Elephant Rider

Elephant Rider is a partnership for bike safety inspired by a recent ER trip in which I found my helmet prevented significant injury.  It is also inspired by the fact that I know four people who have experienced permanent brain injuries from bicycle accidents.  By placing the Elephant Rider in your bike shop for a week or two, we hope it will help us have conversations about helmets, increase community connection around the issue, and increase helmet use.

 

Here's what we know:

​

1. Just by wearing a helmet, you cut your chances of a brain injury by over 50%.

2. Injuries while riding e-bikes and e-scooters are rising.

3. Riders and walkers are less safe in the US than in other developed nations, and it is getting worse.

​​

It's time for us to turn the tide.  Let's do our part to make bike riding safer for us and the next generation.  Wear your helmet, and encourage others to wear theirs!

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​Why an Elephant Rider?

​

One reason is that we need to talk about "the elephant in the room:" those who think wearing a helmet is uncool, or unnecessary.  The other is that it can be a reminder about how hard it can be for us to change our behavior, even when it is in our best interest.  In their book Switch, Chip and Dan Heath offer the "Elephant and the Rider" as a metaphor for understanding persuasion and why lasting change is difficult for us. The Rider represents our conscious, rational prefrontal cortex (the "planner", the 1-5% we are aware of) and the Elephant represents our emotional, instinctual limbic system (the "doer", the 95-99% we are not aware of). Even though the Rider provides direction and planning, the massive Elephant brings its own motivation and behavior, often overpowering the Rider’s best made plans, requiring the Rider to construct a new narrative to explain the most recent action.