More Than A Cyclist's mission is to make cycling safer, by putting a human face to people who ride bikes.
Around 4400 people who ride bikes were killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads in 2019. Research shows that many car drivers perceive people who ride bikes as less than human.
We want drivers to see the person behind the cyclist.
The campaign
Following a series of incidents on the road, one involving herself, her partner, and friends and the other involving the tragic death of a local man that really shook her personally and the cycling fraternity, Joanne Ness had the idea to start a road safety campaign.
She had no experience of running a campaign or how to get it started but with the help of her fellow cycling club members, a team of people was formed and More Than A Cyclist was born.
The campaign relies on the hard work of the volunteers who give their time and energy to make the roads safer - a small group of people trying to make a big difference.
More Than A Cyclist is a social media campaign that asks followers to reshare posts in order to reach those beyond the cycling community. It relies on people who ride bikes to be advocates and the mechanism for reaching the target audience - drivers.
The aim is for drivers to see the posts from their cycling friends and by connecting emotionally to them, they will re-think their approach to people who ride bikes. By connecting the message of cyclists as people, with the medium of a post from a person they know, we increase the relevancy of the campaign.
“We just want to ride our bikes, so please give us space on the road and please don’t hurt us”
— Joanne Ness
Meet The Team
Jo is the originator of the campaign however day to day running is facilitated by the rest of the team.
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Neil
On and off I have ridden bikes all my life. During the last 10 years, this has increasingly been riding on the road for commuting, health, and leisure. Amongst the many positive experiences, I have had on a bike, not a day goes past that doesn’t contain a negative experience of sharing the road with cars, be this from casual carelessness to outright deliberate aggression.
When Jo asked for help to do something about it, to make a difference to the perception of people who ride bikes, I jumped at the chance.
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Bruno
Having spent 30 years deciding what colour shirts people should wear I thought it might be time to do something worthwhile, so when Jo came to me with the idea of starting a Social Media campaign to humanise cyclists to help protect them on the road – as the general manager of a local cycling club – I thought it a great idea. I, myself, have cycled for 8 years, initially for the health benefits, but within the club for the camaraderie. I also started commuting on my bike during lockdown, and almost everytime I am out on the road in a group we get close passed and hassled. I understand there are bad cyclists, just as there are poor motorists but with some recognition and education I believe we can improve the relationship between the two, and make the roads a safer, more pleasant place to be, for all involved.
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Rob
I have been cycling for as long as I can remember, be that commuting, for fun or for health reasons and I have always encouraged my family, friends and work colleagues to cycle too. What I noticed was whilst they could see how cycling could be fun, a great way to get about and a really easy way to get fit, they were put off by the hostile environment cyclists often face when on our roads. Having experienced my own fair share of accidents and near misses, I could understand this is not some irrational fear.
When Jo approached me to help with a campaign that was focused on humanising how people who cycle are seen and encouraging the right behaviours from road users to make our roads safer and friendlier, I was delighted to get involved. I firmly believe that with the right dialogue and engagement across all road users, we can remove some of the barriers to getting more people cycling and improve the experience on our roads for everyone.
Contributors
The team would like to thank the following people and companies who have contributed time, effort, financial support and expertise to help get us to where we are now.
Ringo, Grimmy, James, Emma, Louise, Chris, Craig, Jeremy, Phil, Rachel, Steve, Alam, Richard, Nick, Louise, Ollie, Usma and Emma.
