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 four-county central Puget Sound region.

The program manager is Joshua Miller who is very enthusiastic about the program. In addition to a lifelong passion for bicycling and working on bikes, Miller had earlier careers in the bicycle industry and in urban planning and has completed Master and PhD research on bicycling. Most recently he was certified by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) as a League Certified Instructor (LCI).

The Go by Bike program will run for approximately two years and includes two major programs. One of the programs has the program manager working 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 safely with their children. The course will be free of charge to interested parents who complete a brief application.

In the other program, Miller 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, mentoring the teachers who will teach the courses as well as co-teaching the courses. Miller has made initial contacts with each collaborating school, and have had more detailed conversations with some of the more eager collaborators.

In the Spring of 2012 we will have course offerings in each of the six collaborating schools. We anticipate that programs will continue until autumn of 2012 or spring of 2013. Both programs will offer loaner bikes for participants who are interested but do not have bikes or whose bikes are in disrepair.

Please direct questions to joshm@bicyclealliance.org.