Ind. law requires bike bells

Standing in neon orange vests along the side of Bloomington’s B-Line Trail Monday afternoon, city volunteers eagerly approached three men approaching on bicycles.

“Would you like a bicycle bell?” one of the volunteers shouted to the cyclists.

One of the cyclists agreed as he came to a halt.

“Sure, I don’t have one,” he said.

As volunteers handed each of the cyclists a bell to be mounted onto their handlebars, another volunteer explained something they, like many other cyclists, did not know.

According to an Indiana state law enacted in 1991, all bicyclists must equip their bicycles with a bell or other auditory device capable of delivering a signal heard at least 100 feet away.

“One less way I break the law. Thank you, I will use it,” one of the cyclists said as the three resumed their ride along the B-Line Trail.

Although volunteers did inform cyclists of the state law, that was not the main reason they congregated along the trail on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“The idea, at least for our project, isn’t to play cops and bad guys here, we’re just trying to encourage people to promote courteous behavior,” said Vince Caristo, Bloomington’s bicycle and pedestrian coordinator. “This project, I think, fits in really well with Martin Luther King’s idea of serving others and thinking about others, not just yourself. Letting other people know that you’re there on the trail and thinking of their needs, I think it embodies one aspect of some of the messages he was trying to give.”

Kriste Lindberg, who works for Bloomington’s Environmental Commission, said it was originally her idea to offer free bells to Bloomington cyclists. Lindberg said she proposed the idea to the City of Bloomington Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Commission.

Once the project got rolling, The Project School, Bloomington Community Bicycle Project and the Bloomington Bicycle Club also joined the effort.

Through a $400 grant from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, volunteers were able to purchase 140 bells and hot chocolate, which was also offered to cyclists and pedestrians on the B-Line Trail.

While installing the free bells onto bicycles with Phillips screwdrivers, the volunteers encouraged cyclists to use them before passing pedestrians and other cyclists.

Andrew Greene was one of many cyclists to accept the bell installation when volunteers approached him Monday while he was on his way home from work along
the trail.

“I’ll probably use it, especially on the B-Line Trail,” Greene said. “There’s a lot of times elderly people who can’t quite hear you coming without something like that. I usually just shift, and most of the time they can hear me shifting and they get out of the way, but now I don’t need to shift anymore.”

Greene also said he was unaware of a state law mandating bells on bicycles.

“There’s so many laws on the books, it’s impossible to know what they all are,” he said.

Unlike Greene, not all cyclists eagerly accepted a bell.

“No thanks,” one cyclist said as he blazed by an approaching volunteer.

“But it’s the law,” the volunteer shouted back at the cyclist as he continued down the trail without return.

“Supporting bike riding really is a service to one of our great common resources, and that’s the quality of air,” said volunteer Daniel Baron, a school leader at The Project School. “It’s a small town, and now we have lots of great bike access, so we’re really encouraging people to park their cars and ride their bikes.”

Accompanying Baron on Monday was his 7-year-old grandson, Elijah Baron. Racing up and down the trail on his blue bicycle, he rang his newly installed bell.

“It’s important to have a bell so you can warn people you’re coming their way so you won’t run into each other,” Elijah said.

Volunteers plan to congregate along the B-Line Trail once again Feb. 24 to distribute the remaining bells. The project will continue into March if bells remain after February.