Get Involved
So you want safer roads to ride on; you want drivers to respect your rights as a valid mode of transportation; you want sidewalks for your kids to be able to walk from your home to school. Well you can have it...all of it. But it takes work, and you're the worker. So what can you do? Here are 3 great ways for you to help bring about a safer, healthier Mississippi:
1. City Meetings - Take a friend or twenty and go to your city's meetings to let them know what you, as a resident, want. Every time their doors are open to the public for a meeting, go and say the same things. A city government will rarely go out of their way to make changes in a city to promote alternate transportation unless they know that people want it. Government moves slowly, but it does move with the input of its citizens.
2. Join BWM - Become a member of Bike Walk Mississippi (BWM). Here is why it is imperative that you join: When BWM goes to lobby for money in order to build the infrastructure we want for walking and cycling, the congressmen, local, and state officials look at what portion of their constituents BWM represents, both in terms of numbers and demographics. By having more people in BWM, it makes our requests for money more legitimate and more likely to happen. You can sign up online here at http://www.bikewalkmississippi.org
3. Get a Tag - There are a lot of specialty license plates on the road these days, and BWM has just had their "Share the Road" tag approved. When you purchase a "Share the Road" tag, you are paying for a full time walking and cycling advocate on your behalf. You're paying for an executive director of the organization to be able to lobby at the local, state, and federal level for money. The tag would also serve as a constant reminder to people on the road that that cycling and walking are valid forms of transportation, and that they should be respected. Buy yours now, and help Mississippi become a safer, healthier state.
So you want safer roads to ride on; you want drivers to respect your rights as a valid mode of transportation; you want sidewalks for your kids to be able to walk from your home to school. Well you can have it...all of it. But it takes work, and you're the worker. So what can you do? Here are 3 great ways for you to help bring about a safer, healthier Mississippi:
1. City Meetings - Take a friend or twenty and go to your city's meetings to let them know what you, as a resident, want. Every time their doors are open to the public for a meeting, go and say the same things. A city government will rarely go out of their way to make changes in a city to promote alternate transportation unless they know that people want it. Government moves slowly, but it does move with the input of its citizens.
2. Join BWM - Become a member of Bike Walk Mississippi (BWM). Here is why it is imperative that you join: When BWM goes to lobby for money in order to build the infrastructure we want for walking and cycling, the congressmen, local, and state officials look at what portion of their constituents BWM represents, both in terms of numbers and demographics. By having more people in BWM, it makes our requests for money more legitimate and more likely to happen. You can sign up online here at http://www.bikewalkmississippi.org
3. Get a Tag - There are a lot of specialty license plates on the road these days, and BWM has just had their "Share the Road" tag approved. When you purchase a "Share the Road" tag, you are paying for a full time walking and cycling advocate on your behalf. You're paying for an executive director of the organization to be able to lobby at the local, state, and federal level for money. The tag would also serve as a constant reminder to people on the road that that cycling and walking are valid forms of transportation, and that they should be respected. Buy yours now, and help Mississippi become a safer, healthier state.