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The Age of Bumper Stickers has arrived. From the germ of an idea late last year, the notion of producing bumper stickers moved from a project of the club to an undertaking representing all cycling constituencies in the area. Sandy Wold of the Ithaca Bicycle Action Group got some city administrators interested in the idea of having bumper stickers encouraging motorists to share the road with cyclists. These officials were in a position to ask that this message be placed on all the busses and police cars (and maybe some other official vehicles) in Ithaca. In production even at this moment, the stickers read "Share the Road" next to a representation of the bicycle road sign. In a few weeks we should expect to see them appearing around town. There seems to be a real groundswell of bumper activism among cycling organizations. For example, our neighboring Rochester club has produced not only a "Share the Road" sticker, but also one for mountain bikers saying "Share the Trail." And the World Wide Web reveals a number of clubs promoting this message through stickers. I’ve got a bead on a variant of the theme from a Georgia club with the message "Same Roads, Same Rights, Same Rules" that I’d like to distribute to members of the club who are interested in supporting this message. Last summer I was pulled over on my bike by an Ithaca police officer who thought I was riding illegally. After quite a while of animated conversation I somehow managed to convince him that I wasn’t just an anarchist bent on giving him a bad day, and we talked about what the laws governing cycling really are. It became clear that he really didn’t know. This has made me think that this piece of information — same roads, same rights, same rules — is a crucial beginning point forducation about cycling issues and a prerequisite for bike safety. Hence my interest in this sticker. Just let me know if you’d like one. I’ve got several dozen. Andrejs Ozolins |
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