Cycle Exeter targets riders without cycle lights… with a discount on lights

With the evenings drawing in, winter is definitely here. And when the clocks go back on Sunday it will mean even more longer and darker nights. Which is why Cycle Exeter is encouraging cyclists to be safe and easy to see this winter.

The Devon County Council-run organisation is targeting cyclists that ride without lights and launched Bright Up Week on Monday to encourage people that they do not have to put their bikes away just because it’s winter.

They want every cyclist to remember to wear bright, reflective clothes and make sure their bike has lights and reflectors.

Bright Up Week runs until October 30 (19-30 October), and Cycle Exeter, which forms part of the Freedom of Your City campaign, is offering a number of incentives to get more people onto their bikes.

They will include discounts on bike lights and free cycle confidence training. The discounts can be redeemed at Cyclerama, Partridges, Saddles & Paddles, Full Circle Cycles, Richards Bikes, Sidwell Cycles, Halfords (Exeter branches) and The Bike Shed.

There will also be Cycle Exeter cycle instructors with information and freebies at secondary school gates to help children be easy to see, so they can carry on riding in the winter months.

The scheme comes at a crucial time for Exeter, named as one of the country's first Cycling Demonstration Towns last year, as it reports a 20 per cent increase in the number of children now cycling to school regularly, compared with the UK average of just two percent, thanks to work done by Cycle Exeter and local schools.

Andrei Burton, one of Britain's top mountain bike trials riders and Devon County Council’s cycling ambassador, has been inspiring students with his school shows, and there have also been biking competitions, repair workshops, group rides and free ID stamping on bikes thanks to the police.

For more information visit www.cycleexeter.org.uk.