PeopleForBikes Launches National Road Safety PSA

BOULDER, Colo. - Nov. 12, 2014 - PRLog -- PeopleForBikes (http://www.peopleforbikes.org) has launched a national road safety campaign, Travel With Care (http://www.PeopleForBikes.org/TWC). This campaign is aimed at humanizing people on bikes and encouraging better behavior among both bike riders and drivers.

Travel With Care inspires the general public to see every bike rider as a neighbor, friend or family member—just a normal person who chooses to bike. In addition to humanizing bicyclists, the campaign’s message is built around bettering behavior by both people in cars and on bikes by asking them to travel with care and to “melt icy relations on the road.”

“On average, 700 Americans on bikes are killed in collisions with motor vehicles every year,” said Tim Blumenthal, president of PeopleForBikes. “PeopleForBikes is working to reduce that number, inspiring everyone to travel carefully is one way we can make bicycling safer.”

This campaign originated in Pittsburgh, PA, where local advocacy group Bike Pittsburgh (../Downloads/bikepgh.org) created a public service campaign last fall in response to a series of bike rider fatalities. Bike Pittsburgh rallied local celebrities, photographers and the branding agency
Wall-to-Wall Studios to develop the ad series, originally titled “Drive With Care.”

“In the wake of a series of fatal and near-fatal bike crashes caused by motorists, it was obvious from reading media comments that there was a serious disconnect between the general public and the bicycling community. To address this divide, Bike Pittsburgh created the Drive With Care campaign to take this message directly to drivers that the people riding bicycles are their friends, family, neighbors, and some of their favorite celebrity Pittsburghers,” said Becca Susman, membership and outreach manager for Bike Pittsburgh. “At the heart of the message is the fact that everyone knows and cares about someone who rides a bike and everyone behind the wheel needs to do their part to keep us safe.”

PeopleForBikes is planning to work with individual cities to release local versions of the campaign in 2015. Travel With Care ads are designed for print, digital, and outdoor applications, including placements on buses and street furniture.

Travel With Care is just one component of PeopleForBikes’ work to make bicycling safer and improve the bicycling experience in the United States. The organization helps build more protected bike lanes, which research confirms decreases accidents for all road users. In addition to catalyzing the installation of protected bike lanes, PeopleForBikes provides grants to help communities install bike paths, trails and lanes.

PeopleForBikes is seeking donated advertising opportunities for the PSA. Media representatives interested in helping share the campaign are encouraged to contact Kate Powlison, PeopleForBikes senior marketing and communications manager at kate@peopleforbikes.org.

To view the campaign, please visit PeopleForBikes.org/TWC (http://www.peopleforbikes.org/TWC).

About PeopleForBikes:
PeopleForBikes (http://www.peopleforbikes.org/) is a movement to make riding better for everyone. They are uniting millions of individuals, thousands of businesses, and hundreds of communities to improve bicycling. Join the movement at PeopleForBikes.org.

About Bike Pittsburgh:
Bike Pittsburgh is a bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organization. Since 2002 Bike
Pittsburgh has been transforming Pittsburgh's streets and communities into vibrant, healthy places by making them safe and accessible for everyone to bike and walk. For more information visit bikepgh.org (http://www.bikepgh.org) or contact Becca Susman, membership & outreach manager, at 412-325-4334 or rebecca@bikepgh.org.