Bucky’s Ambassadors promote bike, pedestrian safety on UW campus

A quartet of UW–Madison students will be out and about on their bikes in the campus area through late September raising awareness about bicycle and pedestrian safety. They will also be working to familiarize moped drivers about rules of the road.

Tom Olson, Nick Passint, Annie Lien and Katie Stubbendick are known as Bucky’s Bike and Pedestrian Ambassadors. They have been taking their message on the road since early August, thanks to UW Transportation Services and a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

Wearing bright yellow tee shirts with a Bucky’s Ambassadors logo, these peer educators are promoting a “Share the Road” philosophy among riders, pedestrians and drivers that includes respect for others and courtesy on the roadway.

The ambassadors will be teaching several free bike skills workshops at the Memorial Union during September. They will lead bike tours from Library Mall to their personal favorite spots off campus, and later in the month they will host a free Bike-In Film Fest at the Memorial Union Play Circle. The films include “The Hard Road,” a behind-the-scenes documentary about the subculture of professional bicycle racing, and “Riding the Black Mamba,” which chronicles the use of bicycles for transportation and income generation in Africa.

“This is an educational program, not an enforcement mechanism,” says Alison Carpenter, bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for UW Transportation Services. She points out that many new students and employees may not have been on a bike since middle school, but now may decide they want to bike to classes or jobs.

“The ambassadors will provide helpful hints and encouragement regarding how to get around safely, and their message applies to all age groups,” says Carpenter. “They can even assist in planning the best and safest routes for riders to take, and they’ll be giving away maps, lights and other items.”

Visit http://www.fpm.wisc.edu/trans/ambassadors for a complete list of the upcoming events.