Nice Way Code shuts up shop, gets lambasted for self-congratulatory farewell message

Well it doesn't seem to have made any difference. Still getting cut up by motorists wanting to make a turn, punishment passes, random u-turns as well as the classic shooting out from a side street.

Where on the 'running reds' poster does it indicate that it's only aimed at cyclists?

For those who didn't see anything wrong with the campaign here are some comments I sent to Sustrans:

I am sorry but to me this campaign is a disaster, the messages actually make things much worse for cyclists.

a) The message about red light jumping reinforces the incorrect stereotype that all cyclists jump lights, it fails to challenge drivers who jump red lights. It ignores the fact that cyclists rarely injure or kill anyone by red light jumping unlike drivers. It also ignores the studies from London which indicated that red light jumping may in fact reduce risk for cyclists.

b) The message about riding on the pavement ignores shared space and ignores the elephant in the room about why someone might ride on the pavement, namely that the roads are felt to be far too dangerous.

c) The message about overtaking buses is dangerous rubbish. I am appalled that Sustrans is supporting anything based on John Franklin's discredited views (that for example completely ignore the vast majority of cyclists who cannot ride at the speeds he suggests are needed). Use of any cycle infrastructure in the UK will put people in a position to overtake buses on the inside. This advert makes it look like a cyclist who is obeying the law and safely using cycle infrastructure is in fact a law breaking idiot. This will only increase resentful attitudes to cyclists.

d) The message about treating cyclists like horses is absolutely the opposite of what is needed! We need to be seen as people, as part of families, as parents, as someone's child. Instead of making cyclists more human, more like us it dehumanises us. This reinforces many drivers view that cyclists don't matter and don't count.

How can a campaign with so many completely anti cyclists messages be funded out of a budget for sustainable transport? No wonder organisations for drivers were willing to support it and what a disaster that Sustrans and the CTC let their names be associated with it.

There can be little hope that a campaign as bad as this can possibly get people to think differently in any positive way towards cycling.

Don't worry, Scottish ministers will find something else to waste money on. They are now planning an Olympic team for Rio 2016 before they have even won independence, which they won't.

One year to go.

big big depressed sigh. thats all i can muster at the moment.

With it being a government funded project, is it not subject to FoI, and so all spending costs should be open to examination?

"Did they ever set or publish any tangible targets?"

Not as far as I've been able to discern. There was a claim made in a comment on https://beyondthekerb.wordpress.com/2013/07/31/the-car-and-the-kitten/ that some data and KPIs existed, but neither ever materialised.

All the information I saw seemed to suggest that the campaign had been based on two focus groups and no data. It seems pretty clear there never was any metric based on actual road safety. Nor does there seem to be any evidence that there was even a metric based on public opinions towards either safety or other road users.

Maybe those things never existed, or maybe they did but the team simply decided early on to let the whole thing sink with as little trace as possible rather than to change course. The only valedictory message they seem to have posted online is this one on Facebook: nothing on Twitter, and nothing on their own website. Just one damp squib of a sign-off, one mad message desperately hoping that someone will be pleased with the lie that what they really set out to do was to spend £424,000 making everyone hate them.

Seem to have a knack for wasting money on pointless campaign north of the border. A couple of years ago they paid an agency £125k to come up with a slogan for the country, the result ? "Welcome to Scotland"

Good luck with independance

Like some others, not sure what the problem is with this. Yes, the posters seemed a little smug and airy fairy, but they certainly drew attention, and I can't think of anything in them I disagreed with. They simply seem to advocate a bit of consideration, thought, and defensive driving/cycling on the part of all road users. Some people, whether in cars or on bikes, seem to think the road is theirs alone and whatever they do is justified while veryone else is an a*sehole. And £425K is a drop in the ocean - I think it is actually money reasonably well spent.

Did anyone see the white taxis that were covered by 'the nice way code', oh it made me chuckle. In sadness.

Did they ever set or publish any tangible targets?

I would expect there to be a baselining and then subsequent measurements of progress against metrics such as 'number of road traffic accidents involving cyclists, per cycle journey made'.

By the sound of it, I'm guessing that didn't happen.

I really don't see what the problem is. Those posters/adverts seem faily innocuous to me. I get the impression that some cyclists are a little too sensitive, and nothing would please them.

"We set out to get people talking about how we can make our roads a safer place for everyone. And we've certainly done that." - Defiant in the face of the truth to the end about a seemingly wishy washy "campaign".