OUTBoard agenda 030117 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

4 The Campaign Three subcommittees were formed to help keep the group on schedule. The first subcommittee was tasked with listing the specific safety issues we hope to solve with a county-wide campaign, what the goal should be to effect change in behavior, what the messaging should be, and which audiences should be targeted. A summary of the nine areas that were approved by the BSTF is below. Please refer to the Appendix for the complete descriptions. I. Motorist and cyclist education was identified as our top priority. Though norms influence behavior, laws are important for safety. And, in order for people to follow laws, they need to know them, so education is of utmost importance. New laws passed by the state are intended to make the roads safer for cyclists and to allow safer passing, but if laws are not known, they won’t do any good. Education of both motorists and cyclists will require multiple forms of communication. II. Responding to EMS, fire trucks, and law enforcement vehicles with lights and sirens running was identified as another area where education of all road users is needed. Emergency vehicles need to be able to get where they are going quickly, and when cars and cyclists do not pull over and stop, it slows down the emergency vehicles. III. Better data collection was determined to be important in order to evaluate the effectiveness of a safety campaign, and was also seen as a beneficial tool when discussing greenways systems or other infrastructure improvements in our county. While car counts and car crashes are fairly well recorded, crashes involving cyclists and cyclists or cyclists and motorists can often go unreported. Additionally, the number of cyclists using the road is not known, as data counts of cyclists are just now beginning to be collected, and only in a few locations. Better data could also lend perspective to the number and type of users on the road. IV. Safety equipment for cyclists, and especially lights when riding at night— is crucial. Bicycle lights are required by law, and are important because they make cyclists visible to other users of the road. Non-recreational riders, who use their bikes for transportation and who travel at night, need their bikes equipped with lights, even when cost is a hardship. Visibility during the day and encouragement of helmet use were included in this area of discussion. V. Education and safety in situations with large groups of riders was discussed at length. When there are large groups of riders out on the road, safe passing can be difficult, though new passing laws for drivers offer some help when passing cyclists on rural roads. Although this one issue got the most discussion time, it was also recognized that it may be difficult to resolve completely. A combination of suggestions was discussed. Since many of the large group rides occur on a regular schedule and largely take place on 19