A group of Portland cyclists have created a new safety information card as part of a campaign to educate motorists about bicycles and increase traffic safety. The new cards will debut tomorrow night at BikeCraft.
“So far I think the only money spent on this project was for the food we ate at meetings.”
–Brian Scrivner
The grassroots effort to make the cards started a year ago when Jacque Authier — inspired by a similar effort from New York City — posted to the Shift email list looking for volunteers to make a Portland version. Four people responded and the group met to discuss the idea.
The project languished for a year until recently, when the group re-formed and tapped graphic designer Gabriel Amadeus Tiller to complete the design. The initial printing of 5,000 postcard-sized cards was donated by Portland-based American Imaging.
Here’s more from Jacque,
“We’d like to make these cards available to bicyclists, so that they can give them to a driver when something happens…if they’ve cut you off, parked in the bike lane, passed too close for comfort etc…in the hopes that they can avoid an argument or a scene. Just hand them the card and be on your way.
Our hope is to educate drivers and increase their awareness of bicyclist’s needs and our rights on the road. We hope to start a positive dialogue with drivers, providing a space on our website (in progress) for them to ask questions and voice their own concerns.
We look at the card as a beginning, and hope to expand on this outreach to drivers, with the objective of making our streets safer for all users of the road.”
The group plans to distribute the cards (and posters eventually) at events, businesses and public places like DMVs, post offices, and libraries.