CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
Someone from the Bike Station on Facebook PoP page arguing for the NWC, thinks at least they're trying and we shouldn't be bashing them.
"Is it not better to canalise your frustration doing nice things? WE have hips of people (including cyclists) coming in the bike station and saying how they like the ads!"
Don't know which bike station it is tho.
I generally avoid most media forms, so I don't see a lot of this NWC stuff. The few bits I've seen have all been anti-cyclist. I'm serious - 100% of it. I've yet to see anything suggesting drivers play along nicely. Am I looking in the wrong places? Do I need to (shudder) purchase a newspaper?
Seen in Glasgow city center today: Half a dozen pavement cyclists within seconds of each other all within clear sight of....actually, I'll let you guess.
This little exchange on Twitter exemplifies the Nice Way Code for me...
kipamac: Driver slowly drove through red light with child in back while texting as I started crossing Meadows cycle crossing. Not #nicewaycode
nicewaycode: @kipamac That is clealry not acceptable driver behaviour. (woo hoo! they get it!)
kipamac: @nicewaycode I totally agree. Will your campaign address this more directly? Driver mobile use is a very common sight on my cycle commute.
(interesting given the only mobile phone ad is actually aimed at pedestrians, while mobile use while driving is, let's just say, a bit of a dangerous issue... So, how does Nice Way Code respond to this thorny matter?)
nicewaycode: @kipamac The campaign wants all road users to have respect for all road users.
That's right. It ignores it, and shies away from suggesting that something should be directed only at drivers.
I still don't have a response from NWC as to why when talking about best practice they make reference to 'National Standards' and the 'Cycle Training Standards Board' instead of Bikeabilty Scotland, so I will do an Andy Dufresne and ask them every day until they do.
Disappointed in the Bike Station though. I suppose as a charity they just see it as a chance to raise their profile in a 'no such thing as bad publicity' kind of way. It won't make any difference to them but I will stop recommending/referencing them on my courses. It's not just a poor campaign they are endorsing, some aspects of NWC are downright dangerous.
Finally did a message to Marco Biagi through Write To Them. Its not the best piece of writing I ever did, but at least it will be another person expressing concern.
Someone from the Bike Station on Facebook PoP page arguing for the NWC, thinks at least they're trying and we shouldn't be bashing them.
"Is it not better to canalise your frustration doing nice things? WE have hips of people (including cyclists) coming in the bike station and saying how they like the ads!"
Don't know which bike station it is tho.
I've donated a few frames etc. to the Bike Station in the past but won't do so in future.
If they can't see how massively terrible and counterproductive this ad campaign is, how can I continue to support them?
Then again, the Bike Station was a big supporter of the Innertube Map - okay, different scale, but I got my first Innertube Map a few weeks back and all I thought it did was highlight the gaps in the infrastructure making it look impossilbe to ride across the city, as well as (for someone who has lived in the city a long time and really know his way around) producing a geographical representation fo the city that bore no relation to reality.
Have just "spotted" a taxi in NiceWayCode livery in Forrest Road... Irony, anyone?
Actually, I withdraw that snark - I've had some very considerate taxi drivers behind me on commutes over the last few days...
The Innertube Map strikes me as an idea that got carried away with the cleverness of its own pun but fundamentally misunderstood why the tube map works.
I can't remember what the declared purpose of the Innertube was, but I've kinda assumed that it was simply a means of directing non-confident cyclists to their nearest bit of off-road cyclepath so they could cyle back and forth in a safe environment (whilst not actually getting to where they might ultimately want to go [he added cynically]).
Just had an interesting NWC Twitter exchange. A cyclist had run her bell politely at a pedestrian on a shared use path and gone past slowly, only to be told that ALL cyclists are rude. The NWC stated that at least they could carry on with a 'content glow' of having done the right thing.
After a number of back and forths with this person, and one tweet from me, NWC came up with the cracker of 'not everyone will act the way we want them to'. To which I had to point out, 'So people will always run red lights, which means, by your own advert, there will always be someone giving us a bad name as we can't change all attitudes and therefore your 'don't RLJ' ad is pointless as we'll continue to be tarred with the same brush' (though in 140 characters, which took some doing).
Basically NWC have admitted that you can't get everyone to act the way you want them to. While their whole campaign is based on trying to get everyone to act the way you want them to.
Hey can we get NWC to run a campaign against cyclists with blinding front lights that blind other cyclists?
Sounder advice than NWC -
"
david dansky (@FixedFun)
21/08/2013 19:02
Great advice from @IAMgroup encouraging drivers not to overtake cyclists on narrow/parked up roads
http://iam.org.uk/media-and-research/media-centre/driving-and-riding-tips/20339-londons-crawling
#drivingskills
"
"
When traffic’s heavy people get frustrated and sometimes behave unpredictably. Be wary and anticipate the actions of road users around you.
Expect to see large groups of cyclists and pedestrians. Give these more vulnerable road users plenty of room, and don’t attempt to overtake cyclists on narrow or parked up roads.
Be prepared for pedestrians who may not look properly before crossing the road.
"
So much has been written ripping NiceWayCode to shreds that I couldn't be bothered to write more than a straight mockery to express my utter contempt (and deep disappointment that so many bodies have put their name to it):
http://mccraw.co.uk/nicewaycode-child-abuse-sequel
Somehow I doubt this could ever be true... only when the perps are behind the wheel and the victims are only cyclists.
Cycling Scotland have promised to get back to me by next Monday about the National Standards inclusion / Bikeability exclusion aspect of NWC.
I guess that means they don't know and will need time to think something up.
Stopped at Dr Bike yesterday, they were giving out niceway code pamphlets, sorry guide book.
However someone there also said the inner tube map wasn't that useful. Until now, I thought I was the only one that didn't "get it".
ASA's have responded to my feeling that these ads might not be legal. Turns out I'm wrong.... Anyway the whole debacle has hardly impacted anywhere on general media and the average road user probably thinks it 'does the job' of 'containing' cyclist 'misdismeanours'.
Radio Scotland reported on a survey of how Glasgow was a much politer place than Edinburgh for road use and failed to connect to the NWC campaign. So this means it's a fail in general interest terms. Also shows it is really directed at cyclists too.
Here's what they said.
YOUR COMPLAINT - The Scottish Government / The Niceway Code
Thank you for contacting the ASA.
We can intervene if an advertisement seems likely to be in breach of the UK Code of Advertising by, among other things, being likely to provoke serious or widespread offence, risking causing significant harm or being materially misleading. Whilst I appreciate your comments about the Niceway Code poster, we don’t believe such a breach has occurred in this instance.
I understand you objected to the ad because the circled arrows are designed to look like official signs relating to the legality of overtaking a bus on the left and right, which you find to be misleading. We have reviewed the ad and noted that an arrow pointing to the left of the bus is circled in red with the word ‘Nope’ underneath it and an arrow is circled in green on the right hand side of the bus with the wording ‘If you must’ underneath. We also noted that an image of a bicycle is shown between the two arrows and further text reads ‘Let’s all get along. Follow the Niceway Code.’ We considered that the use of the words ‘nope’ and ‘if you must’ would indicate to viewers that these instructions were not official, but rather informally posed suggestions to cyclists. We also regarded that the ‘niceway code’ logo was given prominence in the ad through the use of capital letters and multicoloured words. We considered that this made it sufficiently clear to viewers that this was not official material provided by the ‘highway code’.
With regards to your concerns that this ad may cause conflict on the road between cyclists and other motorists, we considered that all road users are required to have a comprehensive understanding of the highway code, which fully details both safe practice and the various laws related to road use. We concluded that the ad was unlikely to undermine road users knowledge of the highway code, the law or their own common sense when on the road, and was therefore unlikely to mislead in the manner you have suggested.
Although this may not be the response you were hoping for, I would like to thank you for taking the time to raise your concerns with us.
"
Nice Way Code (@nicewaycode)
23/08/2013 12:03
@ZenBike_UK Good afternoon. Campaign will run to 15th September in press, outdoor and taxis. TV run is now finished.
"
letter from jim eadie
That's curiously lacking in opinion.
Of course he is wrong about the campaign being aimed at 'us' (according to NWC).
There are also current Scottish Government campaigns targeted solely at bad driving. Speeding, mobile phone use, road rage etc. Perhaps as part of the same overall drive?
Not seen many complaints regarding that campaign, or the recent campaign trying to get more people walking, which if I remember correctly was of the same tone of the Niceway campaign and largely received positively on the forum.
Perhaps the reason for saying it was aimed at all road users, rather than targeted at 'us', is because they know how precious 'we' can be?
vulnerable therefore vociferous, rather than precious.
perhaps it takes a pro-cycling mind to know the difference, and that's a mindset in short supply in scottish transport authority circles.
I haven't seen the current campaigns about bad driving, speeding, mobile phone use, road rage etc. Got any links? I've seen the Road Safety Scotland one Kids in the Car, which I think is excellent.
I also thought the walking one was amusing and got the idea of walking short distances - the idea that your legs want to walk - across really well. Most importantly, and what separates it from the NiceWayCode is that it was neither patronising, blaming, insulting or fundamentally factually wrong.
But surely, regardless of how it was done, you see how wrong it is to address tackling the problem of increasing cycling deaths by targeting cyclists? Cyclists are killed by cars, buses and lorries. And they don't tackle bad driving?
I've seen the Road Safety Scotland one Kids in the Car, which I think is excellent.
That is the same campaign, in the song is messages regarding speeding ("if no-one's around I'll speed my way home"), mobile phone use ("I'll have a look first then pick up the phone"), and road rage ("that stupid old man should get off the road"). The sub text is that you are teaching your kids these things, just another way of saying don't do these things.
That advert has been all over local radio for weeks. I'm on holiday just now so driving more than usual, and that advert is just always there, 2, or 3 times an hour.
I'll not be complaining about that one then. It's excellent. But I suspect what separates the two - Kids in the Car and NWC - is that Road Safety Scotland have a really long track record of getting proper research done on driver behaviour (by people like me, if I might be so immodest) and working with real experts in transport and psychology and they spend a long time developing their campaigns. They don't really do gimmicky. Road Safety Scotland makes Cycling Scotland and Transport Scotland look a bunch of rank amateurs.
“This campaign takes a ground-breaking approach to road safety and provides support and information for parents and carers to help them set a good driving example for children - even from a very young age.” Transport Minister, Keith Brown
Sounds similar.
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts