Free bike lights distributed at Sac State

Mallory Fites

Sacramento State students on Tuesday evening received free bike light sets from the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates at the intersection of J Street and Carlson Drive.

Fifty head- and taillight bike sets were distributed at the “Bike Light Giveaway” which was a response to the recent death of a Sac State student bicyclist.

Senior psychology major Arlene Sasse was struck by a vehicle while crossing J Street on her bicycle in front of the university on the morning of April 1.

Sacramento Police Sgt. Norm Leong said Sasse did not have reflectors on her bike, which could have contributed to the accident.

“We hope that giving out lights will be one small step toward helping repair a campus that is torn over this disaster,” said Tricia Hedahl, executive director of Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates.

A “ghost bike” memorial has been set up for Sasse at the Sac State entrance. The memorial, surrounded by colorful flowers and candles, includes a photo of her playing the guitar.

Hedahl said people at the giveaway were designated to direct bikers, install bike lights and go over safety reminders.

Junior business major John Pacheco ran to the giveaway to get lights for his bike.

“With lights you avoid accidents like the one that occurred right here,” Pacheco said. “I probably won’t ride my bike that late at night and it’s probably going to affect my choices while biking.”

According to the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates, Sacramento has the highest number of bike fatalities among large cities in the state. Also, most bicyclist fatalities occur after dark, even though bicycling at night is far less common than during daylight hours.

The Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates aim to curb fatalities by making areas more visible during the high-risk hours.

Logan Robertson, junior communications major, said a lot of students bike to and from campus. Many students also take night classes, which makes bike lights all that more important.

At the giveaway event, bikers were reminded to have bike lights on after dark, not to ride against traffic and not to run red lights.

“The event is a small effort towards trying to right what happened,” Hedahl said. “When I talked to a marketing person at CSUS, she was very surprised at how seriously and deeply students care about Sasse who was hit and how much it affected the campus.”

She said the bike light event was an opportunity to do something meaningful and provide an immediate solution to preventing bike accidents in the future.