New Bern Police Department starts campaign to increase bicycle safety

NEW BERN, N.C. (WNCT) — The New Bern Police Department is starting a new campaign called “Lights Up New Bern.”

It is a safety campaign for cyclists in the city. The initiative is an educational campaign to raise awareness and promote bike safety in the town.

The campaign will stretch throughout the city limits from Carolina Colours to Highway 55 and the Highway 43 extension.

{{MARQUIE MORRISON-BROWN //CAPTAIN OF NEW BERN POLICE DEPARTMENT}}
“Officers are going out there in the community. They may see an individual that does not have a bicycle light and offer them one of them,” Captain Marquie Morrison-Brown said. “Of course, anyone can refuse the bicycle light, but we would love to educate citizens about having that bicycle light and reflector on the rear of their bicycle.”

The department has about 50 lights and are slowly rolling the initiative out. “Well, I think one with the educational piece, I think it’s going to be tremendous,” Capt. Morrison-Brown said. “I hope to see and we want to see a reduction in pedestrian bicycle deaths and crashes across all of North Carolina. And I think this is one of the ways we here at New Bern PD can do that.”

Flythe’s Bike Shop is in support of the department’s campaign. “We need to be safe out there on our bikes. You need to follow the same rules of the road as a car,” Flythe’s Bike Shop Manager Mac Flythe said. “People are on their phones, are not paying attention on the road driving. So anything you can do, like a light, a flashing light, something like that, to get their attention is a great thing.”

This comes as Daylight Saving Time is soon coming to and end. “So when the days get shorter, there’s that period of time in the afternoon and evening between 5, 6 and 7 p.m. where it’s very hard to see anybody really walking alongside a road,” Capt. Morrison-Brown said. “So, we want to make sure that we encourage citizens to have appropriate habits going in the right gear and also to having the right equipment on their bicycles.”

The department said it wants businesses to help out with the campaign.

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