2017 Motorcycle Safety Campaign Launch

Riding season is well under way and we recently launched our second annual motorcycle safety campaign with a simple message this year, Think Bike.  This will add on to our existing We Are campaign which has been extended this year and our high impact PSA about left turns.

ShawTV created us this wicked digital image for this year's campaign that sees billboards coming on board to showcase our message.  Think Bike applies to everyone, not just vehicle drivers.  We ask that drivers share the road, check their mirrors, watch for us, Think Bike.  We ask that riders respect the rules of the road, keep yourselves in a safe space, be diligent at intersections, Think Bike.  We are a very vulnerable community and will lose in every collision.  With that said, every single road user has a responsibility, Think Bike starts with each one of us.

Late April, and on a day that Edmonton saw one of the worst spring snow storms, a few brave volunteers met up with us at the Shaw studio to create some new inserts for our We Are campaign.  With the growth to Calgary and some new media folks coming on board in Edmonton, we decided to add to this library.  We had an amazing group of journeyman trades people, all types of family, a student, and even Alberta Health Services (AHS) allowed  some of their paramedics to participate in uniform!  AHS felt that the message we were getting out there was one they could get behind, especially as collisions affect their first responders.

On May 2, the weather cooperated and we finally got to launch our second multi media campaign with the help of CTV Edmonton's Daryl McIntyre.  We were fortunate to have Councillor Dave Loken speak for the second year in a row.  Their Vision Zero project aligns very well with our initiative and we could not be more proud of this growing partnership.  We were also presented with an official Proclamation from Mayor Iveson declaring May Motorcycle Safety Month in the City of Edmonton!  We are so proud of the work we are doing and that it is being recognized so well by our levels of government.  This will help move forward expanding in to other cities, eventually covering all of Alberta.

Our second speaker was Corporate B. Johannson from the K Division Motorcycle Unit with the RCMP.  We were very happy to have law enforcement represented at our launch to show the different levels of partnership working together for safer roads.

I then spoke to what our vision entails for this year, that we hope to continue to enact change in behaviour on our streets in an effort to lower the statistics for motorcycle collisions resulting in serious injury or fatality.  I recognized all of our friends in the media business who continually step up to ensure our campaign will be seen, heard and read everywhere!  This year we have TV, radio, print and billboards!  We have expanded down to Calgary with most of their stations just waiting to get on board.  Our billboards will be running in even more municipalities getting the AMSS introduced to even more communities a little ahead of time!  Hard work and dedication is paying off and we are only in year 2!

I was able to introduce our new teaching tool, a safety trailer donated to our cause by Honda Canada.  We unveiled the redesign of the trailer at the launch with fantastic feedback.  On one side we have messaging, video, and a place to put literature to give away.  On the other side we have a demonstration of what proper gear should look like, and a couple of helmets that were involved in a collision.  We hope to show people why gear is so important.  We will be taking this trailer to as many events as possible promoting motorcycle safety, even long past the month of May.  Our commitment is all year long.  Whatever it takes to drive home the message of Think Bike.

The support at our launch was more than double of our first year.  Thank you to everyone who came out!  Thank you to everyone who continues to support the AMSS in any way they can.  Thank you to all the early adopters who have signed up to join the Society, whether as a general member or a Corporate Member.  Thank you to all of our volunteers who show up to pitch in where they can.  Thank you to the Province of Alberta for awarding us a grant this year to take the stress off of how we were going to manage our program for the riding season.  Thank you to all the industry experts who have or will be recording podcasts with us, sharing even more knowledge.  Thank you to the media, both the executives and the personalities, you all have made such an impact on helping us grow so quickly.  The AMSS is nothing without all this support.

You can help us grow even more by following our social media and sharing and tweeting to help get the message out.

Until then, have a safe riding season!  Hope to see you out on the road...come say hi!  Ride smart, ride safe and Think Bike!

Liane

All photos courtesy of Ronnie B. ©2017