3rd Annual Illumination Ride

From the email:

The third annual Illuminations Bike Tour will be held on December 15, a joint production of the Somerville Bicycle Committee and Somerville Arts Council. Please join us. Details are below and attached.

The guided group ride will be shorter this year so folks can spend more time looking at the lights and stay warmer. For those who would like to tour the longer route from last year, maps will be available. Those touring the longer route may continue after the short guided tour concludes, may meet with others at the suggested times below or tour the route on your own schedule with friends.

Please join us and happy winter solstice,
~ Brian Postlewaite [email protected]> (for the Somerville BIcycle Committee)

Illuminations by Bike
December 15, 2012

Guided Short Route
Meet Location: Somerville High School Main Entrance
Meet Time: 5:50pm
Departure: 6:00pm
Duration: 45 minutes, or less
Required: warm clothes & bike lights
Recommended: holiday lights, costumes & good cheer
Suggested: Donate $5 to the Somerville Arts Council
Afterwards: Hot drinks & treats at City Hall

Unguided Long Route
Maps: available at city hall, donation recommended.
Suggested Meet Times: 7:15pm & 8:30pm

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See And Be Seen

More awesome light awareness campaigns from A Better City, and Bikeyface:

Read more about this awesome campaign here (excerpt below):

People Who Bike

As bikes increasingly share the roads with motorists and pedestrians, awareness and visibility become all the more important. These tips will help:

Be predictable. “Be predictable and visible” is the mantra for preventing a bike accident.
Install lights.  A white light in front and a red light in back is the law, and highly effective at night and in stormy weather.
Use turn signals. Use your arms to indicate your intention to turn left or right, or if you plan to stop.
Stop at all stop signs and red lights.
Wear eye-catching clothing.  This is why I like biking in skirts!
Hone your Sixth Sense. Over time, cyclists develop an almost zen-like awareness of what’s going on around them. BikeyFace has a great post illustrating this.

People Who Drive

As Mayor Menino is fond of saying, the car is no longer king in Boston.  Here are some basic guidelines to help you be aware and stay visible in your vehicle. You can also try this fun awareness test video.

Use turn signals. Signals are imperative to communicate your intention to all road users.

Avoid cell phone use. Studies have found that talking on the phone while driving can have a negative effect “as profound as those associated with driving while drunk.” Texting while driving is illegal in Massachusetts.

Don’t stop in a bike lane. It’s illegal (unless you are parallel parking) and causes people who bike to veer around you into car traffic that may not expect them coming.

Check for oncoming bike traffic after parking.  The Dutch are taught from an early age to reach across their bodies to open the car door, which forces them to look back for oncoming bikes. It’s a good habit to get into! And remember: cyclists are allowed to bike outside of the bike lane.

People Who Walk

We’re all pedestrians after we’ve parked our bikes and cars – and when we’re taking the T. Be aware of your surroundings and make it easy to stay visible while you walk around town.

Be predictable. Follow pedestrian traffic signals. If you choose to jaywalk, make sure that there is zero approaching traffic in the form of motorists or people on bikes.
Avoid cell phone use. Cell phones can be as distracting on foot as behind the wheel, so why not sit at a park bench or wait until you’re not navigating precarious city streets to have a phone call?

People Who Lead

In a perfect safety world, our elected officials and city planners would enjoy multi-modal lifestyles to better understand the needs of our fellow road users. The Commonwealth has a premier example of this in our Secretary of Transportation Rich Davey, who lives car-free and routinely takes the T to work.

Under Davey, MassDOT recently announced a first-in-the-nation mode shift goal to triple the share of trips taken by bike, walking and transit by 2030. Government can play perhaps the largest role in creating safe road conditions by investing in infrastructure that supports safe interactions among people who walk, drive, and bike. Changing our streets will be well worth the time, investment, and continued advocacy.

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Convincing Cyclists To Use Lights

Its not only the law that you have a white front light and a red rear light, but its a good idea. I can’t tell you the number of cyclists I pass who are almost completely invisible because they only have reflectors. You need lights, they are vital to your safety. There is no other way to put it, you shouldn’t get on a bike at night without lights.

The Dutch as always are ten steps ahead of us.

I really like the light fairy and her dress made of lights. This could be done here with minimal planning, and cost. Set up shop at any of the many spots cyclists frequent, shine a bright light on them send out your light drones, suck them in and give them free lights. I would have really liked the BPHC spent 40K on giving out free lights, and free helmets than put up those horrible ads.

(thanks John for the heads up)

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This Looks Interesting, Also USE A LIGHT!

Dear everyone, lights, use em. Especially not that its getting darker sooner. For reals, I can’t even see you and I am on the bike right behind you. This goes for late night joggers/pedestrians as well. You don’t have to get a light up backpack, but please, LIGHTS!

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Get Your Light On!

Even though the light is better, you still need a red back light, and a white front light. Not only is it the law, it will save your bacon. Today I ran across an amazing, comprehensive, one stop shop review for all things bike light related. Check it out here.

Here is a taste:

Choosing a light can be a difficult task though – there are countless options to choose from ranging from cheap $3 flashers to blindingly bright $200 powerhouses. The internet already has some good comparisons of bike headlights, but there’s a surprising lack of comprehensive taillight comparisons, so I decided to make one. For science.

In total, I reviewed 16 different taillights from 8 of the top light manufacturers. I chose which lights to review based on a survey I conducted on the parent site for this blog – Bicycles Stack Exchange, a Q&A site for everything about bicycles, and also asked on Reddit’s /r/bicycling. The incumbent in this race is the Planet Bike Blinky Superflash. Everyone has this light (myself included). Not only is it the light most people own, it’s also the most-loved – 20% of respondents said it was their favorite. In terms of what people wish they had or are considering buying, the Planet Bike Superflash Turbo, Portland Design Works’ Radbot 1000 and Danger Zone, and the Niterider Cherrybomb were all high on the list. Many people expressed an interest in DiNotte’s lights, but unfortunately we were unable to acquire one for this review and the company declined to loan a light for the review.

I’m sure you’re all dying to know which light is the best, but first, let’s take a look at the contenders.

This review is so good it comes with a table of contents, check it out here.

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Illuminations Bike Tour

The Somerville Bicycle Committee and Somerville Arts Council will lead the second annual Illuminations bike tour on Saturday, December 17, 2011.

This is a fairly slow ride that goes by some of the most well lit houses in the city. The tour is about an hour long with many stops to chat and see the lights.

Details:

Meet Location: Somerville High School
Meet Day: Dec 17 2011
Meet Time: 6:00pm
Departure: 6:20pm
Required: warm clothes & bike lights
Recommended: holiday lights, costumes & good cheer
Suggested Donation to the Somerville Arts Council: $5
Afterwards: Hot drinks & treats at City Hall

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New Signs Encouraging People To Use Lights On South West Corridor

I have gotten multiple reports that there are big signs urging people to use lights at night (as well as reminding them its the law) on the southwest corridor. This is for sure the time of year when you need some good lights on your bike, be sure to have a white front light, and a red back light, and make sure they are bright!

Its things like this that don’t cost the city much money or effort that are going to be important in changing the culture of Boston. Little things do matter, thanks City of Boston!

EDIT: now with video! Thanks William!

He says:

Looks like the Boston police are enforcing light laws on the SW corridor bike path. I passed a flashing traffic sign that said, “Be Bright, Bike With Lights At Night, Massachusetts State Law”. Here’s a short video I took of the sign: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JxiN_pA6QE

The next time I passed through, there was a police car with lights flashing at the intersection. At Lamartine and Atherton, I think. A helmetless, lightless biker passed me on the path, and was flagged down, lectured, and probably ticketed by the cop.

Thought you’d like to know and maybe pass that on to your readers. Looks like the Boston police are serious about enforcing at least some cycling laws.

I doubt they were given tickets (I could be wrong) but they most likely were given a talking to, which is totally fine in my opinion.

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Bicycle Powered Christmas Tree

We should so do this here, if people want to see the lights they can pedal a bit.

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