Bike OCNJ Distributes Free Lights to Ocean City Bicyclists

Ocean City students who rode their bicycles to school on today (June 13) found something different on their bikes for the ride home. While they were at school, volunteers from Bike OCNJ installed free bicycle lights for safe riding after dusk. Bike OCNJ added the small lights on elastic bands to all bicycles parked outside Ocean City’s three schools on Monday. They will return on Tuesday. The lights were placed at the front (white) and rear (red) of all bikes. Bike OCNJ is a group committed to bicycle safety and enhancing bicycle routes and amenities in town. People riding unlit bikes at night in Ocean City is one of the biggest complaints heard by the group and by Ocean City police. Clockwise from top left: Rachel Heist, Sgt. Brian Hopely, Tom Heist, Jennifer Heist, Drew Fasy. Tom Heist, a Bike OCNJ co-chair, worked with police, firefighters and local businesses to raise money for a couple thousand sets of bicycle lights. They will be made available to the public. The lights are free. They are available for anybody to pick up at the City Hall Welcome Center (Ninth Street and Asbury Avenue), the Route 52 Welcome Center, the Ocean City Police Department (Eighth Street and Central Avenue) and the Ocean City Free Public Library (17^th Street and Simpson Avenue). Bike OCNJ Co-Chair Tom Heist works outside Ocean City High School installing free bike lights on Monday, June 13. The lights are small, easy to attach or take off (just an elastic band), and include no logos or commercial insignia. The free bike lights include three modes: on, flashing and off Sponsors include the Ocean City Firefighters Association, Ocean City Police Benevolent Association Local 61, Ocean City Home Bank, Monihan Realty, Thomas H. Heist Insurance Agency, the Ocean City Education Foundation and Schools Superintendent Kathleen Taylor (personal donation).