Bike Ambassadors Light Up Baseball Fans

Bike ambassadors had a ball giving out lights after Tuesday’s game at Nationals Stadium. The home team may have suffered a loss, but bike ambassadors saved the night with a major win for bicyclists leaving the game: free bike lights! In the district, bicycles are required to have a front white light and rear red reflector (or rear red light) after dark. See a complete list of bicycle laws and requirements here.   Nationals Stadium has provided a free bike valet service for fans who ride to games. The valet is a great way to attract riders who might not have considered biking to games, which is a great option considering that Metro cars are often crammed with baseball fans on game days. Since games typically start before the sun goes down, fans who ride to the stadium may not realize they will be riding home in the dark. About 80 percent of riders leaving last night’s game did not have bikes equipped with both rear and front lights. Not only is it the law to have lights on your bike, it also makes you more visible to other riders, drivers, and pedestrians. Being visible is key to staying safe on your bike! The goal of Tuesday’s lights giveaway was to raise awareness about bicycle safety and to encourage people to be as visible as possible while navigating D.C.’s streets. We passed out about 60 lights last night and had many more interactions with bicyclists about general safety. The bike ambassador team will be popping up at other places around the city, encouraging folks to be seen. Bike ambassadors made a tangible impact on the bicycling community by lighting up the streets! Funding for lights is provided by DDOT. Interested in getting involved with the Bike Ambassador program? Contact Megan McCarty, the D.C. Bike Ambassador program coordinator, at megan.mccarty@waba.org for more details.