Cheaha Challenge Gran Fondo

The Northeast Alabama Bicycle Association (NEABA) is honored to present the Cycling Awareness Campaign: “See me. I’m a cyclist.”
 
After the 2021 death of Ben Szostak, a friend and fellow cyclist who was hit by a vehicle on Highway 77 near Lincoln, AL while on a training ride, his family designated NEABA as a recipient of memorial funds in his name. NEABA was humbled at their generosity and voted to honor Ben’s memory by utilizing 100% of those funds to create this campaign.
 
The striking digital campaign will be spread across social media (Please share!), and the eye-catching print posters have been delivered to all Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) Driver’s License Offices (76 locations) for display to direct drivers to think of cyclists as people they could know – parents, business owners, friends, etc. and to train drivers to take notice of cyclists on the road. Posters will be delivered to any bike shop, business, bike club, etc. in Alabama that would like to display them.
 
In spring of 2023, billboards will go up in several locations on I-20 and Hwy 21, imploring drivers to see cyclists. And we are lobbying for a deeper emphasis on cycling awareness in the driver’s license curriculum, with the intent of educating drivers that bicycles are vehicles and cyclists have the same rights to the road as they do, and how to lawfully encounter and pass cyclists by giving them three feet of clearance.
 
NEABA thanks the Szostak family for making this campaign possible (Jillene Szostak), Bike Law Alabama for sponsoring the billboard campaign (Danny Feldman), The Anniston Star for their gift of a photographer (Bill Wilson), ALEA for their support (Lain Hawk, Driver License Examiner lll and Chief Jon Archer), and to Candace Taylor for the art.  Thanks to NEABA, too, for fully backing this campaign.
 
The wonderful models in these ads? These are actual cyclists living in or around our area. If you cycle near Anniston or Birmingham, you will recognize them. Not one turned me down, and I truly appreciate them giving of their time and efforts to bring this campaign to fruition: Mike Poe, Demetrious White, Jessica & Tim Johnson, Lucy Vandervoort Morris & daughters, and Dunaway Conner. Y’all rock!
 
See me. I’m a cyclist.