They say it's better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness and on Monday night, November 5th 2007, volunteers gathered not with candles but with LED lights, bicycles and reflective gear. The mission was to celebrate and promote safe night-time cycling.Thanks to funds provided by Seattle cycling attorney John Duggan, proceeds from the "Share the Road" license plate program, various individual donors and support from the bicycle component company Planet Bike
, the Bicycle Alliance of Washington provides bicycle lights to low-income cyclists through a program called "Get Lit". Riders gathered at the Seattle Bike Station and delivered lights to Goodwill Industries, Union Gospel Mission and Plymouth Housing Group for distribution. Other light recipients include Bike Works in Columbia City, the Salvation Army, Spokane's Pedals-2-People and various homeless and low-income individuals.It was a beautiful night for a ride and various drivers and pedestrians had great questions and comments for the well-lit, highly visible and enthusiastic group of riders. The ride concluded at the Seattle Bike Station with hot cider, a comparison of various riders lights and gear and reflective stickers for all.
5 comments:
Bravo to the Bike Alliance for throwing a great nighttime bike party! And WHERE can I find that cool purple jacket with the reflective stars and moons all over it? It's a nice alternative to the glaucoma green seen all over today's bicyclists.
I'll be trotting out my reflective fashionista best for Portland's "See And Be Seen" ride on the 15th.
Hi Ken,
What make/model of lights did you donate? Thinking of doing a similar thing where I am.
Janet
Hi Janet,
The lights are Planet Bike Beamer 3 head lights and Planet Bike Blinky 3 tail lights. Weatherproof, 100 hours of life on 2 AA batteries in the head lights and 2 AAA batteries in the tail lights. The nice thing is the Planet Bike lights come with batteries and Planet Bike has a good program to support advocacy, so we get a good deal from them.
And Beth, I'm pretty sure Mark's nifty purple jacket with the stars and moons was a custom made gift for him. I've never seen another one like it.
Kent,
I neat follow up program for this Get Lit project would be to have some 'stations' around town where bike riders can pick up recharged batteries for their lights by leaving rechargables behind. Get some environmentally oriented groups to provide some seed money and volunteer work to set up the swap locations and you could encourage people to actually use the lights beyond the first time they wear through the first set of batteries.
Just an idea.
rob hawks
Thanks, Kent, for the info on the lights. (And sorry for misspelling your name.)
Janet
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