We have already brought this up to this board.. ages ago - courtesy of IG.
It's now BIKEABILITY and you gt a liminous badge if you pass.
(I still have my Cycling Proficiency badge and I still wear it with pride
) Well.. it was my first test to show off that I was clued up on the roads ..
I was about 9 at the time.
This was more important than my little test for the prep school and Common Entrance and 11 plus all rolled into one at the time
)
As IG said - three levels
Level One tests basic handling and manoeuvres off the road. This test takes place on a car park and you will be expected to show that you can hand signal and do the over shoulder glance backs. For record - our youngest rogues- aged 8 and 6 - took this test on a trial some time ago down at Manchester's Velodrome. We did a family BikeRight with a chap called Chris who was excellent in the way he dealt with our very demanding young rogues.
Their school followed up by trialling the test with their pupils who all went down to Manchester on a school "jolly"
The highlight was to use Velodrome facilities and go to a show at the Palace afterwards.
Level Two incorporates junctions and minor roads. Lukas (8) has this one under his belt already and Andrew who is going from strenght to strength is looking to emulate his older brother.. Ah.. the joys of sibling rivalry
I am proud of both of them. Especially my youngest son whom I adopted and who has overcome a number of difficulties from birth. He knows he's adopted and he also knows that he is a heroin addict from birth - and he has to know for his own protection for the life before him. He has only known me and Wildy as his parents and knows we are extremely proud of him and he also knows we love him very much too. Andrew graduated to riding as a "big boy" without stablisers just a few months ago and to be at Level One at this young age.. I reckon that an achievement to shout about as a very proud Papa on an internet site anyway. My youngest son is one brave little boy and deserves a moment of praise in public.
Level Three is all about complex junctions and for the older secondary children. All my older children trialled this one and all passed - with William and the terrible twosome proclaiming "piece of cake" and Zoe, our 13 year old (adopted and again I am so proud of her) , finding she really had to concentrate hard to learn properly.
Phil Darnton - chairman of CYCLING ENGLAND wrote:
Bikeabilty will give children the skills and knowledge to cycle safely for the rest of their lives.
Indeed. However, I must put in this one...
How the hell do we train for a lot of cyclists bunching together? You know.. if we all took to our bikes .. car congestion would turn to bike congestion.
Hell.. we all know what it's like to walk in a crowd and if folks have ever been to a continental market.. Jeez ... hell's bells! You just
cannot move in any direction I think I should ask Kriss to upload her China video. for me to pick up on our photobucket account to spell it out.
So whilst I applaud the scheme. I still bear in mind that we may have to implement change to accommodate changes in ethos and lifestyles. I am also mindful that killjoys and pee-cee brigade could bring in nonsense laws too - seeing the "bogeyman where none exists."
However I agree with this
Quote:
It's more than road safety. It's about teaching childrend that cycling is an everyday activity. It's about teaching a life skill which they never forget.
True and I carried my cycling skills with me when I learned to drive too.
Minsiters are hoping that by teaching to ride a bike confidently and in a safety led fashion.. more children will cycle to and from school and not travel in Mum's 4x4
To set a record straight.. as it appeared on News Night and the Vine Prog
This course certainly does not advocate cycling all the time in the middle of a road. It is Franklin based and advocates using secondary - about one and half metres from kerb edge and primary when we need to be seen and when we need to ride in a more defensive fashion. It is about common sense values in any case.
But surely now in public domain Oy! Ed! I think you may have something very much in your favour here
My own kids helped trial the scheme and I reckon I can sleep easy knowing they are all confident and competent on a bicycle - and my eldest is IAM/ZRoSPA qualified as a motorist and our newly qualified motorist twins are not a cause for us to have sleepless nights either.
As it should be then
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