Be.... Visible

doesnt really matter how much effort cyclists make to be seen, 50% of drivers are not taking a blind bit of notice, too busy singing along to the radio, using a mobile phone or talking to their passenger, cycle lanes should be on all main roads, but even then you get drivers driving and queueing at lights in the cycle lane

cyclists are traffic at the end of the day, like it or not, there are less idiot cyclists on the roads than idiot motorists, ive had 2 stupid women pull out right in front of me in the last 2 years, i ended up on one of thems bonnet, and all she was worried about was wether i scratched it, so i keyed her car in front of her, thats the bonus of not having a number plate lol
 
uvarvu said:
I have some reflective clothing and use a decent set of lights.
My issue is jaywalkers who simply step into the road in front of me without looking. I experienced several near misses riding in the City today.

The peds seem to assume that a road is safe to cross if the cars are standing. It's not!
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I think all road users in London need to look out for each other, peds are as bad as cyclists who are as bad as cars, but that's for another debate.
 
Siliconslave said:
i don't have any reflectors on my bike - i do however have a couple of good lights and reflective clothing. Might have to invest in some 3m reflective stuff as well:



:cool:

the crazy thing is you can now get reflective tape / fabric that's black without light hitting it.

also i'm so getting some of these when they come out:http://www.nightbrighttyre.com/
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Now Im a danger to all cyclists when im in the car, that picture made me blind.
 
On the pedestrian front the most interesting thing about that video posted earlier (other than the mental cyclists) was the pedestrians just randomly wondering in front of them when crossing the road. You don't normally do that with a car but so many pedestrians think it's fine to do it to a cyclist...
 
The world seems to have fostered a generation of clueless ***** in my opinion..

Just this evening, driving home from work at about 6.20pm, I live rurally so there's no street lights or fottpaths and I nearly mow down some dude dressed in black, no torch, no reflective wear at all and walking along the road instead of the verge at just gone rush hour.

People, as Jono says, go get some ****ing common sense before I have killing you on MY conscience for the rest of my life!
 
grudas said:
just a question for the drivers.. do you notice a light when it is attached to this part of the bike
as its quite low and i think drivers wont notice it..
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Short answer; No.

If the bike is turning, or the approaching car is coming around a corner, the light could be obscured by the bikes rear wheel, especially if its early in the morning in winter with poor visibility, and the driver is tired, or otherwise not paying attention.

Im not saying its right, but its a fact of life that should be taken into consideration, common sense if you like.

A far more sensible configuration would be something like this:

Untitled-25.jpg
 
now thats what i mean by placing my rear light low.. as i do commute with my BMX its just 10miles both ways but coming back home at around ~6.30pm during the winter is dark.. if i would place it down there.. it would be very low since the bmx is on 20" wheels.. i guess ill keep it on my backpack then :)
 
finga said:
doesnt really matter how much effort cyclists make to be seen, 50% of drivers are not taking a blind bit of notice, too busy singing along to the radio, using a mobile phone or talking to their passenger, cycle lanes should be on all main roads, but even then you get drivers driving and queueing at lights in the cycle lane

cyclists are traffic at the end of the day, like it or not, there are less idiot cyclists on the roads than idiot motorists, ive had 2 stupid women pull out right in front of me in the last 2 years, i ended up on one of thems bonnet, and all she was worried about was wether i scratched it, so i keyed her car in front of her, thats the bonus of not having a number plate lol
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I would be interested to see if you can maintain that attitude when you have a car parked on top of your head. ;)
 
mattyfez said:
I must say I notice the red rear flashers very easily, but not so much those bluish white front ones, but this particular guys were pretty dim. I'm not trying to justify not seeing the guy, it wasn't that much of a near miss, as when he caught me up at some traffic lights further down the main road, there were no dirty looks or abuse or anything, bit still, of was close enough to make me think "eek!"

But I think bright quality lamps can be more effective than a flashing lamp, especially if the battery is low, Basically, make sure you have good lamps and the battery is strong, as I don't want to hit a cyclist, any more than a cyclist wants to be hit!
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I went through all of last winter cycling... ick... grateful I don't need to do that again! I invested in 2 sets of lights, one a cheap LED set that I left on flashing and a high intensity set that were on constant... not to mention high vis tape on my rucksack and jacket... but the amount of people I had to growl at cycling without any on busy unlit back roads was scary.

I never used a cycle helmet though, off road fine... but I always figured that if you were going to be hit by a car doing 60mph a normal cycle helmet wasn't going to do a lot of good. And there was a study done - though I have no idea of the source showing drivers were more careful driving past cyclists with no helmet on than cyclists with!
 
Beren said:
I went through all of last winter cycling... ick... grateful I don't need to do that again! I invested in 2 sets of lights, one a cheap LED set that I left on flashing and a high intensity set that were on constant... not to mention high vis tape on my rucksack and jacket... but the amount of people I had to growl at cycling without any on busy unlit back roads was scary.

I never used a cycle helmet though, off road fine... but I always figured that if you were going to be hit by a car doing 60mph a normal cycle helmet wasn't going to do a lot of good. And there was a study done - though I have no idea of the source showing drivers were more careful driving past cyclists with no helmet on than cyclists with!
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To be fair, that is what I would do also, I dont live in a city and my commute is from one town to another, so its a mix of urban roads with streetlights and darker quieter roads.

The best bet for a cyclist is to make damn sure they are visible, at this time of year.
 
i know isnt it annoying when cyclist just pull out of nowhere or when your driving and they just pop out because of there low vistability

www.cyglo.com follow them on facebook and twitter :)
 
Driving last night at about 9 down a country lane and some tool was coming up against the flow on my side on a BMX with no lights. Very lucky I saw his silhouette. Unbelievable the risk he was taking.
 
Nearly got run over (i was walking :O) by a cyclist on the path wearing all black i literally couldnt see him and somehow he couldnt see my light grey hood...or wasnt looking.
 
You would think it would be common sense...

I'll be honest though, when I was 14/15 doing my paper round, I didn't have any high-vis attached to myself, nor was it advertised or recommended by the newsagent...However I did have lights on the front and back of my bike :p

And luckily not many people where on the roads at that time
 
david334 said:
i know isnt it annoying when cyclist just pull out of nowhere or when your driving and they just pop out because of there low vistability

www.cyglo.com follow them on facebook and twitter :)
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That's all very well and cool, but if people don't spend about £5 for some cheap and cheerful LED lights... they're not gonna fork out (presumably) £LOTS for those things.

(although I would love some) - but then I like to be seen.
 
Amp34 said:
On the pedestrian front the most interesting thing about that video posted earlier (other than the mental cyclists) was the pedestrians just randomly wondering in front of them when crossing the road. You don't normally do that with a car but so many pedestrians think it's fine to do it to a cyclist...
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This is the most annoying thing about cycling to/from work. Not just pedestrians, but cars too, and obviously cars are more likely to be fatal. They wouldn't pull out if I was a car or lorry or bus, why is it ok to do it to a cyclist?

Re lights: there is absolutely no excuse not to have them, I wish the police would do more to punish cyclists who don't have them. They're just as dangerous to us cyclists as they are to drivers.
 
Finally I'm seeing bikes with decent LED lights, although actually they are a bit too bright when pointed right at you. I just wish they would wear something yellow so I could tell the difference between a cyclist and a distant car.
Add in last nights rain and you've really got to stand out to be noticed.
 
As a teenager I never saw the point of lights on my push bike, I could cycle around without hitting anything, so what was the point?

When I started driving a car however I realised how stupid and naive I was to believe that I didn't need lights on my push bike and then realised the lights aren't for the cyclist, they're for other motorists on the roads to see you, not for you to see.

I've just started cycling again and have some decent Cateye lights which cost about £60 and I wouldn't dream of cycling without them in the dark.
 
anticonscience said:
Neither do I. The mind boggles as to how people think (or don't).
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You should take your own advice and think?

Who says they can't hear, it could be anything but full volume.
It is completely reasonable to assume have 1%(or low volume) and just hearing the song, is safe for riding on the road and hearing your surroundings.
 
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