Bike Safety Slogan Finalists
Thread started by
Roadblock at 05.12.10 - 1:10 am
Hello all. So we got about 500 slogans for the LAPD/MR/ LACBC/LADOT
PSA collab... lots and lots of great ideas, funny ideas and whittled it down to these top ten slogan ideas.
To be fair and to get the most consensus I wanted to bring these choices to the community and get feedback. The next step is to narrow it down to a single slogan to be vetted by the LAPD and the City. The winning slogan will be turned into a poster campaign in the bus shelters around LA. designed and illustrated by Geoff McFetridge
remember, the idea is to speak primarily to motorists in an empathetic way to look out for cyclists, respect cyclists understand that cyclists have right to the road.... I have a couple favorites but I'm not gonna say. we want to get a consensus from you.
drum roll......
Share the lane. We're in it together.
Don’t be pass aggressive
Caution: Your Neighbor Ahead
Our lives are in your hands. Pass at a safe distance.
2 wheels 4 wheels 1 road 4 everyone
¡WE EXIST!
GIVE ME THREE
Look twice. Drive nice.
Big Or Small / The Road's For All
These lanes belong to both you and me!
please help us make this poster campaign work for LA's cyclists. discuss!
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GIVE ME THREE
I'd like this one if it was less ambiguous.
more like, give me three feet - it's the law.
Our lives are in your hands. Pass at a safe distance.
I think this one sends the strongest message.
shotgunBOOMBOOM05.12.10 - 1:17 am
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nice! also keep in mind that there will be a visual element to this. some slogans can work much better this way.
Roadblock responding to a
comment by shotgunBOOMBOOM
05.12.10 - 1:28 am
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Can I be honest and say that IMHO none of these really send a clear message that we have the
right to ride, nay,
belong, on the street and not the sidewalk?
"These lanes belong to both you and me" comes closest, but I'd still say it's not clear about the fact that we are considered vehicles by CA law and therefore belong on the street.
maybe it's just the lawyer in me?
shotgunBOOMBOOM05.12.10 - 1:29 am
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ah ok well yeah, I suppose visual aids would definitely help the ambiguity. carry on, then.
the three I pointed out are my favorites.
shotgunBOOMBOOM responding to a
comment by Roadblock
05.12.10 - 1:31 am
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you can not only say it, you can talk about it and suggest alternatives!
the perfect slogan would speak of a cyclist's rights and send a message asking for their courtesy. keep in mind that the fact that these posters will be endorsed by LAPD and the city, they will state our legal rights to the street by their implied authority....
my big thought was how can we speak to the knucklehead drivers. you know the ones...
there is a really great campaign in New York being used called LOOK with really great visuals.
check it:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/look/html/home/home.shtml
Roadblock responding to a
comment by shotgunBOOMBOOM
05.12.10 - 1:42 am
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I really like "Our lives are in your hands. Pass at a safe distance." because although they can "share" a lane, or "drive nice", people still think they can pass like meanies. Although it's not catchy or witty, it states the truth and hopefully will send a stronger message.
coldcut05.12.10 - 9:17 am
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GIVE ME THREE is brilliant. Most drivers, no matter what their intentions are, have no idea how much room to give a cyclist. The 3' guideline is clear, specific and easy to remember; and this slogan is a catchy way to get that across. Of course, it would be accompanied by imagery (and some subhead copy, I assume) that would illustrate/explain it. Perhaps this could even incorporate the concept that we also need room on the door-zone side -- drivers also have no idea why we're riding so far out in the lane. A visual illustration of the space we need could do a lot to alleviate tensions out there.
The other slogans are too nebulous/subjective or paint cyclists as pitiable underdogs. Driving safely around cyclists is the LAW, not just a feel-good gesture of kindness. We can't ask drivers to be nice and hope they get it right; we gotta *show* them what to do. That's why the streets are full of lines, signs and signals. Road safety can't be left up to abstract judgment calls.
Thanks for doing this. A great PSA campaign has always been my bike advocacy dream. I look forward to seeing it in action.
muffmasterflash05.12.10 - 10:43 am
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give me three
100%
alec05.12.10 - 10:57 am
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are your bikes lanes are belong to us
mattspeed05.12.10 - 11:06 am
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So far the Bike Oven one is the best,
It's an icon of a bike over two arrows and underneath it says:
PASS WITH CAUTION
Girl Power05.12.10 - 11:07 am
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holy moly! Muffmasterflash!
Roadblock responding to a
comment by muffmasterflash
05.12.10 - 11:07 am
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I'm all for GIVE ME THREE, and Share the lane. We're in it together.
petzljake05.12.10 - 11:15 am
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That's the best you got huh? ...
The first one is okay to me.
Joe Borfo05.12.10 - 11:53 am
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Give Me Three - is good, but it requires a logo or artwork that clarifies it better.
We never had three feet issue pushed or enforced in LA before. This would be great if the LAPD adopted this slogan. It would help make it sink into our road laws.
Joe Borfo05.12.10 - 11:57 am
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I like this one:
Our lives are in your hands. Pass at a safe distance.
Foldie05.12.10 - 12:29 pm
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I think the most important thing here is to educate drivers in THEIR responsibilities, not to clarify our rights as cyclists. Therefore, "GIVE ME THREE" or some variation thereof seems most explicit. And it will be easy to clarify what exactly that means with the accompanying illustration.
Adding the tagline "It's the law" would probably help as well.
theroyalacademy05.12.10 - 12:44 pm
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not sure if it's the law.... I dont think it is. that could be an issue... but I'm liking the slogan none the less.
Roadblock responding to a
comment by Joe Borfo
05.12.10 - 1:04 pm
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I like "Our lives are in your hands. Pass at a safe distance." best. It's clear and to the point.
Or you can combine the two:
"Our lives are in your hands. Pass @ 3ft distance"
Coe coe buttaa05.12.10 - 1:05 pm
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Well we can still trick them into posting it up, no? sans the "it's the law" part. I think it would be great to see.
Joe Borfo responding to a
comment by theroyalacademy
05.12.10 - 1:17 pm
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ha I like your thinking.
@Nathan Snider do you have any thoughts about the slogan or alternate ideas? I would love to hear something from you. You have a great sense of perspective. what would drivers react to?
Roadblock responding to a
comment by Joe Borfo
05.12.10 - 1:48 pm
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I just meant never mind about the "it's the law" part. I think it would be GREAT if we could get the LAPD endorsing a poster that tells drivers to give us (at least) three feet.
theroyalacademy responding to a
comment by Joe Borfo
05.12.10 - 3:02 pm
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I predict Nathan Snider would akin bike lanes much to Schroedinger's cat in a box.
Joe Borfo responding to a
comment by Roadblock
05.12.10 - 3:11 pm
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How much more time do we have to submit? I'm slacking here--but I got a good excuse--law school pretty much sucked all creativity from me years ago.
I was really moved by a discussion I overheard the other day about drivers not giving cyclists enough room as they pass. Someone commented along the lines of:
"Would you drive that close to that cyclist if it were YOUR child?"
I almost shed a tear thinking that lame-ass drivers will someday be buzzing by--and only nearly missing--my kids as they bike to work--probably just like my mom would if she knew what I (and you) endure on a daily basis.
Granted that there are some pretty strained parent-child relationships out there, I'll bet someone can spin that shit into something powerful.
Have at--you take all the credit.
dudeonabike05.12.10 - 3:20 pm
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3 ft=1 meter (roughly). They do the 1 meter thing (instead of 3 ft) in Canada (probably Europe, too).
A campaign asking for 1 meter (instead of 3 ft) might get a few more inquisitive eyeballs--and would appeal to all those drivers that think they're really smart because they know what 1 meter is--and can act really cool about it.
Or maybe it would just confuse the crap out of people ("They want a whole mile?! Those cyclists are too darn greedy").
GO METRIC!
dudeonabike05.12.10 - 3:30 pm
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Dudeonabike you have a great idea there. The "deadline" is really going to happen when we can arrive at "the" slogan. So plug away. To my knowledge this is the city's first ever (legal) bike safety PSA campaign and everyone involved wants to get it right.
There is a (secret) meeting tomorrow in which we will discuss the potential slogans with the LAPD but I'm not gonna be comfortable unless most everyone has had a say and we can zero in on the one.
We don't have the political will or the funding to hire a real agency like the lucky citizens of NYC so we are reaching out to the community at large.
I wouldn't mind getting some car drivers involved making critiques either. What is going to grab the attention of the typical motörhead who doesn't believe in bikes on the streets? What will get the attention of the chucklehead mom texting on her cell phone with screaming kids, what is going to get the attention of people like Glenn Gritzner who ran me down at 1am in the morning? Or the teenage wealthy princess who destroyed Birdman and left him for dead?
I'd like to get those driver's opinions on what would have made them think different.
Roadblock05.12.10 - 4:58 pm
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respectfully -- don't go metric on this. You're trying to get through to drivers who don't even understand that cyclists have a legal right to use the road -- sorry, but I don't think most of them are going to be able to grasp the concept of a meter.
If it's something like Borfo's suggestion : 3 FT 2 PASS -- accompany with an illustration with a 2-headed arrow between cyclist & car illustrating the distance 3 feet. Maybe even another 2 headed-arrow between cyclist & parked cars illustrating 3 feet or a car door swinging open into the cyclist's path. I just don't think you can be too obvious on illustrating this when we all know how distracted LA drivers are.
champagne responding to a
comment by dudeonabike
05.12.10 - 5:28 pm
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I think "Don’t be pass aggressive" is the catchiest. I dont know if that translates to having the best effect, but it does have a nice ring to it.
buckchin05.12.10 - 8:16 pm
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And why does "ATTN: Girl Power" have more comments than this thread? I guess shes a bigger problem than cars running people over?
buckchin05.12.10 - 8:19 pm
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I think the most important thing here is to educate drivers in THEIR responsibilities, not to clarify our rights as cyclists.
I like this angle... plus with a visual like the one Borfo put up the idea is simple and to the point. Easy to read and process when you're driving.
Gizzard05.12.10 - 8:35 pm
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+1 -- weigh in, people (I had to bump this myself)
I also like 2wheels4wheels1road4everyone and These lanes belong to you and me!
but I think at least with the "belong" one you would have to clarify it with a highlight of the CVC code stating cyclist's legal right to the road, which is too much verbiage.
Since it's a safety campaign, I think better to focus on 3-feet passing & piggy-back the dooring danger in, because as I understand it, we only have one shot at this.
champagne responding to a
comment by buckchin
05.13.10 - 8:24 am
reply
I wish i could have chimed in sooner, i was in the garden all day yesterday, with out time or access to the interwebzz.
here are some morning rantings to ponder:
Some of these slogans seem oblique ... but remember, there will be a first class designer/illustrator working on the poster so the slogan by itself does not need to be self-contained.
Another thing to consider is that there is a balance to be stuck between being being obvious and oblique.
If an ad is too obvious it sometimes becomes white noise.
but If its too abstract the meaning can get lost entirely.
....
The thing that was stressing me out at the beginning of this process is that there are so many messages that drivers and cyclists need. That 1 message seemed like too little to late for what we are facing.
many drivers still don't comprehend that bikes are legal on EVERY street
most drivers don't understand the concept of the door zone, or road quality, or a bike moving out into the lane for improved visibility.
When people pass too closely, its often intentionally aggressive and sometimes its just from obliviousness.
That kind of makes me thing a slogan like "give me 3" without the force of (the pending but un-passed 3 feet) law will not be effective to the most aggro road users. And that a general pay bikes belong/ have a right to the road message will be more effective to the mass of road users, especially the agro drivers who do not get that BIKES ARE TRAFFIC.
Anyway ... we will never get it all in one slogan or campaign ... we just have to commit ourselves that this is a first big step to a more educated class of drivers in L.A.
thats my morning rant.
hooray!
trickmilla05.13.10 - 9:32 am
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GIVE ME THREE...
Yeah not a law in California yet, although Mowery told me that it had been introduced already and rejected...hmmm, wonder when that was exactly.
alicestrong responding to a
comment by Joe Borfo
05.13.10 - 10:58 am
reply
google my friend...
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
By Yokota Fritz
California Assemblyman Pedro Nava introduced Assembly Bill 60, which requires at least three feet of clearance for drivers passing bicyclists. This bill additionally allows a person to drive a vehicle in a designated 2-way left-turn lane when overtaking and passing a bicycle. Many cyclists favor this bill...
bla bla bla
OK so...
alicestrong05.13.10 - 11:01 am
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Give me three is the best.
Everything else is too long, and most people won't be able to read them in time. For example, "Our lives are in your hands. Pass at a safe distance" sounds great to me, but you have to consider the fact that not everyone will be stuck in traffic, and could be whizzing by - they don't have time to read more than 3-5 words.
Give me 3 could be very effective along w/ a photo that depicts the concept.
jericho1ne responding to a
comment by alicestrong
05.13.10 - 11:44 am
reply
I know there are more opinions. Let's hear your opinions, people. Nobody around here is without an opinion or two.
theroyalacademy05.13.10 - 5:29 pm
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