Positive Re-enforcement

For whatever reason, bicyclists don't like to get off their bikes.

Which is why these 'bike foot-rests', shown above, that have been installed in Copenhagen are pretty cool. "It's a tiny detail...just a simple idea to make a tiny fraction of the day a little bit easier for a small percentage of the cycling citizens of the city," writes the Copenhagenize blog, which discusses the new foot-rests (and helped design them, too).

What I also see with these foot-rests is a way to make it more convenient and easy for cyclists to stop at a light (or at least wait for traffic to pass). And in this way, these foot-rests positively promote safer cycling.
This strategy of positive (re)enforcement has been used successfully by a website called The Fun Theory. Their site is based on the idea that "something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better".

So even though these projects are focused on little things like trash cans or using the stairway, ultimately (and whether their participants care or not) they help create cultural change around larger issues of health and the environment.



Anyone have any other good ideas for how we could use the fun theory, or positive enforcement, towards the goal of more cyclists and/or safer cycling?