Social networking campaign for safer cycling gathers pace

The power of Facebook and the humble hash tag is being harnessed in the name of safer cycling through the #saveacyclist campaign.

The campaign was initiated by Amy O'Halloran who describes herself as a “student of Osteopathy and cake maker for @enduraracing” and is rapidly growing through  Twitter and a Facebook campaign.

Amy said: “The campaign aims to raise awareness of road safety issues and bring compassion and mutual respect to our roads.

“If every cyclist became an ambassador for road safety - on AND off their bikes - maybe those ignorant people who class cyclists as second class citizens might start to see us as "normal" people just like them. We're all human beings although some people don't treat us that way just because we're on two wheels!”

She added: “Save a cyclist campaign is all about changing peoples' attitudes towards cyclists. We need people to be able to relate the "annoying" cyclist to the man he saw shopping with his family earlier in the day.

“We need them to see cyclists as human beings as well! T-shirts and bumper stickers will soon be available by demand to those who want to help promote safety on our roads and do their bit to reduce the amount of cyclists injured/killed in road accidents. How many innocent people have to die before awareness is increased? If you can change just one person's attitude towards cyclists, and that in turn saves someone’s life one day, then it'll be worth it!

“After seeking advice re: petitions, I have found out that there are laws already in place that can protect vulnerable road users, the problem is that they're not enforced! The way to make the government listen is to raise publicity and put pressure on them.”

Here at road.cc we can only say amen to that, and if you are a Twitter and/or Facebook user you may want to add yourself to the growing numbers who are getting behind this campaign.