Most people are aware of the laws for driving a vehicle, but not everyone may know the laws for riding a bicycle. Champaign County Bikes offered a course Wednesday night to inform more people about how to follow the bicycle laws and how to avoid dangerous

circumstances. It was held at the ARC from 6:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. The event was called “Truth and Techniques of Traffic Cycling” and was the first of three courses.

Gary Cziko, chair of Champaign County Bikes, said the committee decided to encourage people to ride bikes and inform them as part of the celebration for Sustainability Week on campus.

“First of all we will be talking about the rules of the road,” Cziko said. “How that implies to bicycling, and bicycle safety as what kind of crashes that could occur and what can be done to prevent those. The third part in the course will be talking about traffic cycling and problem solving.”

Cziko added that the committee is hoping to increase people’s knowledge so that more people will feel comfortable bicycling on campus.

The event was classroom-based with more than 30 people asking questions and actively participating in the discussion. The course offered a demonstration on how to make hand signals to cars and ways to avoid crashes with vehicles.

Rick Langlois, steering committee member for Champaign County Bikes, said the course offers a good scope of the possible consequences that a biker could confront.

“I have been riding on the streets for 40 years,” Langlois said. “I really appreciate some of the techniques they developed for teaching experienced riders.”

University police also participated in the event.

J.I. Carter, a University patrol and bicycle officer, said he was glad to have an opportunity to see people learn how to ride safely on bicycles.

“It gives me hope,” Carter said. “The more bicyclists gain information, the safer people can be. I think it’s informative and the lecture is really giving out key points on how to avoid unsafe situations.”