Free lights for the lightless in Kingston, Surrey

Readers of road.cc will know that we’re big on promoting safe cycling at night through the use of lights, reflectors and appropriate clothing.

We have also urged the government to do more to remind drivers that they need to be especially vigilant when it comes to vulnerable road users during the hours of darkness.

Cyclists who don’t use lights don’t help the cause and in Surrey, the Kingston Cycling Campaign (KCC) has recently attempted to tackle this issue and engage with lightless cyclists by stopping them and offering to fit their bikes with lights for free.

Jon Fray, a campaigner with the KCC explained: “We are well aware that there are some people who don’t use bike lights and we know this is a cause of friction between riders and drivers. People we gave lights to said that their lights had broken or they hadn’t got around to getting lights. We hope that by providing lights we can help to make cycling safer.”

The Campaign was especially pleased to help youngsters who were riding without lights on their BMX bikes. Jon Fray said: “We thought that it might be difficult to get lads who ride BMX bikes to have lights on their bikes, but we were pleased that they could see that we weren’t telling them off and wanted to help. We were pleased to find that the majority of cyclists – particularly people commuting by bike - already had bike lights and didn't need our help."

The KCC had raised money to buy the lights by running classroom sessions teaching people how to maintain their bikes. The Campaign was helped by Waldens Cycles of London Road, Kingston who supplied the lights at a reduced cost.