Leave Space For A Life
Cycling Scotland
- Social
- Campaign
- Film
Too many drivers do not leave enough space when passing people on bikes, despite a legal requirement of 1.5 metres - a rule that is too often overlooked or forgotten.
Cycling Scotland asked us to find a way to not just raise awareness of this law, but to make drivers stop, think, and change how they behave behind the wheel.
The result was Leave Space for a Life - a campaign rooted in empathy, not instruction, designed to close the emotional gap between drivers and cyclists.
The Challenge
Despite being the law, leaving 1.5m space when overtaking cyclists was one of the least followed safe-driving behaviours in Scotland. Many drivers saw it as optional, a courtesy, or worse, were more concerned about scratching their car than endangering someone on a bike.
Making things harder, public safety-style messaging is often tuned out, especially when it feels preachy. Most drivers travel on autopilot and subconsciously refer to “bikes” instead of “people.” That small linguistic cue reveals a bigger empathy gap that puts cyclists at risk.
With growing traffic and a long-term goal of zero road deaths by 2050, Cycling Scotland needed to urgently reframe the message into something human, emotive and unforgettable.
The Solution
We reframed the space around a cyclist not as a measurement, but as a life. Visually, we placed a “scrapbook” of memories into that 1.5m buffer, showing the full life being protected.
It was a shift from cold rule to warm reality.
The campaign rolled out across TV, VOD, digital, radio, out-of-home and in-car environments, using a funnel-based approach: long-form films drove empathy, while short-form social, bus rears, and audio spots delivered clear, repeatable messaging.
By making drivers feel something, not just learn something, we turned a highway code reminder into a human connection and shifted real-world behaviour in the process.
Results
Leave Space for a Life exceeded every SMART objective set, despite budget constraints.97%
of drivers who’d seen the campaign said it encouraged them to leave space.
97%
97% also agreed with the statement "The advertising reminds me that a cyclist is a person with people who care about them whose safety must be prioritised."
89%
of drivers who had seen the campaign had taken or planned to take action and change their behaviour as a result.
While you are here, find out about our new website for Cycling Scotland, or our Digital Transformation of Cycling Scotland's Cycling Certification platform.