Tadej Pogačar says he lives the “reality of the danger of cycling in traffic almost every day”, as the UCI announced on Thursday that the three-Tour de France winner is set to join the United Nations’ global road safety campaign, which aims to promote road safety by recruiting celebrities and sportspeople to deliver messages “focusing on reducing risk factors” such as drink driving, texting at the wheel, and not wearing a bike helmet.
According to the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, who launched the Make a Safety Statement campaign in 2023, Pogačar’s involvement in the initiative will be a “game changer” to help raise awareness of the need for drivers to respect cyclists, follow the rules, and protect people on bikes from “preventable and predictable” collisions.
The announcement that the world champion is joining the campaign, which will be made official at the UCI’s Mobility and Bike City Forum in Abu Dhabi later this month, comes in the same week that Pogačar’s classics and Tour de France rival Remco Evenepoel suffered multiple fractures after a postal worker swung open the door of their van into his path during a training ride.
The Make a Safety Statement campaign was launched last year by UN road safety special envoy Todt, the former president of motorsports governing body the FIA and of Ferrari’s Formula 1 team, in a bid to tackle what the Frenchman termed the “silent pandemic” of road deaths, the “number one killer” for people under the age of 30 across the world.
Cycling’s undisputed biggest star, after a historic 2024 season that saw him become only the third man to win the ‘Triple Crown’ of the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and world championships in the same year, Pogačar will join the 15 high profile figures already taking part in the campaign, who have all contributed their own road safety messages featuring slogans such as “I drive slow” and “I don’t drive under the influence”.
These include former Chelsea and Ivory Coast forward Didier Drogba, tennis legend Novak Djokovic, Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh, musician Youssou N’Dour, supermodel Naomi Campbell, and popstar Kylie Minogue.
The campaign, which will be advertised on street furniture and billboards in 80 different countries until the end of 2025, sees the celebrities focus on what the UN says are the “main aspects” which can help reduce risk factors on the road, including “wearing a seatbelt, driving sensibly, wearing a helmet, not texting while driving, not driving under the influence of alcohol, not driving while tired, and respecting pedestrians and cyclists”.
At the UCI Mobility and Bike City Forum in Abu Dhabi, which will take place on 18 and 19 December, Todt will unveil the ads featuring Pogačar, while speaking on the theme of road safety for cyclists.
“Cyclists are among the most vulnerable on the road,” Todt said in a statement announcing the Slovenian star’s support for the campaign.
“While we promote sustainable mobility and increase our efforts to shift from motorised transport to multi-modal transport – including the use of public transport, walking and cycling – we need to ensure that safety is at the heart of the journey.
“Road incidents involving cyclists are predictable and preventable and we must therefore increase our efforts to protect them. Part of the solution is education, law enforcement, and raising awareness.
“This is why I believe having the UCI world champion Tadej Pogačar join the UN-JCDecaux campaign #MakeASafetyStatement will be a game changer. I am looking forward to starting this collaboration with Tadej Pogačar and the UCI, under the leadership of David Lappartient, for safe and sustainable mobility for all.”
(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
In his own statement, Pogačar said: “As a professional cyclist the open road is my workplace, and I live the reality of the danger of cycling in traffic almost every day.
“I am not alone, as millions of people around the world ride their bikes to work, school or just for leisure. The ability for people to ride their bikes safely is something we need to protect.
“I am happy to support this campaign and believe that together we can help to make the roads safer for everyone, cyclists and motorists alike.”
Meanwhile, the UCI – which has come in for criticism in recent years for its apparent inability to ensure the safety of riders during races – said it is “pleased” to be associated with the campaign, as part of its “commitment to developing cycling worldwide as a sustainable sport and mode of transport”.
“Road safety is one of the UCI’s top priorities,” the world governing body’s president David Lappartient said. “We are working hard to make competitions safer, but it is also important to ensure that the roads used by riders and all those who cycle around the world become more welcoming and safer.
“For this to happen, broad-based action by all stakeholders is essential. That’s why we’re delighted to be contributing to the campaign launched by the United Nations in collaboration with JCDecaux.
“Together with our reigning road race UCI world champion Tadej Pogačar, we will carry messages that will advance road safety. The UCI’s contribution to the #MakeASafetyStatement campaign will be made official during the UCI Mobility and Bike City Forum in Abu Dhabi. This initiative once again positions the event as a key meeting place for those involved in promoting cycling for all.”
This isn’t the first time Pogačar has been involved in a road safety campaign, of course.
In February 2023, the UAE Team Emirates rider came in for criticism after endorsing fellow pro Rachel Neylan’s ‘Be Bright Wear a Light’ initiative, which called on cyclists to “understand that increased visibility while riding your bike on the road can actually save your life”, and encouraged them to change their behaviour and “begin using front and back lights for every ride at all times of the day”.
Despite describing the campaign as “well-intentioned”, leading road safety campaigner Dr Robert Davis, the chair of the chair of the Road Danger Reduction Forum, said it nevertheless lacked awareness of “what’s required to not being hit by drivers”, and fed into a “victim-blaming culture” which places the onus for safety onto the most vulnerable road users.
Meanwhile, the inherent danger of riding on the roads for even pro cyclists was once again highlighted this week, after double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, who finished third behind Pogačar at this year’s Tour de France, suffered multiple fractures in an apparent ‘dooring’ collision while training in Belgium.
The Soudal Quick-Step rider sustained fractures to his rib, right shoulder blade, and right hand in the collision, as well as torn ligaments, a dislocated collarbone, and a bruised lung (while his gold S-Works SL8 was snapped in two), when a postal worker allegedly swung the door of her van open, hitting Evenepoel.
The incident, which could scupper the Belgian’s plans for the spring classics, prompted his team boss Patrick Lefevere to bemoan “such accidents [that] unfortunately happen five times a day, [because] people don’t pay attention and open their door”.
25 thoughts on ““I live the reality of the danger of cycling in traffic almost every day”: Tadej Pogačar joins international road safety campaign urging drivers to respect cyclists by not texting or drinking – while calling for cyclists to wear helmets”
I don’t understand how a
I don’t understand how a helmet can reduce the risk factors. They may provide some protection when coming off your bike, but they do nothing to prevent falls or being hit. Maybe he means the specific risk of hitting your head but all the other advice actually helps with avoiding collisions and is not designed for a specific body part.
I was just about to say the
I was just about to say the same thing, Peter.
brooksby wrote:
I though’t I’d get in early
Well clearly it means drivers
Well clearly it means drivers…given that list are things drivers do, not wear a seat belt, text, drink driving, driving whilst tired, not respecting vulnerable road users etc etc
stonojnr wrote:
Doesn’t matter who is wearing a helmet – they still don’t do anything to prevent collisions.
My friend was wearing one of
My friend was wearing one of those soft and brittle polystyrene cycling hats – it never stopped him from being killed by a car driver.
Well true, but of all people
Well true, but of all people you’d think Jean Todt would know that already.
hawkinspeter wrote:
H&S training 101:
Risk = Hazard (possibility) x Harm (consequence),
where Harm = Injury type x Severity
A helmet has no effect on the Hazard, as you say, it cannot prevent a car colliding with you (Could be argued has a slight increase to a small number of hazard types; rotational brain injury, increased visibility to vengeful motorists). The claimed reduction to Risk is the decrease in Severity for a small group of Injury types, by cushioning skull in collisions upto a certain impact energy.
You are absolutely correct that measures which reduce Risk by reducing Hazards are preferable to specific Harm Severity reduction methods, hence the hierarchy of protections is a whole thing the health and safety industry is built around.
Wearing a seat-belt doesn’t
Wearing a seat-belt doesn’t make you less likely to crash. It still reduces the overall risks associated with driving.
People often talk about the risk of an accident (incident) happening, but that’s a different equation and they mean the probability. The risk being a combination of probability and anticipated severity of harm an incident. Of course the probability of an incident happening will be made up of a number of factors too.
Some of the proposed actions – not drinking or texting – should reduce the probability of an incident in the first place, though may reduce the severity instead. Wearing a seatbelt or helmet isn’t expect to reduce probability, but may reduce severity. All will reduce overall risk of serious injury or death.
FionaJJ wrote:
One important difference with seatbelts is that they are at least designed for multiple vehicle collisions which bike helmets aren’t.
I’d argue it does because
I’d argue it does because people who don’t wear seat belts are generally risk takers and don’t care for rules.
So their driving behaviour, which lack of seat belt wearing is a symptom, is likely to result in more crashes as a cause, because they take more risks and break more rules
Bit of a logic fail there
Bit of a logic fail there though. “Reckless people cause
accidentscrashes” and “reckless people don’t wear seatbelts” doesn’t imply “wearing seatbelts preventsaccidentscrashes” or even “not wearing seatbelts causesaccidentscrashes”.That looks like a mash-up of cum hoc ergo procter hoc and denying the antecedent, or something like.
You’re assuming that it’s
You’re assuming that it’s calling for cyclists to wear helmets, but from the looks of this it appears it’s the drivers they’re suggesting should be helmetted:
In a sterile theoretical
In a sterile theoretical world, that wouldn’t be a bad call, but it does ignore the Human Factors element that a motorist wearing a helmet may suddenly believe they are an elite motor racing expert and accordingly drive like even more of a twat
Maybe it would make drivers
Maybe it would make drivers realise how dumb it is expecting all cyclists to wear helmets. For the same reason drivers, and their cars should also wear hi-viz.
There was a feature on the
There was a feature on the new this morning about the challenges hospitals face with inadequate beds etc. The manager happily announced, without anyone thinking to ask if she wanted it kept in the broadcast, that she checked text messages on her drive in each morning so she knew what she was facing. It is possible that she was doing so in a way that’s legal, but it’s not encouraging that she spoke about it as if it were the most normal, and acceptable thing in the world.
FionaJJ wrote:
You can get phones to read out text messages through the car speakers via bluetooth, so it can be legal.
Correct. My car reads them
Correct. My car reads them out, but I never use the function as I think it’s another distraction. The texts can wait until I’m out of the car.
Only today I was sat in
Only today I was sat in traffic, the lights changed and the woman in the BMW in front of me didn’t move, so after a few moments I set off and passed her on my bike. She was too busy on her phone to notice the lights had changed. I have bollocked a number of drivers, but usually get a volley of abuse from them, there’s nothing like attack as a good form of defence. If I was daft enough to use my phone behind the wheel and was bollocked, I’d be very embarrassed, not angry.
Given that high cars tend to
Given that high cars tend to top over quite easily, they should indeed wear helmets. These should be high-viz to enable others to stay away from the danger – the alternative would be orange/red hazard lights on the roofs, like for dustcars…
A white helmet could make you
A white helmet could make you slightly more visible.
Showing anger at drivers who are texting is probably not the right way to go, reminding them that’s it’s illegal calmly with some soft authority might be more efficient.
It has little to do with
It has little to do with visibility! You could be wearing a wild clown suit, with flashing lights and waving flags and they STILL would not see you. I don’t believe the “I didn’t see you” garbage!! The only time I was sent to the hospital, he DID see me, but he said AND IT’S ON THE POLICE REPORT!! “I thought I had enough room”
Firmly agree! The only
Firmly agree! The only function of Helmets ‘n HiViz in the minds of the offenders and the police is whether the victim was without them so that they can lapse into victim-blaming as a ‘nothing to see here’ dodge. They’re not at all interested if the victim was fully equipped but the KSI still occurred – they’re then falling over themselves to accept other dodges such as ‘I thought I had enough room’
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22884376/
Unfortunately not having a
Unfortunately not having a subscription I can’t see the important bits, like the size of the effect, the experimental design etc. …
I guess like “helmets” and “hi-vis” there is the usual “but it doesn’t hurt you so just do it – if it might help why on earth wouldn’t you?” argument.
Granting that there is a general positive effect (without having gone through the research / other articles) there is still the following concern: this might merely feed into an “arms race” with people (cycling, walking with dogs, driving) effectively competing for attention with ever brighter / flashing / colour changing lights. (Of course, this seems to be happening anyway…)