Battle of the Bike Safety P.S.A.’s: LADOT vs NYCDOT

Even without the taglines at the top of the video, I’m guessing that you could figure out which city’s P.S.A.’s were a strident warning to drivers to pay attention or they’re going to kill someone and which city’s compared cyclists to insects.

Over at NYC Streetsblog, Brad Aaron notes that these new advertisements “don’t flinch” and remind drivers of the deadly consequences of even a moments negligence.  These ads, available here, will run through June, and are accompanied
by direct mail pieces for city homeowners and drivers license holders.  Powerful stuff, but part of me wonders if the ad will also discourage people from taking up cycling.  I mean, that dude in the stretcher looks pretty messed up.  He’s not bug-splatter or anything, but still…

And for anyone that thinks that it’s unfair to pull an LADOT advertisement from a couple of years ago to compare to the hard-hitting stuff being put out in NYC, components of the “Laws of Physics” advertisement campaign are still being circulated today.  At Bike to Work Day, I received a yellow bracelet bearing the slogan “Ride right and stop at the light;” a slogan which still confuses me.  Are they telling me to ride correctly, or urging me to ride in the gutter?  Is the bracelet an example of bad grammar or bad advice?

In the interest of fairness, the LADOT has released advertisements encouraging safe driving, but even those rely on a somewhat cartoonish level of violence than the hard-hitting stuff being put out by our friends across the country.