final report

The final report (about 3-4 pages) explains how you used this public funding, it provides an opportunity to reflect on what you�ve done, and it enables others to learn from your experience.

Please include any newspaper or other media coverage, any resources developed and a summary of any information gathered e.g. survey results or evaluations.

Facts                                                                           

 Driver awareness - by encouraging motorists to think about the distance they allow between themselves and cyclists when passing and whether it�s safe to attempt the passing maneuver.

Personalise the cyclist - signage and ads showing a picture of a cyclist immediately personalises them.

Increase cycling profile - Ads and road signage make it known that there will be cyclists on our roads and that caution is required when using roads.

Taupo is fast becoming a cycle destination.  This is particularly due to large cycle related events and tourism in the area especially between September and April of each year. The various local clubs� (involving cycling) memberships have increased over the past 2 - 3 years. Further, Taupo continues to receive many tourists and visitors with bikes whether they be recreational riders or visiting for training purposes. 

This means additional cycle traffic on our urban and small rural roads.  We therefore saw it necessary to target and educate motorists increasing their awareness of cycles on our roads. This will hopefully assist in minimising the numbers of cycle/vehicle accidents and incidents and increase the cycle profile.

It is known in the community that there is a very real danger associated with cycling on some of the community�s rural and urban roads, particularly due to the narrow width of certain roads and the lack of awareness between road users.  One of these dangers identified is a vehicle passing a cyclist safely.  When is it safe to pass and what distance should be between the cyclist and vehicle during the passing maneuver?  Cyclists have the right to be on the road and therefore caution should be used when passing them, just as it should be when passing another vehicle. 

Local Cycle Clubs were consulted regarding this proposed campaign, all of whom were supportive in backing the initiative.  The message will be pushed at all events as cyclists also need educating as to their safest position on roads.  The community will be involved by adhering to the signage/advertisement recommendation.  Further BikeTaupo believes that the campaign as outlined below will support the Taupo District Council�s Cycle Strategy document in particular Objective 2 - Education and Awareness.

Encouraging cycle awareness in the Taupo District is fairly new and therefore no open road statistics are available.

Community in action

Process

The project ran from 23 September 2004 to 7 March 2005 which is identified to be the summer cycling season.  Initially nine weeks of ads built up a story with the whole ‘sign’ being revealed in the fourth week.  It was at this point road signs appear on rural roads identified as being popular cycle routes.  For the next four weeks ads in paper appeared again with a message personalizing the ‘cyclist’ in the sign (this could be your work mate etc).   The road signs were present throughout the identified cycle season.  In February the final set of ads repeating the personalization message featured two weeks before the NZ Ironman and two weeks before the 100K Flyer cycle race.  Also during February core flute displays were set up in selected retailers (displaying 1.5m it�s an easy measure) for featuring until after the NZ Ironman.

The first ad that appeared in the Taupo Times (see annexure 1) completely baffled readers and in fact some people phoned the Taupo Times as they thought it was a mistake.  The second week showed a little more and we believe by the third week (it appeared in the same spot - back page - every Tuesday) readers started to look for the ad to see what was slowly being revealed. 

Temporary signage being installed on the rural roads coincided with the fourth ad in the paper which revealed the complete sign (see annexure 2 for Ads two, three and four).

It was at this stage we had some negative feedback with a couple of individuals vandalizing road signs on Broadlands Road.  These were promptly fixed and re-installed.  Further support for the campaign was evident with Letters to the Editor from people voicing their disgust at people who did the vandalizing (annexure 3)

Week five saw a new ad in the paper personalizing the cyclist (see annexure 4). The idea behind this was to make motorists think about the cyclist as a person - perhaps somebody they know - and to look after that cyclist by giving them sufficient space to pass.  This ad was repeated for three more weeks which led up to the Taupo Cycle Challenge.  

In the weeks preceding the Cycle Challenge a press release in all the major papers was issued.  It also included a photo of the signs (see annexure 5 and 6).

Throughout the cycle season most public awareness was noted through Letters to the Editor and a good deal of those letters were negative and against cyclists.  Bike Taupo responded to these letters (see annexure 7).  Generally it�s normally the negative people that are vocal and voice their opinions.  It�s also noted that it takes time to change people�s minds and the culture they adopt to certain practices.  Some emails were received in support of the campaign.  In fact, one Council representative from Whangarei was keen see the campaign pushed in other districts.

Many people who cycle on those targeted rural roads believed motorists became more aware of cyclists� presence on the roads as a result of the signage.  The cyclists believe a wider berth was given when motorists passed them.  This is one the outcomes we had hoped for - AWARENESS.  Because this outcome was achieved we then achieved the next one - PERSONALISING THE CYCLIST.  Finally we believe our third outcome was achieved as the signage promoted Taupo as being cycle friendly with people from outside the district commenting on the campaign thereby INCREASING THE CYCLE PROFILE.

In summary, we believe that although we have not gathered statistics, the general acceptance of the campaign was favourable.  We intend to request putting out the road signage every cycle season.  Over time motorists will get used to cyclists being present as they are not going away!  Cyclists also own cars - with Taupo becoming more pro-cycling - maybe all those other motorists will start having a go at cycling!

Reflecting on the activity

Use these questions as a guide.

We believe the whole campaign worked well.  Perhaps the only changes we would make would be to have the core flute signage around the retailers and businesses.  There was a little confusion as people reading our wording ‘1.5m it�s an easy measure’ commented that the core flute didn�t actually measure 1.5m and that perhaps next we should make it the actual length.   If we run the campaign again we have some good ideas on different wording.  Our campaign could perhaps be enriched with more spotlight coverage in the media.  Further we are working on ways of gathering a better record of statistics on the impact to the community ie. Their opinions.  The biggest surprise for us was the vandalism to some of the road signs.  We had not imagined that people would go to these lengths to show their disagreement with the signage.  Luckily the signage was not so badly damaged that repair was minimal and replacements not necessary.  A huge highlight for us was the overall good support received from the community particularly cyclists who noticed an improvement with the behaviour between motorists and cyclists.  We believe that producing these same signs each summer cycling season will continue to improve and educate all road users.

Health and Safety Plan: risk management

Our campaign did not really attract the need for risk management.  The contractors (which the Council use also) who installed the road signs had their own plan for their activities.  Perhaps the only incident where Bike Taupo had to think about such a matter was the photographs for media releases.  These photos were taken beside actual road signs and involved standing roadside.  Visibility vests were worn and cars parked either side of the area with hazard lights on.  The whole event took only 10 minutes and was on a relatively quiet road.

Community response

Record of spending