Requiring students to know the Bicycle Rules of the Road before renting a bike is an integral part of NIU’s outstanding bike-share course on Blackboard.

Bikes are available to rent to any student who passed the Blackboard safety quiz with 100 percent. The answers to questions concerning biking safety — what should a bicyclist do when approaching a pedestrian on a sidewalk? — might not be known to the people who need it most.

With the Blackboard quiz in place, students who pass the Borrow a Bike course are not only aware of the laws; they also possess a solid grasp on riding safety before being allowed to pedal away on one of NIU’s bright-yellow rental bikes.

I used to be one of “those” cyclists: riding against traffic and abruptly cutting across lanes. It wasn’t because I intended to cause motorists to have conniptions; I was simply uneducated as to the duties a cyclist has to not only keep him or herself safe but to also peacefully coexist and respect other vehicles.

Before passing the Borrow a Bike quiz, I sat down and read the Illinois Bicycle Rules of the Road, which the Blackboard quiz is based on. The benefits of that have been twofold: I know I am riding with a better chance of personal safety, and I find myself upsetting motorists substantially less. The fact that students are required to take that quiz before renting a bike speaks volumes about how perfectly tailored the bike share program is and how much the transit program caters to the aspects of student-life on campus as a whole.

Focusing on student life is one of the key differences that makes NIU’s bike-share program substantially better than others I have experienced — most of them irresponsibly toss riders-to-be keys to assigned U-locks, causing the streets to be filled with riders who negatively impact the community with their unsafe riding practices. Yes, allowing students to cruise around on bikes is important, but ensuring they know how to do so safely and in a way that works in tandem with the community is equally important.

“It’s a really good program … of all the colleges I visited, I [have] never heard [of] anything like it,” said Austin Stargle, freshman business and administration major. Stargle said he’s visited Southern Illinois University and Eastern Illinois University.

According to NIU’s Borrow a Bike general information website, the university is currently out of bikes for the fall semester.