OCEAN CITY – Officials with the State Highway Administration (SHA) have expressed interest in supporting a bike light initiative championed by Ocean City’s Coastal Resources Legislative Committee.
Since last year, the committee, known as the Green Team, has actively worked on drafting an ordinance amendment and program that would mandate lights on all bikes traveling along all roadways in Ocean City. The idea is that visible lighting attached to the front and back of bikes would make traveling along the resort’s major corridors safer for bicyclists, including many J-1 visa students who bike to and from work during the summer months.
A favorable recommendation forwarded to the Mayor and Council, however, was sent back to the Green Team in November after town officials could not agree on some ordinance language and enforcement issues.
The Green Team, however, is moving forward with opportunities – including grant funding, church programs and partnerships with resort organizations – to get seasonal workers’ bicycles outfitted with lights.
On Wednesday, Councilman Tony DeLuca, chair of the Green Team, told committee members SHA had expressed interest in purchasing a portion of the bike lights. That, coupled with additional funding sources, would help the city to purchase sets of front and back lights.
“It looks like they may be willing to supply and pay for a large portion of the lights,” he said.
DeLuca added SHA has yet to commit to the program, but would be interested in hearing how the Green Team would ensure lights were placed on the bikes.
“They are worried about handing them to the students,” he said. “They are worried if they hand them to the students they might never make it on the bike.”
To that effect, representatives from various groups in and around Ocean City have pledged to assist the Green Team.
A representative of Ocean City Baptist Church present at the committee meeting on Tuesday said the church collects used bikes at the end of each summer, refurbishes them, and then redistributes them the following year.
She said the church could take the lights supplied by the city and place them on the bikes prior to redistribution.
“The bikes are then given out one night at the Baptist church …,” she said.
Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association’s Liz Walk, a Seasonal Workforce Committee member, said the committee could potentially install the bike lights during various safety and orientation meetings later this year.
“It would just be a question of overlap and whether or not they would get on the bike,” she said.
Ocean City Police Department Capt. Mike Colbert added that grant money given to the department could allow officers to install bike lights provided by SHA.
“We have to use that (money) for overtime, but we can use that overtime to put additional officers on the street specifically for bicycle enforcement,” he said. “Our enforcement can be a stop, a warning and a set of lights we can put on their bike, particularly if that’s the reason we are stopping them.”
While decisions have been made on what bike lights to purchase, Environmental Engineer Gail Blazer said the Green Team’s next step will be to create a timeline for securing funds and purchasing lights prior to the summer season. She estimates the city will need $15,000 to purchase 3,000 bike lights.
The Green Team will also look for additional ways to distribute the lights.
