'Don't Be a Jerk' campaign targets bicyclists who break the rules

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http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/05/10/2011-05-10_city_halls_celebstudded_dont_be_a_jerk_campaign_targets_bicyclists_who_break_the.html

City Hall is targeting jerks on wheels.

The Transportation Department is scolding bicyclists who break the rules in a three-commercial campaign titled "Don't Be a Jerk."

Each short spot features a celebrity either cycling the wrong way in a bike lane, riding on the sidewalk or pedaling through red lights. Onlookers blast the celebs for being jerks and cajole them to correct their unsafe behavior.

If you don't blink, you'll notice Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan makes a quick appearance in an advertisement where comedian John Leguizamo weaves down a sidewalk, calling out to pedestrians to move out of his way.

The two other advertisements star Paulina Porizkova and Mario Batali as bad-mannered bicyclists who learn the error of their ways after being called out.

"As our streets have become safer and as more New Yorkers take to two wheels, bike riders need to adopt a street code," said Commissioner Sadik-Khan in a statement. "A nice way to put it is that we all simply need to look out for one another. To put it a little more bluntly, don't be a jerk."

The Bloomberg administration has taken a number of steps to encourage cycling and reduce collisions with cars. Over the past four years, it has added more than 250 new miles of bike lanes, changed bike-lane designs and installed thousands of additional bike racks.

The campaign ads began running this week on local television stations and also can be seen at nyc.gov

About time a city gov't speaks out against bicyclists, although I wish it were SF.