Education is the Best Advocacy:
Focus on the Texas SuperCyclist Project

By Rebecca Johnson page 8 Arm Yourself With the Facts           Another great poster from the SuperCyclist's four part series spells out the state of Texas' bicycle safety laws.       To those who say, "I wouldn't ride in the traffic in my city," Tyree offers these suggestions. "A big part of what we do is teach cyclists how to behave in traffic: staying visible, keeping your movements predictable, and negotiating with other vehicles. If you follow these three basic principles you won't have any problem. It's really common sense. Most cycling-related accidents result from either the cyclist or the motorist doing something illegal, not being safe, ignoring the rules of the road." Which all goes back to why programs like the SuperCyclist project are so important—because they're engineered to make the road safer for everyone traveling on them, whether on two wheels or four. By choosing not to target only cyclists or only motorists, they address the safety concerns of the general population, the bicyclists and motorists of the future. "...in countries like Holland and Germany, where a huge percentage of all trips are made by bicycle, the cyclist death rate is still a tenth of that in the United States." "Education can make a huge difference," Tyree says. "For example in countries like Holland and Germany, where a huge percentage of all trips are made by bicycle, the cyclist death rate is still a tenth of that in the United States. In Holland, they teach a traffic safety lesson to all schoolchildren once every week." Apparently it's sinking in.