Section 116E Development and establishment of course in bicycle safety enforcement - Massachusetts Statutes

Section 116E. (a) The municipal police training committee shall develop and establish within the recruit basic training curriculum a course for regional and municipal police training schools for the training of law enforcement officers in bicycle safety enforcement and develop guidelines for traffic enforcement for bicyclist safety. As used in this section, “law enforcement officer” shall mean an officer of a municipal police department.

(b) The course in bicycle safety enforcement shall include, but not be limited to, at least 2 hours of instruction in the procedures and techniques described below:

(1) the rights and duties of bicyclists set forth in chapter 85;

(2) patterns and sources of injuries to bicyclists, both those involving and those not involving motor vehicles and the percentage of crashes involving cyclists riding against traffic, riding at night and riding on sidewalks;

(3) the most dangerous actions by bicyclists and procedures for citing bicyclists, including minors;

(4) common motorist actions causing bicycle crashes;

(5) reporting bicyclist crashes; and

(6) motorists intentionally endangering bicyclists.

(c) All law enforcement recruits shall receive the course in bicycle safety enforcement as part of their required training program.

(d) The course in bicycle safety enforcement shall be taught as part of the highway safety component of the recruit academy training, so that there shall not be an increase in the currently required hours of recruit training.

(e) The course of instruction, the learning and performance objectives, the standards for training and the guidelines shall be developed by the municipal police training committee in consultation with the Massachusetts Bicycle Advisory Board and appropriate groups and individuals having an interest and expertise in bicycle safety.

(f) The municipal police training committee may include this course of instruction within its in-service training curriculum available to in-service trainees and any other public safety officers.