Random Acts of Brightness

Many people in our region do not own cars and ride bicycles out of necessity, making riding at night an unavoidable reality. A major safety concern we have in Cleveland is people on bikes riding around at night without adequate lighting on their bikes. One reason for this is that quality light sets and their replacement batteries can be expensive, and for a person on a limited income, bike lights may not be a priority….so we’re making it one of ours. While overhead street lights may be enough for the riders to see where they are going, an unlit bicycle is practically invisible to people in cars at night. Moreover, it is against the law to ride a bicycle at night without lights. According to the Ohio Revised Code, bicycles must have a white front light and red tail light visible from at least 500 feet.

In an effort to address this, Bike Cleveland members and volunteers took to the streets of last Tuesday equipped with hundreds of free bike lights looking for unlit riders to stop and give lights to as part of our Random Act’s of Brightness initiative. Forty-three volunteers covered neighborhoods ranging from Ohio City, Detroit Shoreway, Central, St. Clair Superior, Midtown and Tremont.

In two hours the group was able to giveaway 165 light sets to people on bikes, helping to make their evening commute safer and more enjoyable. While installing the lights, we made sure to educate the riders on pertinent laws, and gathered data with over one-hundred completed rider surveys. We will be scheduling additional random acts of brightness in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!