Why no lights on?
Discussion
Firstly, I'm not an anti cyclist but would really like to try and understand why so many cyclists ride around in poor visibility with no lights on - surely it can't be the price of batteries?
This morning when every car had lights on, I passed single riders and groups and at least half of the single riders had no lights on, were in black and virtually impossible to see. Others only had rear lights on, presumably thinking it only important for those coming up behind them but what about anyone planning an overtake and therefore heading directly towards a cyclist? Some of the groups only had the guy at the back with a light on.
All new cars must have running lights so why wouldn't a cyclist in anything other than bright sunshine put lights on?
It's not meant to be a rant but if it were me out there, I'd go as high vis as possible.
This morning when every car had lights on, I passed single riders and groups and at least half of the single riders had no lights on, were in black and virtually impossible to see. Others only had rear lights on, presumably thinking it only important for those coming up behind them but what about anyone planning an overtake and therefore heading directly towards a cyclist? Some of the groups only had the guy at the back with a light on.
All new cars must have running lights so why wouldn't a cyclist in anything other than bright sunshine put lights on?
It's not meant to be a rant but if it were me out there, I'd go as high vis as possible.
It's the same as silver car drivers who always seem to be the last to turn on their lights on foggy days... 'Well I can see so why do I need lights on?!'...
Personally I put at least my side lights on out of habit and when I ride I run two rear lights, one steady, one flashing and my front light is set to pulse. I've found that the pulsing front light has almost eliminated incidents of being pulled out on, especially at round abouts!
Personally I put at least my side lights on out of habit and when I ride I run two rear lights, one steady, one flashing and my front light is set to pulse. I've found that the pulsing front light has almost eliminated incidents of being pulled out on, especially at round abouts!
Downward said:
I use lights in "daylight"
Still had someone pull out on me as he didn't see my flashing front light.
Yep any weather where a car would have side lights on means that I have my lights on. I will also have them on when there is a low sun that could cause visibility issues.Still had someone pull out on me as he didn't see my flashing front light.
Like you I still had a car drive right through me when I was waiting at a junction to turn right. I don't know how she didn't see me.
I was out ding last week and you couldn't believe how many idiots were driving round in the fog with no lights on.
I also never understand why other cyclists:
a) Wear black (it may be flattering to there gut, but it's no good when they're dead)
b) Have no lights
There are lots of idiots on the road on two wheels and four.
All you can do is make sure you do your bit to stay safe and lookout for the others!
I also never understand why other cyclists:
a) Wear black (it may be flattering to there gut, but it's no good when they're dead)
b) Have no lights
There are lots of idiots on the road on two wheels and four.
All you can do is make sure you do your bit to stay safe and lookout for the others!
I accept, as a car driver, that many other van/car drivers are complete idiots when it comes to using lights. It's certainly good to see some cyclists with good lights and reflective jackets etc but, as has been highlighted above, I really don't understand the [far too many] who ride along with no lights on at all, invariably dressed in black. I don't want to be the one who simply doesn't see them - and I doubt they want to get hit - so how do we get through to them ?
Even without any cycle lights, a good reflective jacket is well on the way to ensuring that a driver will see them - is it really that difficult ?
Even without any cycle lights, a good reflective jacket is well on the way to ensuring that a driver will see them - is it really that difficult ?
I'm guessing this was originally posted outside of Pedal Powered given the general tone of anti-cyclist comments.
I'll counter - why are they so many f
kwit drivers driving round with no headlights on in poor weather conditions, or after dark when they forget that although they have DRLs on the front they have no rear lights?
I'll counter - why are they so many f
kwit drivers driving round with no headlights on in poor weather conditions, or after dark when they forget that although they have DRLs on the front they have no rear lights?g7jhp said:
I was out ding last week and you couldn't believe how many idiots were driving round in the fog with no lights on.
I also never understand why other cyclists:
a) Wear black (it may be flattering to there gut, but it's no good when they're dead)
b) Have no lights
There are lots of idiots on the road on two wheels and four.
All you can do is make sure you do your bit to stay safe and lookout for the others!
Yup!I also never understand why other cyclists:
a) Wear black (it may be flattering to there gut, but it's no good when they're dead)
b) Have no lights
There are lots of idiots on the road on two wheels and four.
All you can do is make sure you do your bit to stay safe and lookout for the others!
Some guys in the office think im going a bit overkill...
- hi-viz jacket
- 2 front lights, 3 rear and a front and rear helmet light
- 3 packs of clip on spoke reflectors -basically every spoke
- stick on reflective tape on the frame
MyPasswordIsntSecure said:
Yup!
Some guys in the office think im going a bit overkill...
Well done ! - more like that please.Some guys in the office think im going a bit overkill...
- hi-viz jacket
- 2 front lights, 3 rear and a front and rear helmet light
- 3 packs of clip on spoke reflectors -basically every spoke
- stick on reflective tape on the frame
Robertj21a said:
I accept, as a car driver, that many other van/car drivers are complete idiots when it comes to using lights. It's certainly good to see some cyclists with good lights and reflective jackets etc but, as has been highlighted above, I really don't understand the [far too many] who ride along with no lights on at all, invariably dressed in black. I don't want to be the one who simply doesn't see them - and I doubt they want to get hit - so how do we get through to them ?
Even without any cycle lights, a good reflective jacket is well on the way to ensuring that a driver will see them - is it really that difficult ?
Is it that difficult for someone to go to Halfords and pay £15 to get a broken bulb replaced? Apparently so given the number of people I see with just one headlight, even on unlit county roads even in poor weather. If some people can't be bothered to keep their car legal they won't be bothered to do things like wearing visible clothes or lights when not legally required. Personally I always buy bright tops, have retro reflective stuff on my bike and gear, have two rear lights that I use most of the time and get my cars lights fixed immediately. Many people just want to get where they need to go and don't think about anyone else. Same people who stand in the way of train doors or put their bag on the seat next to them and won't move when the bus is full.Even without any cycle lights, a good reflective jacket is well on the way to ensuring that a driver will see them - is it really that difficult ?
Dog walkers and suicidal nocturnal ramblers! Why no lights/reflective clothing?
Seriously. There's a gravel hill where I can reach over 30mph on a MTB, and I've got 700 lumens plus out the front and I'm in a bright yellow jacket, all lit up like fking Blackpool seafront. Yet I get some lunatic red socked rambler standing his ground right in the middle of a track wide enough for the army to get their biggest wagons down it, yelling at me for riding too fast??? Jeez dude! If you've seen me coming from far enough away to attempt to block the path, and shout me down, then you could just as easily have stepped out of the way.
Proper answer to the question? I have no idea. My front light is charging (usb rechargeable) right now, ready for my next ride. My rear lights are a mix of usb rechargeables (x 2) and a back-up, less bright lamp with rechargeable AAAs, plus a pair of spare batteries for it. I keep my reflectors fitted to the bike, and have spoke reflectors and velcro-fastened arm and leg reflective strips. I genuinely do not understand why anyone would ever go out without at least a brightly coloured top on, but I regard lights as an essential, even if I'm heading out for a daylight ride in the summer. I might not use them, but I always have at least one front and one rear lamp with me.
As a 6,000 mile per year cyclist, I also like to try to be helpful to other riders, even if I'm in the car. I've helped with punctures, even given rider and bike a lift a couple of times. But try pulling up alongside someone with really dim, or no rear lights, and explaining to them that they're making it difficult to spot them on the road. I reckon about 20% will be grateful you pointed it out, 30% will just ignore you or dismiss your 'advice', and 50% of them will give you a mouthful of abuse for daring to even speak to them. "I'm one of 'you' FFS! - I'm just trying to help!"
I think some people are just willfully stupid. That applies as much to cyclists out without lights as it does to 'cyclops' car drivers. What we need is an even-handed police crackdown on RVLR/C&U offences. Fixed penalty notices handed out like smarties to errant drivers and cyclists alike. There's enough education and advice out there already, but some people choose to ignore it. Hit 'em in the pocket and they just might be discouraged from offending again...
Seriously. There's a gravel hill where I can reach over 30mph on a MTB, and I've got 700 lumens plus out the front and I'm in a bright yellow jacket, all lit up like f
king Blackpool seafront. Yet I get some lunatic red socked rambler standing his ground right in the middle of a track wide enough for the army to get their biggest wagons down it, yelling at me for riding too fast??? Jeez dude! If you've seen me coming from far enough away to attempt to block the path, and shout me down, then you could just as easily have stepped out of the way.Proper answer to the question? I have no idea. My front light is charging (usb rechargeable) right now, ready for my next ride. My rear lights are a mix of usb rechargeables (x 2) and a back-up, less bright lamp with rechargeable AAAs, plus a pair of spare batteries for it. I keep my reflectors fitted to the bike, and have spoke reflectors and velcro-fastened arm and leg reflective strips. I genuinely do not understand why anyone would ever go out without at least a brightly coloured top on, but I regard lights as an essential, even if I'm heading out for a daylight ride in the summer. I might not use them, but I always have at least one front and one rear lamp with me.
As a 6,000 mile per year cyclist, I also like to try to be helpful to other riders, even if I'm in the car. I've helped with punctures, even given rider and bike a lift a couple of times. But try pulling up alongside someone with really dim, or no rear lights, and explaining to them that they're making it difficult to spot them on the road. I reckon about 20% will be grateful you pointed it out, 30% will just ignore you or dismiss your 'advice', and 50% of them will give you a mouthful of abuse for daring to even speak to them. "I'm one of 'you' FFS! - I'm just trying to help!"
I think some people are just willfully stupid. That applies as much to cyclists out without lights as it does to 'cyclops' car drivers. What we need is an even-handed police crackdown on RVLR/C&U offences. Fixed penalty notices handed out like smarties to errant drivers and cyclists alike. There's enough education and advice out there already, but some people choose to ignore it. Hit 'em in the pocket and they just might be discouraged from offending again...
Your Dad said:
I'm guessing this was originally posted outside of Pedal Powered given the general tone of anti-cyclist comments.
I'll counter - why are they so many fkwit drivers driving round with no headlights on in poor weather conditions, or after dark when they forget that although they have DRLs on the front they have no rear lights?
I posted this in pedal powered from the off. Completely agree about car drivers but I think there is one subtle difference. Most car drivers are driving through necessity i.e. it is not seen a leisure pursuit and I think that breeds a certain complacency (or plain stupidity when it comes to lights), whereas cyclists have made a choice to go out and have possibly spent more proportionally (and perhaps literally) than many spend on cars which to me (note just my opinion)suggests that they have made an informed choice about going out for ride, what to wear etc. Hence why I'm so surprised about no lights on so many, even when the actual lamps are on the bikes. I'll counter - why are they so many f
kwit drivers driving round with no headlights on in poor weather conditions, or after dark when they forget that although they have DRLs on the front they have no rear lights?As it is now a legal requirement for cars to have DRL,s perhaps bikes should be the same?
As for car driving idiots, they are at least surrounded by something large and metal, so if someone doesn't see them and hits them they stand a chance of survival.
Harleyboy said:
I posted this in pedal powered from the off. Completely agree about car drivers but I think there is one subtle difference. Most car drivers are driving through necessity i.e. it is not seen a leisure pursuit and I think that breeds a certain complacency (or plain stupidity when it comes to lights), whereas cyclists have made a choice to go out and have possibly spent more proportionally (and perhaps literally) than many spend on cars which to me (note just my opinion)suggests that they have made an informed choice about going out for ride, what to wear etc. Hence why I'm so surprised about no lights on so many, even when the actual lamps are on the bikes.
As it is now a legal requirement for cars to have DRL,s perhaps bikes should be the same?
As for car driving idiots, they are at least surrounded by something large and metal, so if someone doesn't see them and hits them they stand a chance of survival.
Oh, how we've all been taken in.As it is now a legal requirement for cars to have DRL,s perhaps bikes should be the same?
As for car driving idiots, they are at least surrounded by something large and metal, so if someone doesn't see them and hits them they stand a chance of survival.
Initially I took this thread, and the question, at face value. But you just lost any and all respect I had for you.
Necessity? Don't make me laugh. Most car journeys are short, and not necessary AT ALL. I walk to the newsagent across a footbridge. My neighbours mostly drive over a mile to get there via the nearest road bridge. To walk it's literally 500 YARDS. Commuting? Bicycles, buses, trains are all readily available. Believe it or not you can walk, too.
Few "leisure pursuit" cyclists ride in the dark. Because it's not fun, and part of the joy of leisure cycling is seeing the world around you from a different angle, at a slower pace. So I'd strongly disagree about them making an informed choice about going out. They're highly likely to be commuting just the same as car drivers.
Don't be surprised about lights being off, even when you can see them on the bikes. Cyclists are more likely to be caught out by battery failure than drivers are likely to be caught out by complete lamp failure all over the car.
'DRLs' for bicycles?
It's not that they're impossible to have. With a modern dynamo and LED lamps they're easily achievable. But a lot of those 'nodders' or 'commuters' you see on bicycles are on very cheap bikes, from the likes of Sports Direct, Argos or Tesco. These are NEVER going to be equipped with expensive permanently 'ON' dynamo systems. Then there's a battery based system? Simply don't replace the batteries and it no longer functions. And mountain (or simply 'off-road) bikes? They might never see tarmac, only trail centres and paths away from roads, taken there and back on a car. They would be exempt from any 'DRL law' just the same as a MotoX motorcycle is. The law as it stands doesn't even require a daytime cyclist to own a set of lights back home in the kitchen drawer. It's totally unworkable, based on the fact that there's a thing called "Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations" (which incidentally also covers bicycles
) which fails to prevent dozy drivers from driving around all the way up to MOT day with failed lamps all over their vehicles, and similarly fails to prevent idiots in murky grey metallic cars from skipping merrily off to the motorway in sub 100 metre visibility on a foggy morning with absolutely no lights on at all. There's also the legacy issue with any new lighting laws. Just as it is with classic cars, and even some relatively modern ones, new regulations can not apply to them. DRLs, seat belts, fog lights? So introduce a new law for new bicycles and what happens? Riders stop buying these heavier, more expensive bikes, the retail bicycle industry in the UK collapses, riders just keep riding older, exempt bikes, and potential new cycle commuters might be put off to the extent that they just commute by car instead. Then ALL drivers suffer as congestion increases, there are net costs to the economy locally and nationally, and pollution goes through the roof.As for your last sentence? That seems to defend/justify drivers being idiots. If that's not your intent, then I apologise, but it's how it reads. Try being so generous when someone you know and love is hit by a driver in a vehicle with no lights on because they pulled out, or worse, stepped out in front of something they couldn't see.
I genuinely believed this could be an honest, unbiased question. But it's simply another thinly veiled anti-cyclist thread that we can now see through. You clearly have no insight into why people make a decision to ride a bike. For many it is no choice at all. My son cannot afford to learn to drive, and definitely cannot afford to run a car. He needs to get to work in the next town. There are buses, and trains that'll get him there. But timetables are against many of his shifts. The bus adds nearly an hour to each end of his working day, the train runs more often but he relies on a bus to get him to the station. Then if he finishes a shift at 10pm (which he will do three days this week) the buses have stopped running. He could walk, but it would take well over an hour and he's on his feet for a ten hour shift so not ideal. Cycling is probably his most viable solution, but would take him down a relatively narrow 50mph road that is chockers with impatient sociopaths in their metal boxes. He'll have lights, of course. I'll make sure of that. But unless you're volunteering to give him a lift there, and back, then he he has no real alternatives to the bike from which to make an "informed choice".
Many, many car journeys are made to get to and from "leisure pursuits". Shopping, the gym, the nail bar, the coffee shop, bars, restaurants, the cinema. Even "just going for a drive". NONE of those pursuits is NECESSARY. AT ALL. I firmly believe that your argument for cars/against bikes has fallen flat on it's arse at the first examination. Over to you...
Couple of things..
And yes, seeing a fellow cyclist in black with no lights in the fog gets on my tits too.
Your Dad said:
I'll counter..
Why? Why the need for counter? It's this attitude that creates the stupid, pointless and circular schoolboy playground us vs them arguments. Get used to the simple to understand fact that a certain % of people are bell-ends whether they're riding a bike, driving a car, walking a dog or walking in red socks and a wooly hat.Harleyboy said:
Most car drivers are driving through necessity...
That may well be the case, however what I would say is that a fair amount of car drivers and people who take the bus only do so because they cannot be arsed to walk or ride to work, which is why the use of both rockets when it gets "a bit nippy". Not having a go at all, we've all done it, it's just the bit about their own personal choice I believe is still there in a good %. There are plenty of people on here who cycle to work way farther than the average commute (I'm not one of them btw).And yes, seeing a fellow cyclist in black with no lights in the fog gets on my tits too.
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