#1
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Close call
If I were not a cyclist myself, I would have probably collided with a
guy one night earlier in the week. I was turning onto a busy residential street. It is pretty dark with lots of overhanging trees to minimize the benefit of what street lights there are. It was about 1 hour past sunset, so it was quite dark outside. Cyclist was wearing dark clothing and had no headlight on his bike. If I had not seen the movement out of the corner of my eye, I would have pulled out right in front of him. Luckily for him I was able to stop. The idiot would have had no way to avoid my car. 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. |
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#2
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Close call
On Wed, 9 Sep 2009 08:59:34 -0700, catzz66 wrote
(in article ): If I were not a cyclist myself, I would have probably collided with a guy one night earlier in the week. I was turning onto a busy residential street. It is pretty dark with lots of overhanging trees to minimize the benefit of what street lights there are. It was about 1 hour past sunset, so it was quite dark outside. Cyclist was wearing dark clothing and had no headlight on his bike. If I had not seen the movement out of the corner of my eye, I would have pulled out right in front of him. Luckily for him I was able to stop. The idiot would have had no way to avoid my car. 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. This goes for pedestrians, too. Driving at night it's difficult to make out someone from the rear with a "hoodie" up, hands in pockets, dressed in black tip to toe. |
#3
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Close call
On Wed, 9 Sep 2009 09:49:33 -0700, notme wrote:
The recent (decade?) preference for black in all attire doesn't help. This goes for pedestrians, too. Driving at night it's difficult to make out someone from the rear with a "hoodie" up, hands in pockets, dressed in black tip to toe. Remember the 60s? Neon-bright colours but all the road gangs and rail workers wore donkey jackets. Funny old world. Most of the problem driving round town at night seems to me to be caused by dazzle from oncoming cars. When there are no oncoming bright blue headlights I find it quite easy to see pedestrians whatever they are wearing. Guy -- http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/urc | http://www.nohelmetlaw.org.uk/ "Nullius in Verba" - take no man's word for it. - attr. Horace, chosen by John Evelyn for the Royal Society |
#4
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Close call
"Just zis Guy, you know?" writes:
Most of the problem driving round town at night seems to me to be caused by dazzle from oncoming cars. When there are no oncoming bright blue headlights I find it quite easy to see pedestrians whatever they are wearing. A problem I had as a car driver with modern fancy headlamps is that the region illuminated is so sharply defined that, coming down a hill, I'd get no illumination whatsoever of bicyclists up the other side of the dip. Twilight was especially awkward for that - I'd really have to slow down just in case. So, for suitable values of "bright blue headlights", they're a problem from both sides. (Lovely to see a thread that isn't widely cross-posted!) Mark |
#5
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Close call
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? |
#6
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Close call
On 2009-09-09, Andrew Price wrote:
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? AFAIK, headlights are required in all 50 states when *operating* a bicycle at night, but are not required as equipment on a *new* bicycle, so virtually no bikes come with them. Since bicyclists are often invisble to local law enforcement(literally as well as figuratively), no one really forces them to get lights. -- Kristian Zoerhoff |
#7
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Close call
Kristian M Zoerhoff writes:
AFAIK, headlights are required in all 50 states when *operating* a bicycle at night, but are not required as equipment on a *new* bicycle, so virtually no bikes come with them. Since bicyclists are often invisble to local law enforcement(literally as well as figuratively), no one really forces them to get lights. I'm not sure that it would help to require them on new bicycles: in California, all new bicycles are required to come equipped with reflectors on both wheels and on the pedals, yet many new bicycles are sold without them. -- Ben Pfaff http://benpfaff.org |
#8
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Close call
On Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:27:04 -0700, Ben Pfaff
wrote: AFAIK, headlights are required in all 50 states when *operating* a bicycle at night, but are not required as equipment on a *new* bicycle, so virtually no bikes come with them. Since bicyclists are often invisble to local law enforcement(literally as well as figuratively), no one really forces them to get lights. I'm not sure that it would help to require them on new bicycles Indeed. Most are not ridden at night, and adding cost would further deter people from buying (and hence riding) bikes. Guy -- http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/urc | http://www.nohelmetlaw.org.uk/ "Nullius in Verba" - take no man's word for it. - attr. Horace, chosen by John Evelyn for the Royal Society |
#9
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Close call
Ben Pfaff wrote:
Kristian M Zoerhoff writes: AFAIK, headlights are required in all 50 states when *operating* a bicycle at night, but are not required as equipment on a *new* bicycle, so virtually no bikes come with them. Since bicyclists are often invisble to local law enforcement(literally as well as figuratively), no one really forces them to get lights. I'm not sure that it would help to require them on new bicycles: in California, all new bicycles are required to come equipped with reflectors on both wheels and on the pedals, yet many new bicycles are sold without them. They do show up well a lot of the time. It would not have helped much in this case, since he was coming towards me at a 90 degree angle and no lights were shining on his pedals. |
#10
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Close call
Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
On Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:27:04 -0700, Ben Pfaff wrote: AFAIK, headlights are required in all 50 states when *operating* a bicycle at night, but are not required as equipment on a *new* bicycle, so virtually no bikes come with them. Since bicyclists are often invisble to local law enforcement(literally as well as figuratively), no one really forces them to get lights. I'm not sure that it would help to require them on new bicycles Indeed. Most are not ridden at night, and adding cost would further deter people from buying (and hence riding) bikes. Guy I personally enjoy riding at night by the starlight but that is me and it is way out in the country. I can hear a car from 2 miles (it is that quiet and isolated.). The light allows me to make about 12 to 14 MPH which is all I want anyway. The moon/stars let me go about 8 to 10 MPH but I sometimes get hit by a big pothole and crash. At 8 MPH in the weeds it is a laughing event, not a tragedy. In town I will leave the light on most of the time but there are some stretches where it is again not needed. I like batteries fresh for when I need them, hence I carry two AA cells for the camera and 4 for the head lamp, mostly to warn other drivers that there is someone ahead of them. Bill Baka |
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