Over the past few weeks, the New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition educated nearly 150 law enforcement officers in 50 police departments from seven New Jersey counties in the rules of the road for bike riders. The course, “Title 39: A Bike’s-Eye View,” was created and taught by Les Leathem, NJBWC Education Coordinator. It consists of classroom learning, skills building maneuvers on bikes, and a group ride on local roads. The officers were asked to be in plain clothes and to leave their duty belts home.

The purpose is to help the officers understand how traffic law relates to bike riders, and to give them first-hand experience of what most of us who ride regularly already know: the road is very different when you are on a bike. The course, funded by the NJ Division of Highway Traffic Safety, was held in locations in Atlantic, Hudson, Monmouth, Ocean, Passaic, and Union Counties in May and June. The Morris Area Freewheelers Foundation funded the course for Morris County.

While New Jersey law gives bicycle riders the same rights and duties as drivers of motor vehicles, many police officers, not being riders themselves, do not have the perspective of traffic from the bike rider’s view; they are not aware of how traffic looks to a bicyclist. They also don’t fully understand the challenges bicyclists face in dealing with motorists. With this course, these officers are now equipped to be more effective in working with bicyclists as drivers. The course was designed to help officers also work with motorists, who often do not understand that bicyclists have a right to use the road in the same way that they do.

The course, developed specifically for New Jersey law enforcement officers, addressed the so-called ‘Three E’s of Traffic Safety’: Education, Engineering, and Enforcement, in a classroom session. Officers then got on bikes and were put through various drills to learn maneuvers that help avoid crashes. Finally, they participated in a group ride that took them on a variety of roads ranging from low-speed, residential streets to major highways, to help them understand what it’s like to be a bike rider on those roads. Not being in police uniforms meant that they were treated like the public – a very different experience than being treated as an officer.

“The road ride session was eye-opening, and the classroom discussion clarified much of traffic law for bicyclists. Talking about applying traffic law to bicyclists and motorists makes it easier to enforce,” said Sergeant Mike Leming of the Manchester Township Police Department.

“The real power of this course is its dual approach: classroom discussion helps officers become more aware of the motor vehicle code as it applies to bicyclists. Then, getting the officers on bikes gives them a real taste of how the world looks from the saddle,” said Mr. Leathem.

The course was created in consultation with police officers from around the state. Classes were led by Mr. Leathem, who is also a national coach for the League of American Bicyclists, and by police officers who are LAB League Cycling Instructors. For information about our prior work in this space, click here.

Les Leathem, Education Coordinator, & Cyndi Steiner, Executive Director

Photo credit: Les Leathem

“You haven’t lived until you’ve put on a police uniform and hopped on a mountain bike. My daily commute became four to five minutes faster because drivers fight each other to see who gets to let me in the lane I want. Drivers would sooner cross the yellow line and hit a utility pole than breeze a cop on a bike. I’ve completed centuries and even won races, but this newfound respect is the sweetest cycling experience of all.”

Allan Howard, bicycle patrolman, Dayton, Ohio

I wasn’t planning on blogging today. But then I saw this. This one’s gonna be a bit long, I’ll tell you now. But I hope you’ll stick with me. I believe this is important, and have devoted (and will continue to devote) significant time and energy to it.

Any of you who know me are aware that I have a number of friends who are police officers. Some of them are riding this week in the Police Unity Tour, an annual ride in honor of those who have given their lives while serving. You may also know that I teach a class to law enforcement officers, designed to show them the perspective that one can only see from a saddle: how traffic law applies to people riding bicycles

The perspective that Officer Howard shared is not one that most of us will ever know. As a bicycle officer, his perspective is unique. As someone who understands traffic law from both the motorist’s and the bicyclist’s point of view, the position he occupies is rather unusual. Many police officers don’t understand the viewpoint of a bicyclist, because they, like most people, stopped riding a bike about the same time they learned how to drive a car. Like most people, the security of a metal cage around them creates its own world…a world that is sometimes removed from the environment in which the motorist operates..

And in that world, that “sweetest cycling experience” doesn’t exist. Although most motorists are willing to, and do, “share the road” with bicyclists, there are too many who don’t/won’t. In the classes I teach, we discuss when motor vehicle laws apply to bicyclists (almost all the time, by the way) and when it doesn’t. We talk about the most common infractions committed by bicyclists and by motorists against cyclists. We discuss inconsistencies in laws that make things harder for both bicyclists and motorists, as well as for the officers who are sworn to keep the peace, and keep us safe.

Over the course of a day, we work in the classroom to get an intellectual understanding of all those things, with a focus on how officers can respond to road users in a manner that keeps all of them safe. We also get out on bikes, and that’s when the understanding becomes real, physical, and for some officers, a little scary. Once they’re traveling the roads outside the protection of that metal cage, they begin to understand how and why bicyclists behave the way they do. I see the metaphorical light bulbs switch on as we go through our short rides on the streets these officers patrol. I can almost hear their thoughts: “Oh, wow, I need to turn left here. How in the world can I do that?” “That guy almost hit me!””She’s looking right at me, but I don’t think she sees me!”

In one class, the moment we turned onto the road at the entrance to the police academy, ALL the officers immediately jumped up onto the sidewalk! I made them get onto the street right away, and some of them commented right then and there that they had a better understanding of what it means to ride a bike on the road. Five miles later, when we were back at the academy, some were a bit shaken. I had taken them on a major arterial road with no shoulder – a road that MANY citizens in that town ride on every day. The officers thanked me for making them more aware.

The class has made a difference. I surveyed participants in the 2015 sessions one year later, and found that 100% of respondents used the information they learned in the class to educate both bicyclists and motorists. So my impact on a few impacted others, and the ripples began to spread.

The way I see it, educating bicyclists and motorists one at a time means it will take a VERY long time for the culture to change. By educating those who can impact others, maybe we can get the work done sooner. That’s my hope, anyway. I’ll be working with more officers in coming weeks, in 8 counties in New Jersey. I’m also working towards getting a similar program up and running in Louisiana. It’s taking time to get things moving here, but I’ve got time. And energy.

After my own crash a few years ago, I decided that I had to figure out a way to expand my reach in educating people about “smart cycling,” as it’s called by the League of American Bicyclists. I enjoyed (and still do) seeing the “Aha!” moments when riders, both new and experienced, begin to understand how to make themselves better bicycle drivers. But I wanted to impact more people.

I started looking around, and found one way to do that. I started working with police officers, talking about the application of motor vehicle law to bicyclists.

Now you’re thinking, “But wait. These people know motor vehicle law! What can you teach them about it that they don’t already know?”

When you drive a car, you see “traffic” as motor vehicles. You probably don’t think of bicycle drivers as part of traffic. From behind the handlebars, traffic looks a whole lot different:

• motorists often aren’t even aware that you’re on the road
• some motorists will actually create dangerous situations meant to frighten or hurt bicycle drivers

Patrol officers working in traffic often share the same perspective as other motorists. They may or may not be aware that people riding bicycles have all the rights and all the duties of drivers of motor vehicles. Even if they are, when it comes to enforcement, it’s hard to shake the perspective that they get from inside a metal box weighing a couple of thousand pounds.

That’s where my effort comes in. I put together a class that brings officers together to try to change that perspective. We spend a half day in the classroom, going through the “three E’s:” Engineering, Education and Enforcement. In those sessions we talk about road design/infrastructure, education (of the public at large – and meanwhile, we’re giving them a lot of the same information!) and equitable enforcement of the law.

Then we go ride bikes! First, we teach the same avoidance drills that we teach to the public. Then we go for a ride, incorporating all the principles we discussed in the classroom. We ride on as many types of roads as we can: narrow, wide, busy, quiet. Roads with bike lanes, shared paths. Major highways and residential streets. In other words, all the roads that the public uses to ride bicycles.

That’s when the “Aha!” moments happen. Officers who have never spent any time on a bicycle suddenly feel vulnerable. They begin to understand why bicyclists will take up lane positions that, until that ride, seemed crazy. And many of them will begin to understand how driving a bicycle like a car leads to more effective, confident and visible bicycle driving.

I’ve heard comments like:
“I have a lot more respect for people who ride bikes now.”

“It actually feels more comfortable when I’m riding in the middle of the lane instead of up against the curb.”

“Until I started riding, I never would have believed that drivers would actually try to use their cars to assault me.”

So at the end of the day, I have a small group of officers with a bit of a different perspective on all those people on bikes. How does that meet my goal? My hope is that those officers will take that perspective out into their dealings with bicyclists and motorists. I’ve learned that this is happening: Feedback from participants in the last series of classes indicated that they are looking at things differently! In fact, officers responded that they are using the information from the course to educate motorists and bicyclists. Mission accomplished.

I also hope that they will go back to their departments and share what they’ve learned with other officers. I don’t know whether this has happened.

I’ll continue to offer this training. Eight more sessions will be offered in New Jersey in 2017, and I’m really close to getting it started in Louisiana, too.

Slowly but surely, we’ll change the way people react to bicyclists.