Driver Training

The purpose of bicyclist safety-related driver training is to increase the sensitivity of drivers to the presence of people on bicycles and their shared responsibility as drivers to prevent crashes and enhance the safety of all road users, including bicyclists. Specifications for driver education curricula, typically a State requirement, can be adjusted to include more specific information on vulnerable road users including pedestrians as part of the traffic environment, right of way laws for drivers and people on bicycles in relation to one another, high risk behaviors in relation to bicyclist/motorist crash types, and key ways drivers can avoid being involved in such crashes.

Driver training alone has not been shown to reduce overall crash rates. There is no evidence indicating that this countermeasure is effective. However, driving skill begins with knowledge education and then practice in relation to all other types of traffic, including bicyclists.

Lifelong traffic safety education that includes bicycle training might also provide motorists with a greater understanding of bicyclist characteristics and needs and how to safely share the road. Computer-based training programs, such as the Risk Awareness and Perception Training (RAPT) and SAFE-T, can be used to train bicyclist anticipation and hazard mitigation skills to young drivers (Pollatsek et al., 2006; Pradhan, et al., 2006; Yamani et al., 2014, 2016). These programs present potential conflict situations to drivers in safe driving simulator settings (e.g., bicyclist passing situation, passing a bicycle with no lights in low light) and help in training and evaluating safe driving skills.