Bikers- Light up! Drivers-Be aware!On November 30th, Sam launched Portland's first Bike Light Parade at the Community Cycling Center. This parade kicked off our winter cycling safety campaign, "See and Be Seen." We brightened up a chilly Alberta Street Last Thursday with an array of bike lights, Christmas lights, reflective gear, glow sticks, and more. Although Sam's bike was bright enough to leave you seeing spots, he had some serious competition in the all of the "Best and the Brightest" contest categories. Any bike that arrived without proper lighting departed with a free set of front and back lights installed by Jeff Bernards, the founder and operator of the Get Lit campaign.
Last night was also the unveiling the "See and Be Seen" campaign logo that will begin showing up around town in mid-December. Tri-met is donating space on bus backs, bus shelters, channel cards, and bench backs for the next 8 weeks. The public service announcement is aimed at both drivers and bikers. The ads mean to remind drivers to ‘see' bikes and bikers to ‘be seen' by lighting up -- a simple concept that can have detrimental consequences if overlooked.
[0]Brightly colored cycles of all shapes and sizes rode down Alberta Street for the Bike Light Parade
The campaign has received enthusiastic support from the community. In addition to Tri-met [0]'s generous donation of advertising space, PGE [0], Hoffman Construction [0], NW Natural Gas [0], OHSU [0], and the Alliance for Community Traffic [0] (Acts Oregon) are all sponsors for the public service announcement. Many local bike shops are offering discounts on reflective and winter cycling gear for those who attend "See and Be Seen" events. The BTA [0], the Community Cycling Center [0], Shift2bikes [0], GetLit, and bikeportland.org [1] also deserve a big kudos for their participation and support.
[1]These signs can also be seen inside buses and bus sheltersLook for the "See and Be Seen" advertisements and for more bike light events. And more importantly, keep an eye out for bikes when driving and light up your ride when cycling after dark.
You can learn more about the kickoff by clicking on the "See and Be See" video link on the KOIN News 6 [1] website or through Katu News 2's [2] article on the event.