Bicycling Skills and Safety

Taking one of the League of American Bicyclists BikeEd courses is a fun way to improve your bicycling skills and safety. Even experienced bicyclists learn a lot by taking the course.

MoBikeFed believes that bicyclist education is one of the best ways to improve bicyclist safety and strongly recommends the Bike Ed courses to all bicyclists.

• MoBikeFed's Bike Safety Tips for cyclists and motorists
• MoBikeFed Chair Bob Foster's 5 Tips for Cyclists and 5 Tips for Motorists
• Summaries of Missouri bicycle and pedestrian law
• A list of free printed bicycle/pedestrian safety education materials that can be ordered from MoDOT.
• What Motorists Should Know about driving with bicyclists
• The Right to Travel by Human Power
• Road Vogue by Wayne Pein--how to ride on the street, how road rules apply to cyclists.

• Bicycling Street Smarts--a "driver's manual" for on-street bicycling. Bicycling Street Smarts has been distributed by MoDOT.
• BikeSense, a bicycle operator's manual by the Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition
• Basic Principles of Traffic Cycling by the Canadian Cycling Association
• Bicycling Life's Safety Skills section
• MassBike's excellent Summary of Bicycle Riding and Traffic Skills
• How to Ride in Boston Traffic - Or Anywhere
• MoBikeFed's How to avoid being hit by a turning truck, including PDF handout
• Fred Oswald's Cycling Pages, with many excellent, printable, summaries of safe bicycling principles for children and for adults
• Gallery of Bicycle Driving Demonstrations--illustrated examples showing how to handle typical real-life traffic situations on a bicycle
• Riding at night--Why reflectors are not enough
• "Drive Your Bike" online video
• Ken Kifer has a series of excellent pages on Bicycle Traffic Safety and Cycling Health and Fitness. Here are a few of the highlights:
  • Teaching Children How to Bicycle Safely
  • How To Ride in Traffic
  • The Seven Most Common Mistakes Made by Newbie Cyclists
  • Is Cycling Dangerous?--"for those who obey the traffic laws, cycling is actually safer than traveling in an automobile."
• How to Run a Bike Rodeo--Bike Rodeos are a popular event at schools
• Teaching the Boy Scout Bicycling Merit Badge
• League of American Bicyclists suggestions for using recreational paths, "Sharing the Path"
• The International Mountain Biking Association's "Rules of the Trail"

• Physical skills
  • Teaching kids to ride by a bike, by bicycling guru Sheldon Brown
  • Teaching a Kid to Bicycle from iBike.org
  • Teaching kids, including early safety skills, from Bicycle Victoria
• Safety skills
  • Age-appropriate bicycle safety education for children of various ages, from BicyclingInfo.org
  • Bicycle Safety: What Every Parent Should Know (PDF format), a 4-page pamphlet from the Active Living Resource Center that tells parents in plain English the most important things to teach their children about bicycling safely

• MoBikeFed's group ride safety, including PDF handout

• CJ Silverio demolishes all the excuses you have for not bicycle commuting. He also has a list of tips & ideas.
• Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips
• Bicycling Life's Bicycle Commuting Guide
• Ken Kifer's suggestions for bicycle commuting and transportational riding
• Kansas City's CommuterDude.com

• Pedalling Health--medical research into the health benefits and safety issues related to cycling.
• How Safe is Riding a Bike?--by the Canadian Cycling Association
• Freedom from Fear by Mighk Wilson
• On-Street Bicycling Safety Fact Sheet
• Missouri bicycle-related statistics