Living life on the fast Bike Light Lane

1 cyclist in 4 rides without a bike light in Brussels, putting themselves and others at risk of serious accidents. To tackle this problem, independent agency mortierbrigade came up with an innovative experience for their client Bike for Brussels: the first “Bike Light Lane”. In a tunnel, cyclists without lights were detected and experienced what could happen to them first hand.

This is how it worked: when cyclists without lights entered the tunnel they were detected by sensors, triggering an interactive animation on a LED screen. An avatar with bike lights appeared next to them which lit up a typical Brussels night scene and set a series of events in motion, depending on the speed of the cyclists. The avatar was then passed by a second character, without bike lights this time. At the end of the tunnel this character ended up in a traffic accident, right in front of the eyes of the cyclists. Luckily there was also light at the end of the tunnel. Literally, because we invited all cyclists to pick up a free set of bike lights using the slogan: “Be bright, use a light”.

Philippe De Ceuster, partner and creative director at mortierbrigade:

“Years of traditional campaigns were unable to change people’s behaviour when it came to using bike lights. Research showed that cyclists believed they were sufficiently visible in the surrounding city lights, even though they were not. So we decided to show them they were invisible, because sometimes you have to see it to believe it.”

The Bike Light Lane was placed on one of the busiest bike lanes of the European capital. It was installed on the first day of wintertime, traditionally one of the most dangerous moments for cyclists as their daily routes were suddenly plunged into darkness an hour earlier. National tv, radio and newspapers covered the Bike Light Lane, which led to 3 more Belgian cities contacting mortierbrigade with a request to bring the interactive experience to their streets.