Pedal Ready prepares cyclists for safety on the Rock’s busy roads

By Neve Clinton

The Pedal Ready organisation recently held Level 1 Cycling Proficiency courses at the Bayside and Westside podium as part of the GSLA Summer Programme, offering children a two-hour session of cycle safety and education.

The course, which is also available year-round, is geared for 11-year-olds but open to anyone who can ride a bicycle, and includes basic cycling skills such as understanding how a bicycle works, how to change gears, how to correctly wear a helmet, and general bike maintenance.

They also learn how to mount a bicycle and push off safely while looking back for dangers such as traffic or pedestrians, developing spatial awareness skills, and how to hand signal, which involves being able to ride one-handed briefly, while emergency braking is also taught.

In addition, the course covers all bases by touching upon common traffic signs and the Highway Code, giving children a well-informed understanding of riding a bicycle on the open road by the end of the session.

They also have a chance to play games using their bicycles during the session, such as competing for who can go the slowest, testing them on their balance and control over their bike, with the aim to promote having fun on bicycles, while understanding that there is a time and a place.

Courses are led by Simon Debono, director and instructor at Pedal Ready, and ‘Bicycle Mayor of Gibraltar’ Paul Balban who started the initiative when he was in government and now plays a supporting role alongside Mr Debono, overseeing the sessions and taking an active role where necessary.

Mr Debono, who is also a police officer, told the Chronicle that Pedal Ready’s main aim is to promote safe, lawful and courteous cycling on the roads, ensuring that young cyclists are aware of their surroundings and understand where they can “pull a wheelie” or a skid, and when they must be careful of pedestrians or other vehicles.

He highlighted, “There is a big problem in Gibraltar with children cycling really badly. There’s groups of kids going around, and they're just being reckless and lawless, and we want them to have fun on bicycles. We say that, we understand.”

“They want to pull wheelies, they want to do skids, we're not saying they can't do that, but there's a time and a place for that. So we want to foster good cycling, safety is paramount.”

For him, this “good cycling” would be reflected in the way they treat pedestrians, understanding that pedestrians always have the right of way, as well as that “they just don't get the name that they're getting for themselves now with what's happening, as you can see, on Speak Freely”, he said.

For Mr Balban, it is not bicycles, but rather other vehicles which pose the greatest threat; “Gibraltar’s roads are very dangerous, cars make it dangerous, traffic makes it dangerous. Although many people say, you know, cyclists are dangerous, but it's the bigger vehicles which cause the biggest danger.”

“So we teach them the life skill of being able to be out there, and their parents being satisfied and happy that at least their child knows rules like the Highway Code, knows what signs are, what they should do, knows how to look back, knows how to watch out for danger”, he said.

He also highlighted that, in an ideal community, bicycles would use their own paths.

Being the pioneer of bicycle lanes in Gibraltar, Mr Balban hopes that the Government will keep building on his groundwork and keep pushing to segregate bicycles, as this will create a safer environment for everyone.

In the meantime, while many of these bicycle routes are incomplete and young cyclists have no choice but to use the roads, Pedal Ready’s agenda is to ensure that they can share roads safely with other vehicles, hoping that all parties; cyclists, drivers and pedestrians, can have a mutually respectful and understanding relationship.

“It’s all education. Education for [students on the course], education for drivers. We need to educate road users to look after each other.”

“In Gibraltar, we have 40,000 vehicles for 38,000 people, it's a difficult ask”, he said.

He added that the Cycling Proficiency course is “extremely important, because otherwise there's no way that children will be able to be safe on the roads”.

11-year-old Edu Garcia, who has been riding a bicycle for three years, said he thinks it is important to do this course “for your safety” and to help consolidate awareness of risks and how to mitigate them; “if you don’t indicate and a car is coming, well yeah, you’re going to get run over”.

Isaac Buchanan, age 13, riding for one or two years, told the Chronicle that he was taught how to indicate and how to emergency brake on Monday, and highlighted that the course is important because “it will help you on the road, I think, and you need to do it”, adding that he would now feel a lot safer.

9-year-old Libby Axon, who has been cycling since she was around six, said it is important to do this course “so you are safe on the road”, adding that she will now feel more confident riding on the road.

Towards the end of September, those who attended the summer programme courses will be awarded a Cycling Proficiency certificate by Minister for the Environment and Education, Dr John Cortes, at Bayside School, commending them for doing their part to make Gibraltar’s busy roads safer.