yellow cards for cars
Most everyone who walks or bikes around town has encountered a driver who has, out of frustration, anger, or ignorance, made bad driving decisions that put your life at risk. Even if you are willing to take the time to educate motorists on the danger that their choices put you in, they have often driven away before you get the chance.
We've debated and (shamefully admit, in some cases, to having) acted out a few methods of addressing the problem of getting the message across quickly:
* shouting and waving for the driver to stop
* cursing profusely
* fist shaking and finger waving
* slapping and kicking the offending vehicle
* designing a bike-mounted gun that shoots eggs
* calling the police
Sadly, none of these have been very effective. Often, rather than resolving anything, they create a bigger problem.
With all else failing, maybe this idea is worth a shot. This is a design for a business card sized magnet with a little message about brotherly love on the road. They are designed to be tossed onto the metal hood, roof, or side panels of a car that has made a bad decision at your near-peril.
Everyone is free to download the PDF file and print out their own magnets. You can order magnet sheets from labelgear.com to print at home, or use it for a design at cafepress. If you ride a steel frame, you can probably keep a few easily accessible on your top tube.
We haven't read any reports on how successful people have been at getting these to stick to cars or in the stickiness of the message in drivers' minds, but it would be nice to see one of these provoke a Letter to the Editor at the AANews.
1 comment:
First, I think there's no shame in profuse cursing.
That said, if I were in close enough proximity to acutally place one of these magnetic yellow cards onto a car, I'd probably do better thinking about how to save my own hide than sending a snarky little message.
As for throwing them (ninja throwing-star style I presume?) I'd imagine that'd take some practice.
Now if the magnetic card's design was a little tiny fairy car-door, now that'd be the thing that would get coverage in the News.
On a more constructive note, I'd prefer a design that said "I was on my bike next to your car at an intersection today. And I noticed that you noticed that I was there. Thanks for keeping an eye out for us cyclists."
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