens helped tweak some of the information before the students turned in the project.

The students got an A, and the community got a good safety resource, Perry said. The safety course now is available for free on the BikeAthens' website, blog and Facebook page.

"I think this has been a win-win situation, because the students are getting real- world, résumé-ready, portfolio-ready work, and we're certainly getting a product that we couldn't have afforded had we paid for it in the market," Buice said.

The group plans to advertise the course in a UGA publication that is given to all incoming freshmen and transfer students at summer orientations.

"Athens tends to be a much more bike-friendly place than where these kids are coming from," Buice said. "Because Athens is so dense geographically, and because there are so many destinations that can be reached by foot or by bicycle, you see a lot more students using bikes. We want to be sure that all these new bikers use them safely and legally."

Buice would like to see the online course incorporated into a larger bike safety class for kids and adults that the nonprofit could hold at its permanent location. BikeAthens houses its bike repair and recycle program at its Chase Street warehouse, but the group needs more room, and is looking for an in-town spot with plenty of space to fix up bikes and become a teaching facility for new and experienced riders.

To take the free online bike safety course, visit www.bikeathens.com.
Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Monday, May 31, 2010