FAIRHOPE, Ala. - The cyclists in last week's traffic skills workshop began the day blindfolded.

“Truly, that’s what our area has been like when it comes to bicycle and traffic education,” said Charlene Lee of Smart Coast, which cosponsored the Fairhope event with the Birmingham-based Alabama Bicycle Coalition, or AlaBike. “Our goal is to help make this whole coastal area open its eyes and work together for bike and pedestrian safety. We’re not going to be blind any more.”

The 20 participants in the Traffic Skills 101/Cycling Essentials training course took off their blindfolds and rubbed their eyes. Several were from police and fire departments, a couple were high school students, one owned a Fairhope bicycle store, and everyone looked fit and in good health. Cycling does that for you, obviously.

But it also can be dangerous, as the families of cyclists killed and injured recently in high-profile accidents in Baldwin County know too well. 

On June 23, 14-year-old Daniel DiNardi was killed by a garbage truck while cycling home from summer school in Daphne. A week earlier, Lynne Yates of Mobile was injured when a vehicle struck her bicycle on County Road 21 in Stockton during the fifth annual RideYellow event. 

DiNardi’s death was the most recent fatal cycling accident on Baldwin County roads. In 2009, Clifford Williams, 47, of Daphne was struck and killed by a motorist while riding his bicycle along County Road 64 in Belforest. In 2008, John Brandell, 52, was killed by a pickup truck as he rode along U.S. 98 in Elberta. Separate accidents in Fairhope in 2003 and 2005 took the lives of spouses Larry and Ann McDuff, avid bicycle riders whose deaths prompted the designation of an exercise trail on Scenic 98.

In 2007, William Imle, 48, and Archie Clemons Jr., 46, were killed on Bromley Road north of Spanish Fort by the same motorist who struck Larry McDuff two years earlier. 

“These recent events should signal the need for more road safety education and a reminder to motorists and cyclists alike that we need to share the roads,” said Wendy Allen of Smart Coast, whose work with the Baldwin County Trailblazers and the Alabama Department of Transportation resulted in the installation last month of 12 “Share the Road” signs in the county along heavily cycled U.S. 98 and State Highway 104.

“It comes at a really appropriate time due to the increase in bicycle accidents,” Allen said. “There is a lot of education that needs to go on between cyclists and motorists as we witness more and more people riding bikes in the region.”

Many motorists and cyclists have received minimal education about their respective rights to travel the roads and highways, but generally those rights are equal, said Tracy Hale, education chair of AlaBike, who helped teach the Aug. 7 class at the James P. Nix Center in Fairhope. 

“Most of us never received any kind of safety education or skills training,” said Hale, noting that many in the class were baby boomers. “The main word is ‘confidence’ and being aware of what’s around you.”

Hale said cyclists must work to be visible while sharing roads with motorists, which includes not only using reflective gear and equipment but traveling together, because two cyclists are harder to miss than one alone. 

She also recommended “peel-and-stick” amber reflectors to supplement state-required red ones, because studies show amber ones can be seen better and farther away. 

After several hours in the classroom Sunday morning, the students moved outside and practiced turning and stopping drills in the parking lot and then to downtown Fairhope for training on how to get through busy intersections safely.

The course curriculum was developed by the League of American Bicyclists, which certifies trainers like Hale, who is also the state’s coordinator of League Certified Instructors. 

“In order for Smart Coast to offer more frequent course offerings like this one, we need to build local capacity by having more LCIs,” Lee said. “We are currently working with Tracy and the Smart Ride Committee to certify area cyclists interested in becoming LCIs, which will hopefully allow more frequent course offerings.”

In Fairhope, a popular cycling destination, resident motorists are accustomed to sharing the road with cyclists. But the issue of whether cyclists sometimes “hog” the road is a popular topic, and the talks can sometimes get heated about who is at fault, “them” or “us,” depending on whether you are using two- or four-wheeled transportation. 

A couple days after the Aug. 7 workshop, a line of nine cars was backed up on Scenic Highway 98 south of Fairhope behind about a dozen cyclists followed by a van with blinking lights. 

The speed limit there changes from 25 to 40 miles per hour, and the cyclists and van were traveling at 12 miles per hour on that 40 mph-stretch of road.

Although the road has a no-pass double-yellow line, the driver of the van signalled with her arm for the motorists to pass her van and the group of cyclists ahead of her.

“They obviously need some traffic skills education of their own,” Lee said. “That kind of practice, as you’ve described it, is not in the best interests of the community. The question we all must ask is how can we all work together most effectively to learn best how to share the roads safely.”

One tip Hale gave during Sunday’s class— about the kind of reflective gear she wears— emphasized the main theme of keeping one’s eyes open “safety-wise” and helping motorists see the cyclists ahead of them.

“I intend to be visible from space,” she said.

For more information, contact Lee at 251-928-2309 or info@smartcoast.org or Hale at AlabamaLCI@gmail.com.