💌 Love Philly? So do we. Let’s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today.
Daylight savings has come once again and brought with it that dreaded time of year, where you walk outside after a full day’s work and there is no longer any sun. For cyclists, this switch can sneak up on them, and many forget to equip their ride with the bike lights necessary to keep them safe during the commute home.
Luckily, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia has our back. Wednesday night, volunteers scattered around the city to hand out hundreds of free bike lights.
“I think a lot of us are a little bit unprepared for the moment,” said Uma McGuire, community engagement coordinator at the Bicycle Coalition. “(We’re) trying to make safe cycling accessible for everyone. Bike lights can be very expensive.”
“Wearing a helmet, staying visible, and being predictable are three of the main tenets that at the Bicycle Coalition we sort of educate our cyclists to stay safe,” she added
McGuire and her group of volunteers were on the sidewalk at 11th and Washington, calling out to bikers as they rolled by, asking if they’d like free lights. Many happily accepted.
“Free bike light?” one passerby called back. “Oh yeah!”
The lights have multiple flash settings, as well as the Bicycle Coalition’s logo. The volunteers handed them out in pairs, a white one for the front and a red one for the back.
“A lot of people are taking the lights,” said Miriam Pallant, a high school teacher and bicycle educator who works with the Bicycle Coalition and the Better Bike Share Partnership. “A lot of people are very excited, because they’re free. And I’ve seen a couple of people come by who have lights and say, ‘Oh, let me take one for a friend or a colleague,’ or ‘My bike lights just died,’ and people are appreciative.”
One of those excited people was Jonathan McDonald, who rode with his daughter Evy hanging out on the back. McDonald usually has lights, however, yesterday he had to use his backup bicycle.
“Right now we have a defective bike,” he said. “I have a front saddle seat for her, but that bike has a broken seat for me, and I haven’t fitted this one out.”
Still, he knew the group typically hands out bike lights around this time, and was happy to see them.
“It’s great,” he said. “I mean, it’s just promoting safety and awareness of biking culture, and it’s obviously to the benefit of the city as a whole.”
Evy, who is 10 years old, did not have much to add in terms of bike safety, but did want Billy Penn readers to know, “I like Burmese mountain dogs” and “I like squirrels, too.”
In total, the Bicycle Coalition gave out around 1,000 pairs of bike lights Wednesday. McGuire is hoping that they keep riders safe, and spread awareness of the coalition’s mission. The group said it hopes to expand protected bike lanes, among its initiatives.
“Philadelphia has some of the worst driving behavior recorded,” she said. “There’s several reports that agree with that, and I think anecdotally you can feel that. And we all deserve to arrive home safely. No matter if we’re biking, taking the car, taking the bus, we all deserve to get there safely and with dignity.”
