Sneak peek at new bike light campaign ad

PDOT and the Community Cycling Center have unveiled an ad they hope will ratchet up the visibility of their new “See and Be Seen” campaign.

Below is the ad they plan to unveil tonight at the Bike Light Parade, which is the official kickoff to the campaign:

[Coming soon to a bus near you.]

PDOT has rounded up a host of partners to help sponsor the ads including PGE, the BTA, NW Natural, Safeway, the Hoffman Construction Company, and a special assist from TriMet.

With TriMet’s help, the ads will be placed inside busses and on bus backs, stops, and benches.

The ads will go up mid-December and will run for two months all around Portland.
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Don’t miss tonight’s Bike Light Parade, which will feature prizes — including Best Artistic Expression in an Illumanitive Context — and a chance to rub handlebars with City Commissioner Sam Adams.

Meet at 5:00 at Community Cycling Center headquarters (NE 17th and Alberta). Don’t forget to bundle up!

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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Chris D.
Chris D.
17 years ago

Wow – that’s a pretty ugly image. How 1990.

el timito
el timito
17 years ago

everyone’s a critic.

Darren
Darren
17 years ago

Where is the free cycling jacket and fenders program? I could use some ear muffs too.

Adams Carroll (News Intern)
17 years ago

Here’s a photo of Linda Ginenthal from PDOT showing the inspiration for the ad design.

Cecil
Cecil
17 years ago

I like the fact that the German poster shows the lights pointed at the ground, so as to illuminate the path ahead while still providing a signal to other riders/drivers, while the PDX poster shows the lights the way most riders here use them – pointing straight into the eyes of oncoming riders/drivers – sort of “you would see me if I weren’t busy blinding you” concept. 🙂

tonyt
tonyt
17 years ago

I’ll point my lights right at the cars thank you very much.
When I shine my helmet light at a driver about to pull out in front of me, they stop. Doubt they’d do that if I pointed it at the ground.

The biggest difference that I see is that the German poster shows a red rear light. The one that will be our busses unfortunately shows the front and rear lights as the same color. I can’t tell you how many cyclists I see out there using red up front and/or white in back.

Carl
Carl
17 years ago

Why didn’t Portland run with a “Licht aan!” campaign? I like that name more, but I don’t know what it means.

Cecil
Cecil
17 years ago

It’s not so much the car drivers being flashed with helmet lights that I am concerned about – heck, I do that – and helmet lights are usually not the problem, anyway, because they are usually slightly above eye level of oncoming traffic. My gripe is with the handlebar mounted hi-beams that I often encounter coming at me on the bike paths on my way home. I have one of those myself (in addition to my helmet light) and I find that it works just as effectively, and less blindingly, cast ever so slightly toward the ground. Granted, I prefer any light to no light, but some of those ultra-lamps can truly cause temporary blindness.

Burr
Burr
17 years ago

If you don’t point your light at the ground in front of you, you’re missing more than half the benefit of having lights – being able to see the road ahead.

Jessica Roberts
Jessica Roberts
17 years ago

It’s a Dutch campaign, and “Licht aan” just means “lights on.”

beth
17 years ago

As long as we’re being picky, let’s check in with all the “stealth” riders out there, dressed head to toe in basic black with no lights or reflectors or anything. And don’t tell me it’s strictly poverty. Half of them are doing it for “fashion” and the rest are doing it because they don’t WANT to be seen. Either way, it’s just another way of asking for a collision. While we don’t yet require rear lights on bikes (and, well, maybe we should) we can at least remind each other to use them and be safer on the road.

(ducking for the storm…)

adam
adam
17 years ago

sometimes, I choose to wear all black. most often, in these times, I wear bright clothing, preferrably of the water-proof variety.

most likely, whatever, I am wearing, I am not asking for anything but a safe, reasonably warm ride home.

I wonder what tom thinks of that? imagine, a world, or rather a salem, or, specifically, a bike lobbying organization, spending all of tom’s time in salem changin the world thru his procezzzzzz.

I think bob dylan will write a song about it. ME? I am going to bed.

Garlynn
Garlynn
17 years ago

Hmm, well, it’s a good campaign. Anything to get more lights on bikes.

On a side note: Is the plural of bus spelled “buses” or “busses”?

Macaroni
Macaroni
17 years ago

As I was trying to fall asleep last night I had an idea. If the headlights for bikes were violet or purple drivers would easily recognize when there is a bike nearby. I think this is important because when there are a lot of cars and headlights shining, it is hard to distinguish a bike light amongst them, especially when there is a lot of glare from rainy weather. That’s what I see when I’m driving and looking in my side mirror, anyway.

This is particularly true in multi-lane streets.

So, why violet? All the other colors in the rainbow are taken: orange, red and yellow are on internal combustion vehicles and bikes; green is for “Go” (don’t want excitable drivers getting the wrong idea); blue is for the police and K-mart specials; indigo?

Keep red for tail and violet for front.