Share the road

How to run campaigns related to speed, driveway safety, giving way and cycle courtesy.

Cycle courtesy (target – cyclists)

Introduction

Cyclists must obey the road rules just as motorists must. It can be difficult to engender mutual respect between cyclists and motorists when cyclists don’t stop at traffic lights or indicate when turning. By keeping a watch for car doors opening, watching for reversing lights on angle-parked vehicles, taking care when passing driveways for vehicles reversing out and using lights, reflectors and bright clothing, cyclists can considerably increase their safety in the road environment.

Community action

Using cyclists is a good way of distributing your campaign messages to other cyclists.

Experienced cyclists can give information to novice cyclists at events, in skill riding courses or at schools.
Event cyclists can act as role models whenever they ride in public.
Cyclist groups can talk to cyclists at schools or tertiary organisations.

Community groups to involve in planning

The group of cyclists you chose to work with will depend on the issues in your local area. People to involve in planning could include:

school cyclists
commuting cyclists
cycle action groups
cycle skills tutors
Police education officers.

Messages to communicate

The messages you are giving to cyclists should reflect the issues, perceptions and crash factors in your area. Some possibilities are:

be bright on your bike
obey the road rules
stop for red lights
make yourself visible in the dark
ride defensively, keep a metre out from parked cars
always use your lights at night.

Media to use

The media used should be chosen to reach the target group for the issues in your area. Some suggestions are:

information in cycle shops
information included in cycle training courses
backs of buses
bus shelter advertising
cards distributed to schools
information at cycling events
advertising in cycle publications
school newsletters
classroom activities.

Emotional slant

A balance needs to be achieved between telling cyclists to make themselves as safe as possible on the road, and giving the impression that the road is a dangerous environment and making people reluctant to cycle. Scare tactics may not be appropriate especially for young cyclists. Some ideas for emotional content are:

using images in advertising where the cycle looks larger than the car
including images in promotional material that imply cyclists riding correctly are skilful and brave
showing competitive cyclists in the advertising so they are role models for correct behaviour
a slogan such as ‘Live to ride and ride to live’ that was used in a South Australian campaign to demonstrate that the style of riding in off-road situations is not appropriate in on-road situations.

Enforcement

Police might be asked to target the use of lights by cyclists to reinforce an advertising campaign. Enforcement campaigns targeting cyclists running red lights or breaking other road rules are also a possibility.

Events

Any gathering of cyclists is a good place to promote safety messages to them. Some examples are:

cycle ride events
triathlon events
city cycle rides
family cycling days
Bikewise events
bike to work days
school sports days
cycle skills courses
university orientation events
tertiary eduction enrolment days.

Related resources

(The following numbers relate to the numbers in the list of existing resources in the companion document.)

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Last updated: 22 February 2007