To help get people of all ages onto their bikes and riding safely, the City of Long Beach is offering free bike-safety clinics to neighborhood organizations and non-profits as part of the Bike Long Beach “Share Our Streets” safety campaign.
“As our bicycle culture and infrastructure continues to grow, more Long Beach residents are taking their bicycles out to run errands and neighborhood trips,” said Mayor Bob Foster. “We need to educate those who haven’t taken their bikes out of their garage lately. We want to make sure that Long Beach cyclists are safe and have the confidence to navigate the miles of bike lanes and paths throughout our city.”
These clinics, called bike rodeos, are interactive, hands-on programs that teach people how to properly navigate city streets, recognize and use special traffic features like sharrows and bike boulevards, and practice the three keys to biking safely in Long Beach: Be Visible, Ride in the Same Direction as Traffic, Obey Signs and Signals.
Bike rodeos are run by Safe Moves, a nonprofit organization that is currently providing similar training to all Long Beach elementary and junior-high school students.
Safe Moves will provide all the necessary equipment, bicycles, helmets and highly trained staffing for each bike rodeo— all the participating organization needs to provide is a site. Safe Moves will also provide complimentary bike inspections, with minor repairs and adjustments done at no charge.
Organizations interested in scheduling a Bike Rodeo may contact Barbara Sheppard, Safe Moves coordinator, at (818) 786-4614 or barbarasafemoves@yahoo.com, or the City’s bike coordinator, Allan Crawford, at (562) 570-6618 or Allan.Crawford@longbeach.gov.
The Bike Long Beach “Share Our Streets” safety campaign is funded by a grant from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. A multimedia and outdoor outreach campaign throughout Long Beach will reach drivers, cyclists and pedestrians in 2012.
For more information, visit bikelongbeach.org, or follow Bike Long Beach on Facebook (fb.me/bikelongbeach) or Twitter (@bikelongbeach).
