The Chainlink

Getting more people to cycle with lights

No lights, no rights. 

Get Lit: Use lights at night (front side)

I will be asking you to donate money by the end of this post. 

I believe that too many people are cycling without headlights. Not only do city and state law require cycling with a white front light at night, it bodes well for your if you are involved in a crash at night. You do not have a case, essentially, and one of our many bike lawyers will concur. 

 

Active Transportation Alliance has conducted many bike light distributions in the past few years. They do it with donated money. One event was sponsored by Lawyer Jim Freeman, while another even was sponsored by Groupon's G-Team and Groupon purchasers. 

 

I am introducing you to the Get Lit campaign I've started. This campaign uses a simple website, a fancy postcard, and an appeal to Chainlink members, to raise funds so that Active Transportation Alliance can put on another bike light distribution event. 

 

Donate now. Thank you. 

 

Read more:

Bike lights distribution

A Chicagoan gets a headlight during an event in November 2010. 

Views: 1825

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tim S on March 7, 2012 at 5:54pm

as long as you teach them how to properly "aim" their light I support you 100%. Last night was annoying with the number of folks that have their 10,000 candle watt light pointing right into oncoming bike traffic. Seriously folks, think about how your car lights are angled down and how annoying "brights" are.

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on March 7, 2012 at 10:38pm

What's the proper aim? Level? Down? Level with the average height above the ground of drivers' eyes?

I point my light level to the ground then about 1-2° downward. 


Tim S said:

as long as you teach them how to properly "aim" their light I support you 100%. Last night was annoying with the number of folks that have their 10,000 candle watt light pointing right into oncoming bike traffic. Seriously folks, think about how your car lights are angled down and how annoying "brights" are.

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on March 7, 2012 at 10:39pm

Thank you for your offer. 

If you can make it, there's an Active Transportation Alliance volunteer recruitment party on Thursday night at Heritage Bicycles. 

Bike Volunteer Recruitment "Shenaniganza"!

Fran Kondorf said:

 Steven-

 This a great campaign and is something I strongly believe in. I will donate/volunteer to/for it as soon as I can.

 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 8, 2012 at 5:54am

I'll be at this tonight:

Permalink Reply by Trachea on March 8, 2012 at 10:40am

I gave. I see so many cyclists in Ravenswood/Lincoln Square without lights, totally drives me nuts. Cyclists without lights are really hard to see on some of those streets.

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on March 8, 2012 at 10:51am

I am certainly in favor of more people cycling with lights. With the availability of relatively inexpensive "be seen" lights, I have a hard time believing the reason(s) people choose to be bike ninjas is due to a lack of access or availability. I'd be curious to know how many of these lights which are given away are actually put into use.

Permalink Reply by Jared on March 8, 2012 at 11:04am

+1

On that note you might want to encourage free will offerings while your handling out lights.

Kevin C said:

I am certainly in favor of more people cycling with lights. With the availability of relatively inexpensive "be seen" lights, I have a hard time believing the reason(s) people choose to be bike ninjas is due to a lack of access or availability. I'd be curious to know how many of these lights which are given away are actually put into use.

Permalink Reply by Charlie Short 2.9 on March 8, 2012 at 2:05pm

Kevin-

The Bicycling Ambassadors do these kind of light giveaways frequently during the summer. Last year we gave away about 1500 lights. We do the events all over the city, but with overlap, we definitely hit some major corridors more frequently. Milwaukee, Clark and Near-South Halsted usually get at least two events a summer, and I think last summer, Milwaukee and Clark got three (Aldermen pay for lights during these events, so if we work in the 35th, 1st and 32nd Wards, we end up doing multiple giveaways along Milwaukee, for instance.)

Over the course of the summer, we see a lot of folks that got lights at earlier events ride past still using the lights. Obviously not a scientific count, the retention over the summer is pretty high. The real challenge is getting folks to use these lights season after season. I still see light clamps affixed to bikes that we gave out back in 2008 (a few of the lights have very distinct clamping mechanisms.)

Fortunately, giving out more lights over a long period of time is a great reminder for folks to keep using the lights that are already given out. Steve's work is just another way to get the word out about safe bicycling in Chicago.

Kevin C said:

I am certainly in favor of more people cycling with lights. With the availability of relatively inexpensive "be seen" lights, I have a hard time believing the reason(s) people choose to be bike ninjas is due to a lack of access or availability. I'd be curious to know how many of these lights which are given away are actually put into use.

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on March 8, 2012 at 2:39pm

Thanks for the response, Charlie. Seems like your subjective experience is that you're making progress. Hope that's true.

Charlie Short said:

Kevin-

The Bicycling Ambassadors do these kind of light giveaways frequently during the summer. Last year we gave away about 1500 lights. We do the events all over the city, but with overlap, we definitely hit some major corridors more frequently. Milwaukee, Clark and Near-South Halsted usually get at least two events a summer, and I think last summer, Milwaukee and Clark got three (Aldermen pay for lights during these events, so if we work in the 35th, 1st and 32nd Wards, we end up doing multiple giveaways along Milwaukee, for instance.)

Over the course of the summer, we see a lot of folks that got lights at earlier events ride past still using the lights. Obviously not a scientific count, the retention over the summer is pretty high. The real challenge is getting folks to use these lights season after season. I still see light clamps affixed to bikes that we gave out back in 2008 (a few of the lights have very distinct clamping mechanisms.)

Fortunately, giving out more lights over a long period of time is a great reminder for folks to keep using the lights that are already given out. Steve's work is just another way to get the word out about safe bicycling in Chicago.

Kevin C said:

I am certainly in favor of more people cycling with lights. With the availability of relatively inexpensive "be seen" lights, I have a hard time believing the reason(s) people choose to be bike ninjas is due to a lack of access or availability. I'd be curious to know how many of these lights which are given away are actually put into use.

Permalink Reply by Chicago Ride of Silence on March 8, 2012 at 4:03pm

I would love to have a headlight giveaway in conjunction with this year's Ride of Silence on May 16. This Ride ends at or after dusk, and too many riders are not equipped with front headlights.

Thank you for organizing this campaign and for all who help make the roads safer for cyclists.

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on March 8, 2012 at 9:15pm

We will keep that date in mind as we (Active Transportation Alliance and I) schedule a time. However, to discourage "freebies", the date and location will be unannounced until hours before the event. 

To others: I've already said it, but I don't believe that cost and availability of lights is a significant factor in whether one who cycles uses a headlight. It's their lack of knowledge about why it's important to use it. It's not intuitive, nor well known, that using a headlight is in one's best interest when cycling at night. 


Chicago Ride of Silence said:

I would love to have a headlight giveaway in conjunction with this year's Ride of Silence on May 16. This Ride ends at or after dusk, and too many riders are not equipped with front headlights.

Thank you for organizing this campaign and for all who help make the roads safer for cyclists.

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on March 9, 2012 at 7:22am

I donated just now to start the day with good karma, thankful that I'm at the point in life where I can give to good causes. I also feel a little guilty for taking a free bike light last summer when I saw a giveaway station, even though I have my own lights. Hopefully this will make up for it.

 

But what do you mean by "No lights, no rights" at the top of your post, Steve? It is the law to have a front and back light, and if you don't have lights and are in a collision, you might be guilty of contributory negligence, but I don't think all your rights are wiped out entirely.

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