On Wed, 9 Sep 2009 09:49:33 -0700, notme wrote:

I ride at night in this neighborhood myself. It is almost perfectly
square and well laid out, so it is easy to take a street that is one
street off the main drag rather than go down the main two lane street.
I also use headlight and taillight usually on blinky mode and wear a
light colored shirt or top, at least.

The recent (decade?) preference for black in all attire doesn't help.

Neither does the fact that the cyclist mentioned by the OP had no
lights. I assume that most, if not all of the posters to this thread
live in the U.S. - is there no requirement in your legislation for
cyclists to carry lights after dark?