It’s been six months since we started our Bicycle-Friendly Driver/Auto-Friendly
Bicyclist program, funded through the National Safety Council’s Safe System Innovation grant, and I’m excited to share the progress we’ve made and what’s to come in 2019.

When I came on board in July, I spent a lot of time doing research, getting to know
partners in the communities we are working in, and planning for the grant period. We hosted our first course in
September in Aurora and have since hosted nine courses across Lakewood, Colorado Springs, Louisville, Arapahoe
County, Lone Tree and Sterling for city staff and the general public.

We already have courses scheduled in 2019 with our partners in Longmont, Lakewood,
Littleton, Westminster, Adams County, Northglenn and South Suburban Parks and Recreation District. We’ll be adding
additional classes to the roster with our other partner communities, from Steamboat Springs to Pagosa Springs. You can find an up-to-date list of free courses being offered to the general public here.

My favorite part of this work has been getting to know people across Colorado, including our community partners and course participants who have contributed to the program’s success. We are very grateful to work with such knowledgeable, dedicated government employees and advocates and interested drivers.

We’ve had a variety of people attend our courses so far—from new drivers to retirees and life-long bicyclists to first time or “No Way, No How” bike commuters. To date, we have reached participants who live and work in 27 Colorado communities. We’re excited to report that 99.2% of participants agree that this course is valuable to them as motor vehicle drivers or bicyclists and 88.3% feel more confident about driving their motor vehicle alongside bicyclists as a result of this course.

A few things people are saying about Bicycle-Friendly Driver and Auto-Friendly Bicyclist:

I’m excited to continue to provide Bicycle-Friendly Driver and Auto-Friendly Bicyclist courses free of charge to our partner communities through September. If your community isn’t one of our existing partners (listed below) and you would like to work with Bicycle Colorado to bring this program to your community, please send me an email. Hope to see you at a course soon!