Cycling Proficiency Test
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The Cycling Proficiency Test is a test offered by RoSPA which serves as a minimum recommended standard for cycling on British roads. It is usually offered free to primary schools, generally for children aged nine and upwards.
It is widely regarded as outmoded and is being superseded in many places by the new National Standards for Cycle Training which have a much greater focus on road and traffic skills.
[edit] Training
Training is often done over a 6 week period, in lesson times and with homework, the aim being to build up competence during the first two weeks on site, three weeks of on road training, and a final test in week 6.
Throughout the UK, hundreds of thousands of children and adults are jump-starting to a healthier lifestyle because of an organization called RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) which was started in Belfast during the early 1960s. Since the time of RoSPAs beginning, it has grown tremendously by funds from grants, sponsorships and constantly joining members. In order to improve the UK, RoSPA works with a variety of organizations like central and local government, police, public and private services, large and small. Their goal is to improve quality of life by motivating people to use alternative forms of transport such as cycling, which is beneficial to human health, and the environment. Adding more cyclists minimizes the number of cars on the roads, making them less congested and safer to drive on.
Olympic cyclist, Rob Hayles, has recently started a new program called bikeability. This has been designed to educate children from the ages of nine and up on traffic safety. During the program, each child is required to pass through a series of three different levels. Level one includes demonstration of safety skills on a traffic free environment. Level two is completed on quiet roads with light traffic conditions. Here children will also learn how to ride to and from everyday destinations such as school. Level three is covered on busy roads with real traffic and advanced scenarios. By completion of level three, a child should be able to safely judge traffic and make cycling trips virtually anywhere. Once the course is completed, each child is awarded with a badge, booklet and certificate, as well as a letter to the child’s parents updating them on the progress that has been made by their child.
This program is currently undergoing a trial session with 5,000 children in the towns of Aylesbury, Brighton, Darlington, Derby, Exeter and Lanchester. Together, they are sharing a budget of 17 million Euro that is being supported by the health, education, planning, sport and transportation departments. By 2007 it is their goal to have put over half of England’s children through the bikeability program. In five years it is believed that every child in England will have gone through bikeability by the time they leave primary school. This program leads to more people cycling in a safer environment, more often.
Just like a driving test that people must undergo in order to acquire their license, cycling needs practice as well. The majority of people should be more than prepared to pass their cycling proficiency tests after they have gone through this program.
For more information visit: www.bikeability.org www.cyclingengland.co.uk www.rospa.co.uk/aboutrospa/index.htm
[edit] The Test
The test itself consists of several parts:
- Theory Paper - this consists of twenty questions on topics such as the Highway Code, safe cycling practice, and simple cycle maintenance
- Slow Speed Control
- Dismount and Park
- Emergency Stop
- Starting Off
- The Left Hand Turn
- The Right Hand Turn
