RazrSkutr

A recent study published in the British Medical Journal concludes after a literature review that there is no outstandingly clear method by which cycling can be promoted. Lin et al's paper concludes that there is insufficient evidence to draw strong conclusions although some modest gains (in range of a few percent) may possibly be detectable.

The full paper is available at the link above.

genec

Make it more difficult to drive and cycling promotes itself. The paper missed that stunning conclusion.

The Human Car

Driving makes it more difficult to drive. Most people miss that.

genec

Especially drivers that blame cyclists for slow traffic situations...

closetbiker

making one thing look worse than another is always an effective way to promote the other. That method is used to promote everything.

slowandsteady

I say coat the bikes with nicotine and tar and start a widespread campaign that targets kids that let's them know all the cool people are doing it. Place them as a central theme in movies. Put them on billboards. Worked for cigarettes.

Seriously though, how difficult is this? There are two things which make people do something. Either fear them into it(please see the past 10 years of election campaigning) or convince them it is the latest coolest thing and if you don't do it you will be left behind as the lamest person ever.

closetbiker

It's always been amazing to me just how effective negative campaigning is.

Do any of the promotional campaigns in the study involve negative campaigning?

How about a bicycle promotional campaign centered on some thing like,

"Go ahead. Drive to work. Waste your time, get fat, and die early."

slowandsteady

Are you referring to the driving part or the working part?

closetbiker

isn't it after a relatively short period of time when we stop working that we die?

slowandsteady

SEE!!! You can't argue with facts.

closetbiker

especially when they're accompanied by a tear or two.

Bekologist

Interesting.. was that somebody's health sciences dissertation, it reads like a college paper. Seemed a bit vague in its' know-nothingness. Waffling and indecision must be all the rage in the halls of higher learning these days.


that study nevertheless saw good reason to promote cycling using various interventions studied. seems an insipid endorsement for something.

RazrSkutr

I guess you like simplistic know-allness instead?

The interesting thing about the study is that an apparently unbiased literature review failed to uncover any simple method to promote bicycling. Positive responses to a couple of the treatments were in the couple-of-percent range.

Like GeneC says above: probably making driving more difficult (e.g. gas prices, parking, more stringent licensing requirements) is what promotes cycling. Other approaches are risking a lot of effort for at most a small return and what may be some negatives for cyclists.

kludgefudge

You forgot "replacing car lanes with bike lanes" In your list of things that make driving more difficult.

Roody

Persuasion and attitude change are always dificult--especially if it involves getting people to change habits that they're comfortable with. It took a generation of anti-littering campaigns to make a dent in that problem. It will probably take longer with transportation cycling. It will clearly take more than ad campaigns to have much effect.

CritEastwood

rogwilco

Or at least more expensive. Like charging for parking spaces on the street.

closetbiker

Yeah, just like an American-Italian claiming and believing himself to be a native American...

slowandsteady

That is what they call acting. You may have heard of it. You do know that Arnold S. isn't really a robot from the future right?

closetbiker

but the important thing was, Cody didn't believe he was acting.

When the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported his Sicilian heritage, Cody denied it. He lived all his adult life claiming he was Native American

He clung to a belief even though it wasn't true, just like others.

Speedo

And that doesn't change the fact that that ad campaign was very powerful and effective.

Speedo

mnemia

People can and will change their habits in a hurry if they're forced to by circumstances. Sales of new giant SUVs, for example, dropped through the floor when gas went up to $4/gallon. Of course, it would take more than that to actually get people to stop driving so much. So overall I agree with you.

As for littering, around here it often seems like there's been no dent in the problem judging by the number of broken bottles and fast food trash I see in the bike lanes. And I see idiots throwing cigarette butts out of their car windows nearly every day. But I'm fairly young, so I'll grant that maybe it was a lot worse decades ago. Your overall point is right on, though: it's hard to get people to stop even totally antisocial behavior like littering, much less behavior like driving everywhere that constitutes an overwhelming social norm.

genec

What? No wait, you're kidding, right? The Govenator is not from the future? Oh man... well that explains the budget stuff... I thought he knew what he was doing. Oh man, guess I'm gonna have to change my vote now.

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closetbiker

Yes. As are other campaigns that suggest to cycle is to court death.

squirtdad

Increasing ridership much beyond what is now, is not going to happen by any one single thing, but a lot of things over time.

I think the single biggest motivation is going to be economic. The timing of this depends on whether it is caused by market forces or goverment intervention.

Another significant motivator is the hassle factor......as long as driving is or is perceived as less "hassle" than biking there is little morivation to bike or even walk. Parking spaces are a good example, outside of super urband places like NYC, businesses often have to guarantee a certain number of parking spaces to open. If this was not required and parking becomes such a problem people might think about biking to their favorite pizza placet to pick up dinner.

Encouraging kids to bike to school would be a good start.

Beyond that there are many little influencers and the mix will vary form place to place...ie covered bike parking is not as big deal in San Jose as it would be in Seattle. But in general a mix of vision, and long term planning will be required (zoning, infrastructure, etc)

Simply educating law enforcement and drivers will help, as wiould strict traffic enforcement.

All of this is basically govement intevention, which does not go over well in all areas.

Practically I think each of us could help by a) riding b) talking about riding c) helping friends ride. an example, I helped our admin look for a bike for the last almost year...... she just got one that mets her budget, needs, and style. next is helping her with commute routes