Parking & Transportation Services launched its inaugural 2010 Bike Safety Dorm Challenge last week. The goal? To encourage students to follow the rules of the road and wear a helmet for every ride. The incentive? The dorm with the highest percentage of participants will win a charter bus trip to Lake Tahoe.
The challenge runs through Dec. 10. The winner will be announced Jan. 5. To participate, students complete an online bike safety quiz and pledge to wear a bike helmet for every ride, even short trips. All Stanford students in undergraduate dorms are eligible to pledge. Sprocket Man, Stanford’s bicycle safety hero, will randomly spot check for compliance and audit participation.
“This is the first time we are offering this level of incentive for our bicycle safety program,” Brodie Hamilton, director of Parking & Transportation Services, said. “Our hope is that this new approach will really get the word out to students by creating a buzz.”
The Bike Safety Dorm Challenge complements a wide range of ongoing bike safety efforts through Stanford’s bicycle program, officials say, including free monthly bike safety classes, free bike safety dorm road shows, discounted bike helmets, a free bike safety repair station and an innovative bike citation diversion program, through which students who are cited can attend the bike safety class in lieu of paying the bike citation fine.
“We want to create a tipping point to increase the number of bicyclists at Stanford who wear a bike helmet and follow the traffic laws that apply to all bicyclists,” Hamilton said. “Wearing a bike helmet, stopping at stop signs and using bike lights and reflectors when riding at night are more than just a way to win a trip to Tahoe. It’s a way to save lives.”
For details and to participate, visit the dorm challenge website.
