I haven't been able to get to updating our safety blog because I was so busy with our fantastic new design. (The design is by 1choiceforYstore. they are also working on matching our blog to the design as well). I was reminded about my blog by the following picture.
Unfortunately last night a man biking was hit by a car on Rt. 9 in our town Lakewood NJ. As you can see in the picture the only
reflectors or
lights on the bike are the small reflectors that are on the spokes most probably from the bike manufacturer. This made me think of a couple of things that I would like to share with our readers.
About 5 yrs ago we added a line of affordable
bike lights to our store and this is the reason for it.
There are people that have or can afford cars but are cyclist because it is their hobby or their passion. These people are more likely to spend the money on a good bike and safety equipment. There are also many more bikers who buy an inexpensive bike from walmart or a used bike from the flee-market or a yard sale. They buy the bike because they really need it for transportation because they can not buy a car for what ever reason (too young, not a US Citizen or just simply can't afford it). Unfortunately they don't usually bother with visibility wear. We have tried to give them the option of spending under $10s and being highly visible. I see many bikers in town with just our basic
reflective belt (which the county has given out a couple of times for free) and it makes a world of a difference.
There is a really nice guy that lives not far from us, he is actually a senior citizen and he has a wonderful safety project. He comes to us every now and then and buys our highly visible
reflective tape in red and white and our
spoke reflectors. When he is driving around Lakewood and notices any bicycles on side walks or chained to a post or rack, he goes over in his quiet way and puts red reflective tape on the back of the bike and white tape on the front and spoke reflectors on the spokes. With these small acts of kindness who knows how many people he has saved from harm.
I hope you liked this post. Please feel free to share with us your experiences with bikers being visible and safe.
DontGetHit.com
2 Comments:
This is so true. I too live in the NY/NJ metro area and see many people using bikes without proper reflectors or lights. By offering affordable lights nearly everyone can be safe out there. Really I would rather see someone invest in lumination than fancy saddles or pedals. I use my bicycle lights even during the day and know they make a difference because cars stay far away from me! Keep up the good work. Dr. M Editor of Xtreme Xtraining
Safety light Bicycle Lights and reflectors can really save someone from injury or worse. Bicycle lighting the visibility of the bicycle rider to others in dark conditions, i.e. to increase the rider's conspicuity and to enhance the ability of the rider to see, illuminating the way forward. Both reflectors and active lights are used to make the rider more visible.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]