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Safety Campaign Aims To Humanize Bicyclists

A local bicycle advocacy group aims to humanize bicyclists you may pass on the road, as a reminder to obey the rules of the road.
Bike BloNo has launched a campaign through billboards, bus advertising, yard signs and other media. It uses images of a local dentist, high school counselor and grocery store manager to put a face on those you might see on a bike.

President Stefanie Michaelis said drivers should give cyclists at least 3 feet and slow down when passing. Cyclists, she said, must be aware of vehicles around them too and should wear reflective clothing so they can be easily spotted by other drivers.

“It’s the same reason you wouldn’t want to run a stop light or a stop sign in a vehicle. You wouldn’t want to do it on a bicycle,” Michealis said. “On a bicycle, there’s greater consequences if somebody runs that stop sign and hits you.”

Michaelis added whether it’s on two wheels or four, inattention is the cause of the most accidents.

“It’s not worth somebody’s life to be distracted while you are driving and have an incident," Michaelis said.  "We’ve certainly had some incidents in town that were coming to very tragic ends because of some distracted driving or perhaps some aggressive driving because someone was impatient."

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Eric Stock is the News Director at WGLT. You can contact Eric at ejstoc1@ilstu.edu.
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