{"id":257175288,"date":"2013-02-24T13:34:48","date_gmt":"2013-02-24T13:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=257175288"},"modified":"2013-02-24T13:34:48","modified_gmt":"2013-02-24T13:34:48","slug":"marylands-driver-education-is-still-a-joke-for-bicycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=257175288","title":{"rendered":"Maryland&#8217;s Driver Education Is Still a Joke for Bicycling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I had an interesting conversation with the League of Illinois Bicyclists about motorist education. They shared their initiatives:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div>\n<p>In Illinois and elsewhere, we have a considerable educational gap \u2013 for both cyclists and motorists \u2013 on how to properly share the road.&nbsp; Motorists make mistakes or act aggressively towards cyclists. Bicyclists make other mistakes or blatantly ignore laws. The result: too many injuries and deaths, too many people afraid to bike, and anger and resentment on both sides. Public resentment is a big concern and even a potential risk to cyclists\u2019 road rights, since we are in the minority. For example, we have heard many calls for bicyclist licensing, which may help with education, but with negative consequences.<\/p>\n<p>While lessons for swimming \u2013 and other skills arguably less practical than bicycling \u2013 are routine in a child\u2019s education, most kids and young motorists are not adequately learning about car-bike interactions.&nbsp; Most teachers, Driver\u2019s Ed instructors, and parents generally lack the knowledge themselves, beyond basic advice like \u201cwear a helmet\u201d and \u201cwatch out for cyclists.\u201d Even where expert instruction is available, programs like in-depth training for young cyclists must compete with an overcrowded school curriculum.<\/p>\n<p>Despite being armed with only a relatively superficial level of knowledge, most motorists and current\/would-be cyclists do not perceive a need for more training.&nbsp; Many motorists do not realize&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; mistakes they make around bikes, even on the overcautious side.&nbsp;&nbsp; Taking bike safety classes \u2013 or even picking up bike safety materials \u2013 is not done by enough cyclists.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bikelib.org\/about-this-issue%E2%80%A6\/\">https:\/\/www.bikelib.org\/about-this-issue%E2%80%A6\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\nAnd their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bikelib.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/MotoristQuestionsDraft120312.pdf\">draft questions for the motorist module of our online bike safety quiz<br \/>\nchallenge, and other safety purposes.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>One sample:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-snc6\/5714_10151440810188076_866213849_n.jpg\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Now contrast that with Maryland&#8217;s driver test question:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net\/hphotos-ash4\/480907_10151440801943076_972436735_n.jpg\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Which do you think will do the most to help the safety of cyclists?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>On the flip side I shared <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimorespokes.org\/article.php?story=20101026001608737\">what we have done with the Drivers&#8217; Manual<\/a>. And they loved it. So here&#8217;s hoping we can get their bike questions for our drivers&#8217; test and they can get our bike section in their driver&#8217;s manual.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had an interesting conversation with the League of Illinois Bicyclists about motorist education. They shared their initiatives: In Illinois and elsewhere, we have a considerable educational gap \u2013 for both cyclists and motorists \u2013 on how to properly share the road.&nbsp; Motorists make mistakes or act aggressively towards cyclists. Bicyclists make other mistakes or &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=257175288\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Maryland&#8217;s Driver Education Is Still a Joke for Bicycling&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257175288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biking-in-maryland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257175288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=257175288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257175288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=257175288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=257175288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=257175288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}