Lights for Bikes Event "Enlightening"

BikeArlington and the Police's "Lights for Bikes" event last night (October 30) between 5:30 - 6:30pm on the Custis Trail in Rosslyn proved to be a success. Yesterday was the first workday after Daylight Savings Time ended, which meant there would be cyclists commuting home in the dark.

Instead of ticketing cyclists who were riding without lights at this event (a $250 fine - ouch!), we gave them both head- and taillights for free and installed the lights on their bikes. Our goal was to create awareness of the necessity for cyclists to use bike lights when riding at dark. It’s the law in Virginia, as well as in Maryland, and DC that cyclists use a front light at night.

We were glad to see that most cyclists commuting past us already were well lit, with both head- and taillights. But there were some who were not lit, and it was these folks that received lights. We assisted 35 cyclists with new lights at the event.

Last year in Arlington there were 45 cycling-related crashes. Many of these crashes were at night. With lights, cyclists are riding safer because they’re seen. Now that's a better way to go!

A special thanks goes to Spokes, Etc. bike shop who provided the bike lights at-cost to us for the Lights for Bikes event.

Posted by Paul DeMaio.