INDIANAPOLIS — In the fall, motorists are told to watch out for school buses. In the winter, drivers are reminded to share the road with plows. Now that spring has arrived, cyclists in Indianapolis are asking drivers to watch out for bikers.
“Now that the weather is getting nice, people are riding more (than) during the winter,” said Bike Indianapolis’ Tommy Kube. “It’s certainly darker during the winter, but we want to make sure that we can get people seen when they are out riding.”
Kube is on a mission to keep bicyclists crossing the city safe. Thanks to grant money and fundraisers, his organization is giving away 300 bike lights to help make sure people on two wheels are visible to people with four.
“Most people are trying to be courteous, but they genuinely just might not see you, and it is important to be seen,” Kube said.
Kube and a team of volunteers spent Saturday at the East 38th Street library branch giving away free lights, helmets and information. The location of the giveaway was set along the newly built IndyGo Purple Line, which not only created a dedicated bus lane, but a separated bike path, which brings a lot of cyclists to the library.
“I mean, the reason they improved service along this area is because there is a large transit-dependent population that might not have access to a car at all times, and bike riding goes hand-in-hand with that,” Kube said. “And so now that they’ve built it, we know that people are going to be using it, and we just want to make sure they are doing it safely.”
While cyclist should make themselves visible, people in cars have a duty to share the road and follow laws created to protect bikers and pedestrians, including not turning right on red, stopping at the line of arrows when someone is using a crosswalk and following Indiana’s 3-foot law when passing someone on a bike.
“When you’re passing a cyclist, you’re allowed to cross the double yellow if nobody is coming the other way to pass around a cyclist,” Kube said. “But you need to give at least three feet between the cyclist and the passenger side door.”
Bike Indianapolis has a bike guide laying out the recommended bike path and bike lanes across the city. You can find the guide online or at Bike Indianapolis’ next light giveaway — March 15 at the Garfield Park library branch from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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