Available Programs

Some school children do get bicycle instruction from a visiting DoT Safety Education Division representative, a police officer or, ironically, a member of the New York Automobile Club. But these programs are one-shot affairs and are left to the discretion of the individual school board or school principal.

In Harlem, third-graders from the 17 area schools take advantage of a two-year-old pilot program called Safety City, [1] conducted at a former school yard converted to a miniature streetscape complete with intersections and traffic lights. Up to one-fifth of the two sessions, including a half-hour film, is spent on bicycle safety education, which stresses that bicycles are vehicles rather than toys and that cyclists are therefore drivers. The DoT would like to expand the existing program and construct a second Safety City in Brooklyn, but it's hardly a budgetary priority.

Other models for bicycle education programs from around the country are available for schools that can't take advantage of Safety City; it's only in New York City that cycling education is considered exotic. Maryland, Florida and Michigan, in particular, are known for their successful programs based in part on manuals and kits put together by bicycling advocates, teachers and public officials. The best of these combine on-bike and on-street exercises with classroom sessions, including films, discussions, puzzles and projects. Teachers don't have to be cycling experts to use the manuals. The League of American Wheelmen also offers its own kit for school use as well as a nationwide teacher-training course that grants certificates to graduates (to date, there are no New York City graduates).

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