Whether it’s the impression that all cyclists disobey traffic rules, or that everyone who owns a bike has similar political and social views, most of us have run into prejudices about the biking community at some point.
When the people at Bike Fort Collins talked about the attitudes of drivers towards cyclists, they found one commonality -- many drivers lump all cyclists into one category. And so their ad campaign, “You Know Me, I Ride a Bike,” was born. Each poster has a photo of a local cyclist, along with his or her name and description, and the words “We are one community of cyclists, motorists and pedestrians. Travel safe today.”
Bike Fort Collins president, Jeff Morrell, said “we thought that if we could sway a few of these people into seeing us as real people, we could begin to make progress with respect to acknowledging each other’s rights while sharing the roadways.”
The first model, Jen Garvey, lost her best friend when the two were struck, while cycling, by a car with a drunk driver at the wheel. In her bio on the Bike Fort Collins website she admits that there are dangerous cyclists as well as dangerous motorists, and that “if cyclists obey the rules of the road, they will keep themselves safe and will be doing their part to weaken the divide between cyclists and motorists.”
Among the models, there are mothers, fathers and grandparents, doctors, business owners and farmers. Some ride for transportation, some for fitness, and some for pleasure. The one thing they all have in common is the desire to be safe while they cycle.
Morrell and the cycling community are pleased with the campaign, and Morrell has even had some drivers approach him to say that it has changed the way they look at cyclists.
Does he consider the campaign successful? “We will take success one driver at a time.”
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