I always need instructors. I can help you to certified to teach. I need all areas of expertise and interests. The most common interest is teaching new cyclists how to balance and ride around town.

— .—————————————

Would you like to be a safety expert? It’s a sacred privilege to give life and death advice. Everything you’ll say in a class is because you’ve read the study/law/theory behind it. I’ll guide you through reading this material.

DATA. Start with data. To be effective, focus on the top causes of crashes and death. If you get limited time talking to someone, or limited paragraphs to write safety messages, you’ll know what issues to cover. It’s best to have the most recent and local data.

• Literature review of causes of crashes and deaths for cyclist and pedestrians. Understand causes in other locations. How are they similar? What are trends?
• Most local and recent causes of bike crashes, pedestrian crashes, and pedestrian deaths. This is what to teach.
• What causes “right hooks” (top cause of driver/cyclist crashes)? How do we know 2/3rds of drivers don’t check the bike line before turning through? This study explains.
• Know speed vs death. This is the seminal literature review. Know this inside out.
• Literature review on barriers to biking. Top barrier is “fear of motorist aggression”. We address this in classes!

THEORY. Now that you know data, you’re ready to read theory. Read hazard avoidance maneuvers that drivers and cyclists can take. Pay attention to theory about the top causes of crashes/deaths.

• Drivers Manual. You can’t understand traffic without reading this. If you don’t read this, you’ll be confused at what you see and experience in traffic. Manuals have some state-specific laws, but much is general traffic theory that’s timeless and universal. Read any manual, from any state or any year. This is also Oregon’s greatest bicycle rights document, as it describes drivers’ responsibilities to yield.
• Bicycle theory. The national education organization website is packed with info. They supplement this with a printed manual, simliar to the Drivers Manual. I’ll give you the physical manual. Their website and printed manual have different info, explained differently, so know both.
• Other: Drivers ed, motorcycle ed, discussion forums for traffic instructors, and any source of high-level teaching. Learning is lifelong. For the same few causes of crashes, you’ll eternally learn new theory, phrases, and ways of teaching.

LAWS. Now that you know data and theory, do Oregon laws align with safety theory? Some do, some don’t. Laws are a low bar for safety. Instructors should know every law, have opinions on how good every law is, and teach accordingly.

• Relevant bicycle laws, arranged by topic.
• Pedal Power, written by our attorneys. This is how Oregon courts interpret laws in common scenarios. Our attorneys say that courts work against cyclists. Even if a cyclist has a legal right, courts will ignore it. But courts will add responsibilities onto cyclists that aren’t in the laws. We must understand these complexities, in order to teach the laws.