SLO Police to Give Away Lights

Vanessa Davis, SLO County Bicycle Coalition Director of Education, Will Benedict, President SLO Bicycle Club Board of Directors, Dave Abrecht Advocate SLO Bicycle Club Board of Directors and members of various SLO County law enforcement agencies posing with boxes of new lights to distribute. Photo submitted.
Vanessa Davis, SLO County Bicycle Coalition Director of Education, Will Benedict, President SLO Bicycle Club Board of Directors, Dave Abrecht Advocate SLO Bicycle Club Board of Directors and members of various SLO County law enforcement agencies posing with boxes of new lights to distribute. Photo submitted.

By Camas Frank

It’s “Bike Month” once again in SLO and in addition to the now traditional Rideshare programs to promote cycling and alternative transportation, the San Luis Obispo Bicycle Club and the San Luis Obispo County Bicycle Coalition are using the chance to try something new.
Light Up San Luis Obispo County is a new part of the region’s bicycle and pedestrian safety campaign. Using the internet tag “#LetsGetVisible,” SLOBC and the Bicycle Coalition have set about giving away a supply of bicycle tail lights using local police as distributors.
At a recent press conference, agency representatives announced that patrol officers from all local law enforcement agencies will give away a set of lights to “any person riding a bicycle at night without the legally required lighting equipment.”
Will Benedict, Bike Club president said, “This effort will help cyclists be lawful and more visible at night and greatly improve safety for all users of our roadways.”
Cal Poly Police Chief George Hughes said “the program will give our police officers a positive way to encourage students to comply with bicycle lighting requirements on and around our campus.”
Dave Abrecht of the Bike Club said the idea to support cyclists with support of the police, rather than have people be discouraged with tickets, came from a club member who saw a similar program work well in Chico, Calif.
In this case, one part of that college town’s culture was seen as worth replicating here and all of the law enforcement agencies approached agreed to participate.
The purchasing power to obtain a large number of the light sets came through collaboration with the Bicycle Coalition.