Mitchell is right on with his comments about reaching students. UW Transportation Services has events during dorm move in time to reach students about effective cycling as soon as they get to Madison. We also hold a few bike rides as part of the Welcome Week events, where we try to instill some good cycling habits in new students before they learn otherwise. Getting into SOAR as a speaker is impossible, so we provide packets of bike related materials at the SOAR resource fairs. A year ago we conducted a campaign with the city to distribute free headlights to cyclists riding at night without one. We had 100 to distribute and they were gone in no time. The program was modeled after this one in Portland. http://bikeportland.org/2005/09/10/portland-police-to-distribute-bike-li ghts-safety-brochures/. It's something we want/have to do again...just need to get the lights.
Students are a tough group to reach in terms of bike safety. The safety message often comes across as dorky, so low-hassle, highly-effective programs like the bike light giveaway are essential. Matthew Burczyk UW Bicycle & Pedestrian Coordinator 610 Walnut St. Room 124 Madison, WI 53726-2393 Phone: 608.263.2969 Fax: 608.265.3424 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.wisc.edu/trans -----Original Message----- From: Mitchell Nussbaum [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 2:56 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [Bikies] article Most UW freshmen go to SOAR orientation in the summer. Have you thought of getting time during these sessions to talk to them about bike survival in Madison? This could be a good time to encourage them to use bike lights, ride with traffic, and stay off the sidewalks. You could also talk about techniques for keeping a bike (or things attached to a bike) from getting stolen. Also: most students come to Madison the week before classes start. They have time on their hands, so this might be a good time for mini-effective cycling classes for those who are interested. Finally: most freshmen live in dorms or other group housing. Would it be possible to send "bike ambassadors" to house meetings? These might be a good place to give away freebies, if you had them to give. If you're trying to reach students, it's probably a waste of energy to put items in the State Journal or on the 6 o'clock news. But perhaps they might read the Cardinal or the Badger Herald, and maybe they would listen to WSUM or WORT? I'm an aging boomer, too, so I'm grasping at straws on this one. s meiers wrote: > Getting more cyclists to have lights at night is a prime concern of mine > and I have worked with the University bike people the last few years to > increase usage. We have concentrated on that audience because most night > time crashes are downtown and involve cyclists in their 20s. > > In the past a local pizza company has delivered flyers about safe night > time riding with a coupon for a lite at local shops- with minimal > results. > > We did this in late September/ early October when it is starting to get > dark earlier. But as a bike shop owner told me student run out of $ > pretty quickly and typically don't go into bike stores that time of > year. We need to do our efforts when students return and Mom and Dad > have their credit card handy. > > We need to think of different ways of reaching this audience. My > initial idea would be to get an article in the State Journal and/ or > something on the 6 o'clock news. But 20 somethings don't read the WSJ > or watch the 6 o'clock news. If anyone has unique ideas for this aging > boomer to reach younger people please share them. > > _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
