Bicycle Friendly America Fall 2016 - 18

BICYCLE COALITION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA can give stats on how lights help reduce crashes, the value of wearing a helmet and other key points of bike safety. Distribute a bike safety/group identity card. Create a small business card or postcard-sized info sheet with basic bike safety information that includes your group's name, logo and website. It can also provide a web link to more safety info. This is yet another "hit" for this info (in addition to the safety spiel) and is an opportunity to educate the rider about your group. Accept donations to cover the cost of the light. Most people want to give. Have a donation jar available; this can be a source of one third or more of total funding. Work with local police departments. There are pros and cons to this. Pros for the bike advocacy group include enhanced program visibility, impact and resources. Cons include greater complexity and longer time to pull it together. Pros for the police department include the chance to make a positive impression by giving something away instead of a ticket. Develop clear expectations with the police that this program is about education rather than enforcement. Light giveaway programs can be used by police departments as the education component of an education and enforcement program. We also recommend asking the officers to get out of their cruisers (being pulled over by an officer in car can be intimidating) and to turn off the flashing lights. If bikers see the lights in the distance they often turn BICYCLE COALITION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA BICYCLE FRIENDLY BUSINESS away prior to interception. Invite the media. This can be a very media-friendly event. There are lots of good opportunities to interview bikers and for the bike advocacy group to get some media face time. It's important that you work with media outlets regarding location. (See "What not to do" section at the end of this article.) They need to embargo the time and location of the event. Do the giveaway a few times to learn the safety spiel, identify the location in your community that works best and generally get the kinks out of delivering this program. Then invite the media. Find a 501c3 non-profit tax sponsor. This can help secure a source of cash donations from people that can use a tax deduction and for getting grant money. Prepare the lights in advance. Remove lights from packaging, install batteries, etc. Place front lights and brackets in one box and rear lights and brackets in a second box. Find a restaurant that may be willing to donate pizza for light assembly parties. Build your volunteer database. Take names when giving out lights, it's a great source of volunteers who are enthusiastic to help. Bring Supplies: Have Phillips and flathead screwdrivers and scissors (to cut rubber gaskets when using smaller clamp for rear light) on hand. Make signs to hang on posts or trees advertising your free bike lights. Always show people how to take off the lights in order to prevent theft, it's the #1 reason lights go missing. Bike maps and other resources. Have available and offer additional resources such as bike maps, How to Commute guides, list of local bike laws and anything a curious biker may want to know. But don't just give valuable resources unless they are specifically desired so they don't end up in the trash. WHAT NOT TO DO: Announcing the specific time and location of the light giveaway. This attracts people who just want free stuff. These are often people of means, so the lights often end up going to people who don't need them. It's OK to announce a light giveaway campaign in general. 18 BICYCLE FRIENDLY AMERICA

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Bicycle Friendly America Fall 2016