Get Ready to Ride in the City! Carlsbad Holds Ride Along Safety Class this Weekend

Carlsbad provides hands-on bike safety course with drills and guided city bike ride

City teams up with San Diego Bike Coalition to provide an interactive course composed of classroom education, skills drills and a road ride to put new skills into action. 

WHAT:

The City of Carlsbad, in partnership with the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, is hosting a hands-on bike training where participants will bring their own bike or e-bike to practice on.

Instructors will guide participants through essential bike riding skills, rules of the road and explain Carlsbad specific e-bike rules. The 3-hour class is broken up into 3 parts: lecture, skills drills and a guided road ride. Class content applies to both regular bikes and e-bikes.

Representatives will be available for interviews and will be onsite to provide safety checks and hands-on guidance.

VISUALS:

9-10 a.m. Classroom education, learning where to ride, best practices, emergency maneuvers, legal rights, and responsibilities

11 a.m. – Participants will head out from the community center on a guided road ride with licensed cycling instructors around the Village and Barrio

WHO:

Nikki Matosian, City of Carlsbad Community Relations Manager and city cycling participant.

Sam Pierce and Barb Trenchi – SD Bike Coalition Licensed Cycling Instructors

BACKGROUND: The City of Carlsbad declared a local state of emergency in August, citing a 233% increase in collisions involving bikes and e-bikes since 2019, with roughly half of those being e-bikes in 2022. This action has immediately increased attention and resources on a range of solutions including infrastructure improvements, traffic safety measures, enhanced enforcement, and a focus on safe driving behavior education. The Safer Streets Together campaign focuses on increasing public education, re-engineering city streets and increasing enforcement of the rules of the road.