It Depends

They say you learn the most when you try to teach something. I'm learning a lot about safety while helping with a Safety Quiz for the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign.

We've been reviewing questions, getting them in front of different audiences and learning from their experience. As an example, this is one of the questions an 11-year-old pondered:



Her answer was "It Depends". In general -- statistically speaking -- the first answer is correct, but this answer isn't always correct for every rider in every situation.

It does depend.

My first reaction to this feedback was to point out that given no other information, that the first answer is generally true, but upon a moment's reflection (actually, a protracted series of several moments in my case), I realized this is exactly the thinking we want our quiz to spark.

Our 11-year-old friend understood that there are many factors that come into play. On average, looking at all streets and sidewalks, and all levels of cycling competency, and all speeds of travel, night and day, and on and on, you would ride on the street. But for an 11-year-old travelling along Moreland Avenue south of Ponce de Leon, the sidewalk looks really good. This would be illegal for an adult in the State of Georgia, but our friend is under 16 years old and is allowed to ride there.

Now, within this one question, I won't be able to reflect the complexity of analysis required to follow each and every "It Depends", but chasing down *how* it depends does provide a garden for growing further questions. Chasing the "It Depends" can expand and deepen the discussion.

So, to expand and deepen this discussion, should I strive to produce questions that promote discussion? Questions that walk the fine line between correct nearly all the time and correct most of the time? Or should the questions be black and white, no discussion required? Which ones do we learn from the best? Which ones leave the most lasting impression?

It's OK if you say, "It Depends".