Research showed us that over 30% of children want to cycle to school, but only around 3% actually do. So it seemed clear that children were already on board with the idea of cycling to school in significant enough numbers to make a huge difference. Through some focus groups and surveys it became clear that the main barrier to cycling to school was that parents didn’t allow it because they perceived the roads as being too dangerous for children to cycle on. In light of this, we decided Cycling Scotland’s efforts to get more children cycling to school should focus on addressing the safety concerns of parents and also presenting cycling to children as something that was a cool thing to do that can be a lot of fun. Addressing the safety concerns of parents was always going to be tricky – promoting all the great benefits of cycling to school is not enough to change the minds of parents fearful of their child being involved in a road accident. We felt that the campaign needed to try and improve conditions on the road in some way. We were not able to reduce the volume of traffic or wave a magic wand to create off-road path networks to schools, so it seemed that the most effective way for a communication campaign to have that effect is to speak directly to drivers.
This is the 48 sheet billboard poster from the campaign. Each of the match funding partners has their branding incorporated into the design
We produced one featuring boys and this one here featuring a girl.
These same visuals are used on 6-sheet sized posters.
And a car sticker was produced for parents who supported the campaign to put in their back windows – asking other motorists if they were cycle friendly drivers too.
These same visuals were used on 6-sheet sized posters.
2 Local Authorities have included Gaelic schools in the campaign so we’ve created 6 sheets and school banners for these schools
We’re also using ad bikes. These are particularly useful when working in residential areas where there is not much advertising space available.
These lamp post banners also work really well in residential areas. They really give the best sense of being in a cycle friendly zone.
In Edinburgh we’ve also created specific radio pieces to use with Forth FM and have a dedicated micro-site containing a video of a trip to school by bike
. The survey found that 87% of parents and 85% of drivers felt that it was an important thing for children to be able to cycle to school, which shows that whatever their fears, people did recognise that cycling to school is important. 98% of parents and 91% of drivers felt that more should be done in their communities to make it safer for children to cycle, showing that there is hugely strong support for measures to encourage cycling to school. 98% of parents and 91% of drivers felt that the Cycle Friendly Zones were a good idea, meaning the campaign really connected with our two key audiences. 94% of parents and 84% of drivers said the campaign would make them slow down when driving in the Cycle Friendly Zones, which shows the campaign has affected the driver behaviour of the majority of our two target groups. 92% of parents and 87% of drivers said the campaign had made them more aware of children cycling to school, which shows that the campaign had been really successful in highlighting children cycling to school as something for motorists to be aware of and considerate of. And perhaps best of all, 66% of parents said the campaign made them feel more confident about letting their children cycle to school. We are awaiting the results of the next Sustrans Hands Up Survey with great anticipation to see if there have been significant increases in levels of cycling to school in the target schools and wider target areas.
We’ve also developed a cycle stunt team called the Riderz to visit schools and perform a stunt show and do cycling activities with the kids.
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