Slow Your Roll

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 846 bicyclists were killed in traffic crashes in 2019, and while that represents a slight decrease from 2018, bike accidents in general—be they fatal or non-fatal—are up 25% since 2013, according to the Department of Transportation.

In my community (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) alone, there were 71 bicycle–vehicle crashes in 2016. And while the statistics reflect an increasing number of bicyclists on the road, they also show that a better job of “sharing the road” needs to be done.

One simple thing that can be done is for vehicular traffic to drive more slowly, especially in areas where pedestrians, bicyclists and cars share the same strip of asphalt. A 2020 traffic study showed that “lowering the street speed by 6.2 mph was associated with a 28% decrease in pedestrian motor vehicle accidents,” for example, and according to the World Resources Institute, “Every 1.6 kilometer-per-hour (1 mph) reduction in vehicle speeds on urban streets results in a 6 percent decrease in traffic fatalities.”

To help promote safer streets here in Saratoga Springs, this summer, a local organization launched a bicycle safety campaign that uses lawn signage to encourage drivers to slow down. 

Founded in 2005, Bikeatoga is an organization dedicated to promoting bicycling among the population, as well as working with the city to develop bike lanes, paths and other bike-safe initiatives. Bikeatoga also operates the Bikeatoga Workshop, a volunteer-run bicycle recycling program that repairs used bikes and gets them back on the streets.

Earlier this summer, Bikeatoga unveiled its “Slow Your Roll” lawn sign campaign.

“We as an organization have been talking about how to keep the streets safer,” said Jen Natyzak, president of Bikeatoga. “In particular, track season seems like a time that traffic gets really crazy. So we wanted to create a way to connect with residents and visitors and help support a culture of driving slowly, looking out for bicyclists, as well as pedestrians, people with strollers, everybody.”

Saratoga’s horseracing season—six weeks in July and August—brings thousands of additional cars, bikes and pedestrians to this small town.

At Bikeatoga’s Saratoga Springs workshop, they take in used bicycles and repair them. Volunteers interested in “adopting” a used bike help with their restoration. 

Bikeatoga has applied for and received grants through the Capital District Transportation Coalition (CDTC) to fund activities such as kids’ bike getaways or to obtain supplies, and they were recently awarded 2021 "Capital Co-exist Mini-Grant" for a slower streets campaign this summer.

And thus was born the “Slow Your Roll” signage campaign, the brainchild of Natyzak, past Bikeatoga president Will Ryan, and Bikeatoga VP Dan Lynch.

“The three of us were talking about what we wanted to do with the grant, and we decided that this is where we wanted to head,” Natyzak said. “We were tossing around names of how to make something sort of catchy and fun so people won’t just glaze over it and it could resonate with them a little bit.”

Natyzak came up with the basic design, choosing black on yellow to mimic other kinds of traffic signage or other cautionary signs such as “Our Kids Live Here” or “Watch for Motorcycles.” Printing was done by E&A Custom T-Shirts in Ballston Spa, N.Y., which also offers screen printing, vinyl printing, wide-format and direct-to-garment printing. Bikeatoga had 250 lawn signs produced, some single-sided for storefront windows. 

Part of the grant will also include social media advertising, and the first ad is slated to go live this week—keep an eye on Bikeatoga’s Facebook page. 

As if to highlight the importance of such safety campaigns—and that it is not just applicable to bicyclists—a week before Natyzak and Lynch began distributing signs to local businesses on Saratoga’s main drag, two pedestrians had been struck by a car while crossing the street (thankfully not fatally).

“We talked to half a dozen store owners or staff who were there when the incident happened, so everyone was kind of up in arms and said that this [campaign] is absolutely needed,” Natyzak said. “As we went around, people had anecdotes that were like, yeah, it’s scary to walk around.” 

Bikeatoga is using social media and word of mouth to raise awareness of the campaign, and also partners with other local organizations, such as Sustainable Saratoga (full disclosure: I am on the Board of Directors of Sustainable Saratoga), which then use their channels to get the word out. 

So far, the response has been very positive.

“It’s been really well received,” Natyzak said, “just talking with people and as we put them up. I’m really excited to see the interactions.”

There is no easy way to quantify the impact the campaign had—they are not doing any traffic studies—but that’s not really the point.

“One of the most measurable things we’ll be able to see is the interactions we get on social media with the ad that we run. We’ll see how the ad resonates.”