A Bicyclist-Friendly Massachusetts

No longer will we abide your riding in dark clothes, with no lights, no reflectors, and no warning to the drivers, pedestrians, and other bicyclists that you’re out there on the roads, paths, and trails. We’re on a mission to get you to brighten up!

Yes, we are the #LightsBrigade! As the sun sets earlier each day, you may find MassBike volunteers standing out on a traffic island of a particularly long stoplight, calling out with a friendly: “Hey there! It’s wicked dark, you need some bike lights... We’ve got some for you!” It may be a rainy night and you, hidden by the shadows and the sudden darkness at 4:30pm, will be glad to see us.

By putting front and rear lights on your bicycle, we’re here to keep you safe – and legal. In Massachusetts, our state laws regulate the types of lighting on a bicycle (requiring a white front light and a rear red light and/or rear red reflector), when lights must be on (a half-hour after sunset until a half-hour before sunrise), and the distance at which the light must be seen (from 500 ft away). You also are required to have reflective material on the front, back, and sides of your bicycle or clothing.

These statewide regulations make a lot of sense. Bicycles are considered to be part of traffic and are expected to behave just the same as all vehicles. We have standards by which all road users know what to look for at nighttime, and white/front and rear/red lights are safety features to make sense of a chaotic streetscape.

And more practically, being bright and visible is important to avoid crashes! Even though there are far fewer riders during the dark hours, more than 20% of crashes take place at night. Lighting on your bicycle prevents crashes (whereas helmets only prevent injury during the crash), so the #LightsBrigade is part of our #VisionZero campaign – the goal to get all crashes to 0. Adding to this, many night riders are commuters working late-night or early-morning hours, especially in the service industry, who may not be able to afford quality front and rear lights and are riding out of necessity.

So, what is MassBike doing?

We’ve been fundraising since the first of October to purchase lights to distribute around Massachusetts through our chapters and partner organizations. So far we’ve raised over $3000 (and counting!), with a goal of $5000 before the campaign is out. Of course a huge THANK YOU to all our individual donors, who have chipped in to cover the cost of the sets of lights – a donation of $10 gets a set of front/rear lights to a rider in need.

MassBike is on a mission to shine bright lights across the Commonwealth, and we won’t stop until every bike is lighted! Shine on, you bold bikers, and help us spread the light by joining the #LightsBrigade.

PS: And, just a final PSA, when riding on pathways or roads with oncoming bikers, please direct your lights down so you don’t blind them. Remember, if you can see the whites of the approaching rider’s eyes, your light is pointed too high!

Links:

• Visit our website!

July was a whirlwind of a month for MassBike, as our new executive director settled into the swing of things at your statewide bike advocacy HQ. We spent July expanding our clinics and classes, promoting biking to events with our bike valet program, and working with local police departments to distribute free blinkie lights for communities on Cape Cod. Amidst this work, we were stunned by the death of recreational cyclists in Nantucket and in Gill, and joined in round-table conversations with everyone from law enforcement to bike shops up to the mayor to deal with tack attacks in Newton’s bikes lanes. But along with the daily ups and downs of bicycle advocacy, I’d like to highlight three important components to our work which showcase some of the successes and challenges we face:

In the middle of the month, the MassBike team joined fellow advocates and planners in Fall River for a meeting of the Massachusetts Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board. After presentations on the strong work being done by the Fall River Bike Committee and the South Coast Bikeway Alliance, we gathered for a ride along the surprisingly impressive Quequechan River Rail Trail, which is currently a finalist for the Urban Land Institute Open Space Award, an international recognition!

Later in July, we co-hosted Tim Johnson’s Wachusett Fondo with the Minuteman Road Club at Wachusett Brewery. MassBike staff, board members, and volunteers from the newly formed Central Mass Chapter were on hand to grind some gravel and tackle a few monster hills, all in pursuit of a good post-ride beer. Thank you to all the riders who registered for the ride, which raised funds to support MassBike.

On the final day of the month, we were disappointed to learn that the legislative pursuits we’ve been tracking did not make it out of the House of Representatives in a formal session. Both An Act to Reduce Traffic Fatalities and a bill to ban handheld cell phone use while driving cleared their way through the Senate, but got held up in the House (along with many other worthy efforts this session). These powerful pieces of legislation are still alive and could go through an informal session this summer – or be picked up again in January. As one Representative told us, “the path of bills through Legislature is often unpredictable,” so we’re keeping our eyes on the prize here, we will continue to work with our friends to move through the channels of Beacon Hill. Please stay tuned for future updates and action alerts from our communications team!

Going forward, we have much to look forward to in August. We’ll be out celebrating biking in the North Berkshires BikeFest, out on the shimmering Cape Cod Canal, and in rolling hills of the Pioneer Valley. We’ll be running on-bike classes to teach safe and legal riding in communities that have instituted dockless bike sharing. And we’re gearing up for our Safe Routes to Schools work which will kick off again this coming fall.

And since we certainly cannot do this work as just a statewide coalition. Please visit our website to find out more about what our chapters are doing around the state.

See you on the roads and trails!

Links:

• Learn more at massbike.org