This Sunday we will “fall back” by setting our clocks to Eastern Standard Time. That means that a good portion of the afternoon rush hour will be done in darkness. Most drivers of cars and other motorized vehicles will simply flip or turn or pull a switch to turn their lights on, and everything will be illuminated in front of them.

But what about the bicycle commuters? They will be harder to see and at further risk.

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association and the District Department of Transportation are doing something for them by handing out free front and rear bike lights.

This Friday at the Suntrust Plaza in Adams Morgan (the corner of 18th Street and Columbia Road) the two groups will be handing out light sets on a first come, first served basis.

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If there are any left they will also be handing them out on Nov. 9 at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart at 3211 Pine St. NW. On each day the hours are from 5 to 7 p.m.

There are about 200 sets of lights to give away, so there likely won’t be enough for everyone, but it is a great start.

WABA will have copies of Safe Bicycling in the Washington Area guide in both English and Spanish.

This effort is especially aimed at the area Latino community, many of whom ride their bikes to and from restaurant jobs around the city into the wee hours of the morning.

Ad-free Bridge

After two months of planning and meeting and reviewing proposals the people that oversee San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge have decided not to allow advertising on the bridge.

The idea was to try to raise $3 million a year and to do so without an increase in tolls at the structure.

The Chronicle newspaper reports that they may still try to raise the money needed to maintain the bridge by setting up a donation Web site or by setting up a conservancy for philanthropic giving.

This process has likely been watched very carefully by cities and states around the country who are in the same shape as San Francisco: Aging infrastructure combined with fewer transportation dollars.

The problem is that there is a consumer backlash against having advertising plastered onto everything that they come in contact with.

We saw it just this week with the Boston “0 Radio” project and now with this. People would rather pay a little more so they don’t have to see a logo on everything they see and touch.

Questions, comments, random musings? Write to Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com