This study evaluated a cycling proficiency training course which was carried out at a school in Berkshire. Fifteen children received training during the experiment from an experienced teacher who was also a cycling proficiency instructor and a further fifteen children formed a control group, receiving no instruction until after the experiment was completed. The cycling behaviour of the children was assessed before the training course, immediately after the training course and two months after training. Two methods of recording the cycling behaviour were used and compared. Trained observers recorded cycling commentaries into portable cassette recorders at all four TRRL test junctions and time-lapse photography was used at two of the test junctions. Time-lapse photography alone was used to record cycling behaviour on the public roads. The children were also questioned about their knowledge of the highway code. The results indicated that the training produced an increase in the proportion of correct cycling behaviour observed, with the improvement being more marked on the TRRL small road system than on the public roads. When the two data recording methods were compared, data loss because of apparatus failure was greater for time-lapse photography (14 per cent) than for cassette recording (3 per cent). for data recorded by both methods the two records showed a high level of agreement (90 per cent). (Author/publisher)
Abstract