CARL SHEPPARD LARSON

There is nothing quite like coasting a bicycle down a steep, grassy slope with a few dozen fifth graders and their teacher right on your tail, screaming with joy. I was lucky to enjoy that experience over and over during the five years I spent teaching bicycle safety in 30 Portland elementary schools as part of the city's extensive Safe Routes to School program.

 

Of course, as a Safe Routes to School (SRTS) coordinator, I managed or assisted with a long list of other duties: 

• conducting walk/bike audits at schools with help from city traffic engineers,

• organizing walk and ride days with parents,

• teaching pedestrian safety to second graders,

• coordinating with police for enforcement efforts,

• transporting and maintaining a large fleet of bicycles,

• recruiting volunteers, 

• training new instructors, and 

• revising our award winning bike safety education curriculum to better suit our ten day, in-school, on-street class format.

 

When funding started to get shaky, I was part of the advocacy team that worked to mobilize kids and families, share their stories, and win new SRTS investments on the state level.

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For adults, I delivered lunchtime commute clinics in Portland-area workplaces with a focus on the practical realities of getting around by bike. I also worked with a local law firm to provide legal clinics focused on traffic law. These clinics may not have been as fun as riding through puddles with 5th graders but they did provide me with a steady stream of new bike commuters who would, weeks and months after their clinics, tell me how riding to work made them feel like a kid again.

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