Bicycle Safety Information for Steven Huss-Lederman
General Information
I am involved in bicycle safety training for both children and adults.
Hundreds of thousands of people are injured and hundreds are killed each
year bicycling in the U.S. Unfortunately, children account for a large
fraction of all the injuries and deaths. Injury rates are also higher around
most college campuses. These are two area where I take a special interest.
Proper training along with appropriate equipment is the proper way to reduce
your chance of injury and enjoy the wonderful activity of bicycling.
League of American Cyclist Bike Ed Program
The League of American Bicyclist (LAB)
is a national organization for advocacy and education. Its Bike
Ed program is the only national program to certify instructors for teaching
a range of bicycle safety and general bicycle classes. These instructors are known
as "League Certified Instructors" or LCIs. Classes exist for children,
adults, and parents & teachers of children. Please see the Bike Ed web page
for details. I am certified to teach the following classes:
-
Kids I & II
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Road I
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Commuter
If you are interested in taking a class in South central Wisconsin you can contact
me. For information on other classes and other areas, contact the League of
American Bicyclist. Note that LAB is redesigning these courses so they may change
in the near future (spring 2001).
Wisconsin Department of Transportation
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) has a long history of supporting
safety programs for all road users. For example, WisDOT partly funded the training
of most of the Bike Ed Instructors in Wisconsin. Another part of the program in
which I have been actively involved is bicycle safety for children. One aspect
of this program is holding classes for the training of people to run bicycle safety
classes for children. I am an approved trainer for the following WisDOT classes:
-
Teaching Safe Bicycling (TSB) is a one day class to teach people how to
run a bicycle safety rodeo. The rodeos are generally targeted at children
from age 5 to 15. Anyone interested in running a rodeo should consider
this class. Previous participants include community members, bicycle club
members and police officers.
- Basics of Bicycling (BoB) is a two day class to teach people in using the
Bob curriculum. It consists of seven 40 minute classes. The materials, normally
provided by WisDOT, include a booklet for teachers and a video with introduction
for teachers and segments for the children. The curriculum is targeted for
children around the fourth grade. Previous participants include teachers,
health care worker and police officers.
Classes are normally arranged with WisDOT though the office of Bicycle
Transportation Planning. They often have a schedule of upcoming classes around
Wisconsin which you can easily attend. The program is run by the Safety Program
Manager (currently Joanne Pruitt-Thunder, 608-267-3154, joanne.pruitt-thunder@dot.state.wi.us.
You can also contact me.
Other Activities
I care a great deal about bicycle safety and helping others learn to be
safe bicyclist to maximize their enjoyment. In addition to these formal
classes, I have participated in numerous community events ranging from
one day safety events to evening programs in schools. If you want help
with your event, fell free to contact
me to see if I can help.