“Smart bison sees black on this vacation departure weekend”. You must have heard this phrase at least once in your life before hitting the road. But by the way, where does this name come from that could come out of a Western? Road information appeared in 1968 with the creation of the National Road Information Center (Cnir), in Rosny-sous-Bois (93), responsible for collecting, analyzing and disseminating traffic data.
On Saturday August 2, 1975, the weekend of departure on vacation, the roads of France are completely blocked. Nearly 60,000 cars are key-touch over more than 600 kilometers, under a blazing sun. In total, 2 million hours lost in traffic jams, a sad record that moves the public authorities. In the evening, 145 deaths were recorded as a result of accidents. The government asks the Cnir to take measures to prevent this tragedy from happening again. A system that accompanies motorists during their journeys has been put in place. In 1976, Bison futé was born and in 1977, an advertisement was broadcast (see below).
But then why “Clever Bison”? The Cnir looks for an easily identifiable object or mascot and thinks of an animal. We propose “Thimotée”, a bird that sees far with big binoculars; “Super-Gertrude”, from the name derived from the Bordeaux road center computer; “Ginette”, the giraffe, who from the top of her long neck would dominate the situation… But none of these three leads came to fruition. Then the Ministry of Transport launches a call for tenders to which an advertiser responds. “I found that an Indian, resourceful, sniffing out the right paths, could become the sure ally of French motorists”, says Daniel Robert to La Nouvelle République, in August 2022.
For the adjective “smart”, this 76-year-old advertiser is inspired by a tradition from the American Indians, where each member of a tribe had an animal name associated with a qualifier: “Sitting bull “, “Shy field mouse”, “Intrepid buzzard”… The idea of “Smart bison” is retained and the logo will be on the front page of all summer traffic bulletins, for nearly half a century. In 2022, “Bison futé” is modernizing and changing its logo (see above). The face of the little Indian is replaced by a silhouette of a bison which draws a route.
