Student and Employee Accessibility Services — formerly Disability Support Services — will ramp up its campaign to tag bikes this year in an effort to educate students on the dangers of locking their bikes to railings and benches.
Benjamin Marcus '13, a member of SEAS' Campus Access Advisory Committee — which is comprised of students and University employees — said bikes left attached to railings and benches have "caused a lot of harm to people." Pedestrians who rely on railings cannot use them if bikes are in the way, which can pose a hazard, Marcus said. Last February, a blind student was injured by a bike attached to a railing outside of J. Walter Wilson.
"A lot of students are just not aware of the consequences of not locking their bikes up properly," Marcus said. "It's also just laziness."
In order to increase student awareness, members of the Department of Public Safety and SEAS have started attaching pink tags to bikes locked in places where they might be hazardous. The tags, designed by SEAS, describe the dangers associated with locking up bikes to railings or benches, list contact information for DPS and SEAS and remind the rider to register his or her bike.
"We are hoping that if enough Brown community members put these on bikes … it will encourage bicycle riders to take an extra moment to locate the nearest bike rack, use it and help keep stairways and ramps safe for all pedestrians," Jonathan Corey, SEAS's coordinator, wrote in an email to The Herald.
In cases where a bike poses an immediate threat to safety — for example, if it blocks a wheelchair ramp — DPS may cut the locks and remove the bike, according to Catherine Axe '87, director of SEAS.
In addition to the tags, SEAS has also been campaigning to increase the number of bike racks on campus, providing students with a greater number of safe places to lock their bikes. This summer, the University built several new racks, though Marcus said SEAS has yet to asses any difference in student behavior.
