great idea!

Yeah but then I realized that at $10 a pop (or thereabouts), I could only afford to hand out so many

Headlamps for 10 bucks? Is that what they are? Oops.

I was thinking rear lights would be more important

yeah. unfortunately the cost deters the do-gooding. A friend of mine usually throws a holiday party once a year and asks folks to bring a donation of winter gear to go to the shelters... maybe I should throw a holiday party and ask people to donate saftey gear! ohhh or maybe a stuporbowl after party could solicit donations of headlamps/rearlamps/helmets/reflectors/etc!!! oh the ideas!

I am always hoping for a Light Up the Night program like SF did.

I'll be around starting November 1 and am willing to put in some work to get an event or group running with some of these ideas.

Tabling at the entrances of bridges in NYC and handing out lights has worked well. I would assume bridges and the greenway would be a good place to start even if it just to get literature out.

I needed that. Thanks Rick Smith.

I've thought about this idea as well, and give up after realizing the cost. Though, instead of lights, I wonder if something like this could be bulk-purchased at a reasonable cost?

$2.99 reflective vest on Ebay

I also think, as cold weather approaches, that mittens and scarves would be good gear to hand out to under-equipped cyclists. It would be another positive way to engage other cyclists in a discussion about safety. (I've found that critiquing cyclist's bad behaviors doesn't work so well.)

-ryan

i'm gonna grab a couple of these and see how they are... I've had some good luck with stuff from these guys before.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3651

I suggested that it was headlamps in question as those are what are required by law. Taillamps are optional, but a reflector is not.

Reflective vests are a good idea and probably more effective than a rear reflector.

They have reflective vests for pretty cheap at Ax-Man.

While I think reflective stuff works, it isn't a substitute for a light because it requires the car's lights to illuminate the reflective material.

I've seen a bunch of bike helmets at the Salvation Army store over on University (Saint Paul) for under 3 dollars. (Some are .99 each!)

Usually a pretty good selection there.

Also, I don't think that people are likely to wear reflective vests because of the dork factor. Instead of just handing out lights on the greenway, it might be good to organize a day that people could stop by a location on the greenway to have a light installed for free. I imagine that a free light could sit unused in someone's house for quite a while before they get around to installing it.

Thats a great idea..We could probably get the city do fork out lights during one of their bike/walk to work days.. They were handing out blinky lights last year (or maybe the year before)..