California’s largest bicycle advocacy conference welcomed Santa Ana students to the stage to describe how they organized and began a drive to make their city safer for bike riders and pedestrians
Maribel Mateo found herself having to ride her bike to school when the family car was damaged in an accident. The experience prompted her to initiate the forming of “Bike It! Santa Ana”, a youth-led group, in 2014. The group advocates for bike lanes protected from automobile traffic via barriers.
The story of Mateo and her group and their journey to making positive changes to conditions for those who use the streets to commute by bike was featured at the California Bicycle Summit. Working in conjunction with the Santa Ana Active Streets coalition, the students conducted a formal assessment of the city to determine where protected bicycle lanes were needed the most.
The bike friendliness of a city contributes to its overall appeal to those considering relocating. To improve a city’s image it makes sense to put in a request to its Print company to include any bike lane improvements in its literature.
The group prioritized a trio of projects to improve bike safety on Santa Ana streets but initially had trouble being taken seriously by City Council. Eventually, the persistence of Mateo and her group won over the scepticism of city officials and each of the three projects are now funded.
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