"A Great Ottawa Tradition"

Cool bike
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Lights on Bikes at the Cork Town Bridge was a resounding success
Lights on Bikes at the Cork Town Bridge was a resounding success

This year was Citizens for Safe Cycling’s 5th time that we organised “Lights on Bikes”, the brain child of Alex deVries, who figured we needed to organise something to get the word out on bike lights and safety. We realised that we need to use some kind of a ‘coat rack’ to hang the event on, which became the switch from Daylight Saving Time (not “Savings”) to the standard time (not winter time). Nancy Biggs came up with the name which has been a hit too.

“My brother was over from Toronto to do a couple of bike rides. We cycled two days of about 80 km and rarely did we have to share the road. He was blown away.”

Last year, we were freezing, but this year was -relatively speaking- warm. We noticed that the number of bikes passing must have been around 700-800 in two hours. We are not sure, as we didn’t count the totals, but given the fact that we gave about 900 bike lights away (450 front and 450 rear lights) and the fact that many have lights anyway (who we didn’t stop of course) I don’t think I am too far off.

Success

Which begs the question: what is success in this situation? Is it the fact that hundreds of cyclists now bike with lights through town? Or is it a failure in the bigger picture as obviously hundreds of cyclists were biking without lights. Let’s just not care. The feedback was super, we got a chance to talk to a number of cyclists and got some feedback like:

“I love this event, it is a great Ottawa tradition” – a happy cyclist

And to me, that sounds like a great slogan for the 2016 Lights on Bikes event. Here are about 20 pictures of the event. With thanks to Safer Roads Ottawa and Ottawa Police for the support, the volunteers who helped with attaching the lights and Felicity and Don for running the show for Citizens for Safe Cycling tonight. Thank Don for bringing the trailer out.

My colleague Paula on her way to Altavista
My colleague Paula on her way to Altavista
Cool bike
Cool bike
Steady stream of bikes from and to Cork Town Bridge
Steady stream of bikes from and to Cork Town Bridge
Great smile
Great smile
City of Ottawa staff helped out too
City of Ottawa staff helped out too
A trailer needs lights too
A trailer needs lights too
Safety jackets for the volunteers, it is Ottawa afterall
Safety jackets for the volunteers, it is Ottawa afterall
I like this photo for its blurriness, dad Scott McAnsh @SMcAnsh follows behind. (Lawyer specialising in municipal law).
I like this photo for its blurriness, dad Scott McAnsh @SMcAnsh follows behind. (Lawyer specialising in municipal law).
Still lots of lights available
Still lots of lights available
Nothing but smiles.
Nothing but smiles. On the left, Kathryn Hunt from Centretown Buzz fame.
It is getting darker.
It is getting darker.
Awkward positions sometimes
Awkward positions sometimes
Proudly showing off his new light
Proudly showing off his new light
There is Steve from the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library.
There is Steve from the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library.
Area councillor Catherine McKenney helping out for an hour.
Area councillor Catherine McKenney (left) helping out for an hour
This gentleman got one of the last of the roughly 900 lights we handed out
This gentleman got one of the last of the roughly 900 lights we handed out
There is the tandem with two grateful cyclists.
There is the tandem with two grateful cyclists
Lights for the bike and a light for the dog on the back
Lights for the bike and a light for the dog on the back
Thank you Don for bringing the the promotional trailer all the way from the other side of town.
Thank you Don for bringing the the promotional trailer all the way from the other side of town.
And all that gave us a first spot in a Twitter ranking service
And all that gave us a first spot in a Twitter ranking service, before Trudeau, Mulcair and Harper.

3 Comments

  1. Thanks, Hans. I rode by last week and enjoyed seeing the pictures you took of this wonderful event. All the best.

    From: Hans on the Bike To: cmontgomery02@yahoo.ca Sent: Wednesday, November 4, 2015 8:09 AM Subject: [New post] “A Great Ottawa Tradition” #yiv3938881229 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv3938881229 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv3938881229 a.yiv3938881229primaryactionlink:link, #yiv3938881229 a.yiv3938881229primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv3938881229 a.yiv3938881229primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv3938881229 a.yiv3938881229primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv3938881229 WordPress.com | Hans on the Bike – Ottawa, Canada posted: “This year was Citizens for Safe Cycling’s 5th time that we organised “Lights on Bikes”, the brain child of Alex deVries, who figured we needed to organise something to get the word out on bike lights and safety. We realised that we need to use some ki” | |

  2. Thanks for the light! My boyfriend got one through you guys for me and it was serendipitous since mine had fallen off and gotten run over a few days before.

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