Madison Bike Safety Campaign

It is my third year at UW-Madison, and every year I have seen many near misses and unfortunate accidents. There are of course rules and regulations in place to protect the safety of bicyclists.  There are also resources in place to inform pedestrians, motorists, and bicyclists. On top of that, Madison has worked on creating separate lanes for bicyclists. And still, there are many close accidents and collisions every year.

With the resources already there, I have been trying to determine what I can do that would have an effect. I have contemplated an informational session, that would most likely not attract many people unless there was an incentive. This incentive could range from food to free safety gear or even simply a 25% off coupon (or similar) at a bike shop on bike accessories.

As I mentioned, there are a lot of resources already available. The problem is getting people to access them. Realizing this, I would like to work on an ad campaign. Something simple, somewhat vague, and eye catching. This could range from strategic/creative sign placement, to chalking/tagging around bike heavy areas. If the means come through and with a brilliant enough idea, I would love to work on a viral ad campaign that will direct people to safety and informational resources as well as the laws around the area.

Any campaign would not start til near spring, when bikes become in heavy use again.

I would love if people could give me any ideas they have for ad campaigns.

Thanks for reading!

2 responses to “Madison Bike Safety Campaign

  1. Hey Marcus – this is a pervasive concern on campus, and a great focus for a project. Even if you can’t really dig into it until the spring, creating examples of ads, doing preliminary chalking (and taking pictures of it!), and conducting surveys to see what sort of information people would find most useful/respond to would all be good options. For background info, stats on biking accidents would give you a practical grounding; psych studies on motivation and risk-taking behavior might also be of interest. Just FYI, since a lot of this project sounds like it needs video/imaging tech, check out the wisc.edu page for digital tech you can check out from UW libraries for your own use http://ecs.library.wisc.edu/

  2. Marcus,

    Cool project! I’ve seen a couple of scary incidents recently and think spreading safety awareness is a great idea! Maybe posting some statistics or safety advice near the new B-Cycle stations could attract some attention. Maybe you could talk to one of the bike shop owners on Regent or University to see if they would distribute flyers in their stores. Good luck!

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