SECONDARY RESEARCH-FINAL

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Richmond has created a master bike plan which aims to to create 12 new bike lanes within the next four years. It is aimed at making biking and cycling a part of everyday life in the city and region. Richmond also has goal to increase the number of bike commuters 4% by next year, 6% by 2020, 10% by 2025 (Llovio, 2015). Richmond’s master bicycle plan also hopes to create signage for bicyclists and motorists: This may be a pro and con. People want bicycle infrastructure. and getting it could possibly get more people riding bicycles and in turn create more cyclists for I Am RVA to target. It could be a con because bicycle infrastructure is hard to develop and coudl come with more economic and political problems. I Am RVA Problems Not Wearing Helmets is Socially Acceptable According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), millions of Americans ride bicycles, but less than half of them wear helmets. A survey from 2001-2003 found that only 48% of children aged 5-14 wore helmets when riding, and older children were even less likely to wear helmets. Some bicyclists are not wearing helmets because they feel the bicycle community should be safe enough to not have to rely on helmet. In the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Andy Thornley, program directors with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition states, “there is a significant minority who ride without head protection for reasons ranging from a simple preference to philosophical opposition to the notion that cycling is dangerous enough to require armor. The best way to make cyclists safe is to prevent them from crashing, and that means wide, hazard-free bike lanes and awareness by motorists of cyclists and our right to share the road.” He also stated, “On balance, you’re going to be a little safer riding with a helmet, but I choose not to for my own personal reasons.” (Jones, 2010). 20
There are many other bicyclists who have similar ideas about helmets. The Telegraph covered a story in which a leading neurosurgeon, Henry Marsh, stated, “I ride a bike and I never wear a helmet. In the countries where bike helmets are compulsory there has been no reduction in bike injuries whatsoever.” Some reasons for not wearing a helmet were much simpler and included complaints about helmet hair, sweat, having to carry the helmet, Researchers at Lancaster University questioned 1400 people to learn what deterred them from cycling to work. 27% of women wanted to avoid helmet hair and 19% of women said sweating was a factor (Riley, 2011). This is a complication for I Am RVA because it may be hard to convert people into helmet-wearers of they are currently riding without helmets. If people don’t want to wear helmets, people won’t wear I Am RVA helmets Motorists Opinion of Bicyclists Time-Dispatch editor, John Vassar, writes, “Richmond is on the cusp of becoming a world-class, bicycle-friendly city. We all need to step up, change our behavior and obey the law. In order for motorists and pedestrians to respect cyclists, we need to respect them by obeying all traffic laws… in short, let’s ride our bikes as if we were driving out cars,” (Vassar, 2014) It may be hard to for I Am RVA to rally motorists to get involved with bicycle safety efforts if they do not believe bicyclists are also trying to do their part. According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, letter-writer Robert Gambill claimed “bicyclists are strictly hobbyists intent on impeding traffic to indulge in a worthless and expensive pastime.” This is an opinion that many motorists have towards bicyclists. Times-Dispatch editor argues that many cyclists are riding as transportation to and from work, and Virginia traffic law states that bicyclists ride with the flow of traffic (Kessler, 2014) For I Am RVA, this mind-set among motorists could be damaging. A goal of the organization is to educate the community, including motorists, on bicycle safety. When people have negative ideas and attitudes about the issue, it may be complicated to involve them in safety efforts. Additional Findings Bicycle Safety Campaigns in Richmond The Virginia DMV began pushing bicycle safety efforts amongst bicyclist and motorists in August 2015. They promoted use of headlights, tail lights, reflectors, and bright colors to increase visibility. They created a “Show the World” campaign on social media where bicyclists were invited to use the hashtag #SafetyLooksGoodOnYou while wearing their brightest attire and using reflectors and lights. (Plus Media Solutions, 2015). I Am RVA could benefit off of this campaign because the issue has now been brought to light, and people may be looking for ways to continue promoting bicycle safety efforts in Richmond. 21
Page 1 and 2: Secondary Research Fall 2015 Tre St
Page 3 and 4: Media Coverage I Am RVA was feature
Page 5 and 6: Size & Scope Again, I Am RVA is run
Page 7 and 8: Why should all cyclists wear helmet
Page 9 and 10: College Students Richmond is a coll
Page 11 and 12: What role does the medical communit
Page 13 and 14: This infographic outlines the 70/20
Page 15 and 16: Summary Report Social media is impe
Page 17 and 18: In a RVA Mag article, “Local stor
Page 19: Graphic shows some of the common mi
Page 23 and 24: Industry Research The Richmond area
Page 25 and 26: Virginia Bicycling Corporation The
Page 27 and 28: Competition and Similar Organizatio
Page 29 and 30: Helmets-R-US Helmets-R-US would ser
Page 31 and 32: February 2015. . Liddle, R. (2013,

SECONDARY RESEARCH-FINAL

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