The City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department on Thursday launched Bike Safe Phoenix, a multimedia public awareness campaign to encourage motorists and bicyclists to responsibly share the road.
The campaign launched in Burton Barr Central Library’s parking lot. Key messages featured in the campaign included “Look Twice For Bikes” and “Rules of the Road.”
The program emphasizes that both bicyclists and motorists share a responsibility when it comes to roadway safety. There have been more than 450 bicycle-involved collisions in each of the past five years, according to the Street Transportation Department.
“Phoenix is growing, we are going to continue to augment our bicycling infrastructure. We are going to add more bike lanes,” said Monica Hernandez, a Street Transportation Department spokeswoman. “We need to make sure that people are able to drive their cars and at the same time be able to operate on the street with bicyclists and pedestrians.”
Initiatives for the campaign include traffic signs, Bike Safe campaign bus billboards, public service announcement videos, social media promotion and the Bike Safe Phoenix Pledge, which can be signed online.
Alongside road safety, Vice Mayor Daniel Valenzuela discussed continuing efforts to build the city’s bike infrastructure.
“Just a few weeks ago, in fact, Proposition 104 passed, which will add about 1,000 new miles of bike lanes, which is important for all of us,” Valenzuela said.
Phoenix resident and avid bicyclist Haley Ritter discussed downtown Phoenix’s rise in real estate and population growth, which lead more people to depend on bicycling, walking and taking public transportation.
“As the density grows, they just need the infrastructure,” Ritter said. “All the streets are designed for cars, and it’s not a successful, forward-thinking practice.”
Valenzuela emphasized the importance of being responsible on the road as Phoenix grows as a multimodal transit city.
“We have to be sure that we are looking out for one another,” Valenzuela said.
Contact the reporter at nisreen.mandviwala@asu.edu.
