Dublin Cycling Campaign have this year once again been out on the streets of Dublin handing out RSA and Dun Laoghaire Council supplied bike lights to ‘unlit’ cyclists. This Light Up Your Bike campaign highlights the need for cyclists to have working bike lights on these dark winter nights, but also to ensure that they are not subject to the standard ‘on the spot’ 40 Euro fine for having no lights.

Over the past month we have handed these lights out to cyclists at locations in Dublin City, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown and South Dublin, and the campaign has been a great success. Just in the past week, as you will see from the images above, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Paul McAuliffe - who himself is an avid cyclist - came out on his mayoral bike, supplied to the mayor’s office by Dublin Cycling Campaign, to hand out lights with campaigners at Christchurch Place in Dublin. His mayoral chain certainly attracted possibly greater interest and engagement, and we were delighted to be working with him. In less than an hour we had distributed over 250 sets to cyclists. Thanks also to Councillor Shay Brennan, Chair of Dun Laoire-Rathdown Council, who joined us in Clonskeagh early on.

This campaign has been mirrored in other cities by campaigners in Cork, Limerick and Galway also getting out there and engaging with cyclists. They all say that it has been a very positive experience, both in terms of meeting other cyclists and finding out the issues that affect them. And we shall be out again in Dublin in the New Year with our final distribution of free bike lights. Watch out for us!

A special thanks to Leon Giblin for photos.