With the clocks going back this weekend, Cycling UK is urging motorists to slow down when they are driving towards the sun.
The national cycling charity says that “dazzling sun” was cited as a contributory factor in the deaths of 17 cyclists in 2020, compared to four the previous year.
Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK’s head of campaigns said: “A four-fold increase in deaths with a contributory factor of ‘dazzling sun’ is alarming and could be avoided by driving more carefully.
“Cycling UK would encourage anyone dazzled by the sun to drop your speed, and where appropriate and safe to do so, stop until they have clear visibility of the road again.
“The last thing anyone wants to do is to cause another person’s death due to being dazzled. Please take appropriate precautions, and keep you and others safe in doing so.”
Cycling UK is also urging drivers to consider:
giving as much room as practically possible when overtaking (at least a car’s width) due to need of cyclists to manoeuvre around drains, potholes and other road debris;
giving more in wet weather when surfaces will be more slippery and
using dipped headlights when approaching people cycling as they would for other road users.
While the Highway Code tells motorists to drive to the conditions, in the past week alone on road.cc we’ve covered two stories in which drivers convicted of killing cyclists – one of whom was speeding – blamed the sun being in their eyes as a factor in the fatal crashes.
In each case, the drivers were handed suspended jail sentences, causing the families of the victims to question the justice system.
Last week, Victoria Hamer, 26, was convicted of causing the death by dangerous driving of cyclist Lorraine Barrow in Somerset, and said that she did not see the rider because the sun was in her eyes – although the court heard that the motorist speeding at the time of the crash.
Earlier this week, we reported how motorist Lowri Powell – who likewise blamed she had been blinded by the low sun – was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, after she was convicted of causing the death by careless driving of 61-year-old cyclist Paul James in April 2019.
> End “us versus them” culture to improve safety of cyclists, urges Welsh Government minister
Powell hit Mr James – a Plaid Cymru councillor for Ceredigion and former paratrooper – from behind, causing him to come off his bike and fall into the path of another car, causing fatal injuries.
42 thoughts on “Slow down when driving into the sun, urges Cycling UK”
Another call for something
Another call for something which should be bl00dy common sense!
brooksby wrote:
I wonder if we’ll ever see the police running a safety campaign and stopping drivers to hand out polarised sunglasses?
hawkinspeter wrote:
That’ll stop as soon as they get sued by a driver who used them in their tinted-windscreen car.
chrisonatrike wrote:
Not sure I understand the issue with polarised sunglasses and tinted windscreens. For a start, anything beyond a very light tint is illegal.
https://www.gov.uk/tinted-vehicle-window-rules
And secondly, what is the problem anyway? Like every car on the road, my front windscreen has a slight tint, and I wear polarised sunglasses to combat glare from a low sun on a wet road. Who should I sue, and why?
brooksby wrote:
The trouble with Common Sense is, it has to be learned like anything else, we aren’t born with it.
But who reads Cycling UK
But who reads Cycling UK posts apart from cyclists and trolls?
OnTheRopes wrote:
Perhaps Cycling UK should simply say read the f@#king Highway Code.
Rule 93
Slow down, and if necessary stop, if you are dazzled by bright sunlight
Grahamd wrote:
What again? I read it once to pass my test, that was quite enough.
eburtthebike wrote:
When I was reading it the sun was low and I was dazzled so I didn’t see that bit.
Just because the killer
Just because the killer driver used the “blinded by the low sun” as an explanation as to why their awful driving took the life of someone going about their entirely lawful business, doesn’t mean we should automatically believe them.
Agreed. I also expect that
Agreed. I also expect that the quadrupling of people using that excuse is because their legal advice is to use that response, since it clearly works.
Agreed. I also expect that
Stupid commenting system doesn’t allow deleting comments…
Jenova20 wrote:
No; but you can edit it until nothing is left except the final full stop.
eburtthebike wrote:
Good point.
[/quote] Good point.[/quote]
.
Steve K wrote:
No; but you can edit it until nothing is left except the final full stop.
— eburtthebike Good point.— Jenova20
It’s a full stop not a point, yankee!
eburtthebike wrote:
Well that was a pointless comment.
eburtthebike wrote:
Actually it’s a period! ?
giff77 wrote:
Oh dear. What have I unleashed??
Jenova20 wrote:
No good worrying about that now – it’s too late to .
I lived in the good ole U.S.
I lived in the good ole U.S. of A. for a while and couldn’t handle when someone was dictating they would announce ‘period’ instead of ‘full stop’.
Is that normal in the U
Is that normal in the U period S period of A period?
Who knows? Their normal may
Who knows? Their normal may be quite normal to them!
giff77 wrote:
Is that sexist?
That has the makings of a
That has the makings of a highly charged philosophical discussion…
Another reminder that the
Another reminder that the justice system does not consider killing a cyclist to be a serious offence. Joke suspended sentences for just carrying on driving/ speeding when you can’t see because the ‘sun is in your eyes’.
While I can’t help agreeing
While I can’t help agreeing with CUK, their appeal would seem pointless unless the authorities start treating dangerous driving as, well, dangerous. Driving into a dazzling sun is clearly dangerous, and requires anyone with any sense to slow down so that they can stop in the distance they can see; the most basic of all road rules. Anyone who doesn’t do that is clearly not fit to drive and should have their licence removed permanently.
It’s time society recognised that driving isn’t a right, it’s a privilege, a privilege that can be taken away at any time if it is abused. There are millions of drivers who abuse that privilege every day, so the judicial system should be removing them from the road for the benefit of us all, but it doesn’t; it excuses them. Removing them from the road would improve traffic flow, reduce congestion, reduce danger and deaths and injuries, and we’d all live happily ever after. The public are just as much those dead and their relatives as those who drive, but only the drivers seem to be represented in our system.
Just wait until the review of road laws issues its report etc, etc, etc.
eburtthebike wrote:
Did you actually read the article – did anyone? They start with an image of two cyclists riding at night and finished with a reminder of cycle light and reflector requirements. As if any cycle light can defend against motorists who chooses to ignore the fact that they are unable to see. The article is horrendous.
Asking a large proportion of
Asking a large proportion of drivers to slow down for anything, is pretty pointless, as society has become increasingly impatient and self-entitled.
They also seem to have lost any sense of self-preservation, judging by the amount of people who don’t change their speed or road position, when encountering oncoming traffic, on narrow roads.
All of this is true, regardless of whether bicycles are present or not.
That’s the trouble with
That’s the trouble with wearing a sports visor with an ongoing low sun situation. I can’t so easily make a dubious claim about being dazzled if I’m involved in an accident.
Low sun is one situation that
Low sun is one situation that scares me.
If I am having trouble seeing where I’m going on the bike at 18mph, then the vehicle with a dirty windscreen coming up behind me at 50mph is effectively out of control.
Get onto a minor road if you can, It’s a good time to stop for a coffee. Generally the phenomena is not long lasting.
This is no time to worry about primary and secondary road positions, get over to the left, sit up to make yourself as large as possible and pray
“Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK
“Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK’s head of campaigns said: “A four-fold increase in deaths with a contributory factor of ‘dazzling sun’ is alarming and could be avoided by driving more carefully. “
A frightening statistic but I wonder if they are all genuine or whether defence lawyers have discovered another effective strategy to go along with “momentary lapse of concentration”.
I’ll give you one guess
I’ll give you one guess
Saw the aftermath of a smash
Saw the aftermath of a smash this morning on our group ride that had clearly been caused by a driver going too fast, and either them or the other driver having the sun in their eyes. Both walked away from it, but one (expensive, fast) car was a complete write off.
Once it has been decided, as
Once it has been decided, as it largely has been by the police and the judiciary, that ‘I didn’t mean to do it’ is a valid excuse for any offence against a cyclist (even when the motorist deliberately drove into the cyclist), it’s not surprising that not obeying the learner driver law, or continuing to put the foot down even when you can’t see the road ahead etc. aren’t taken seriously either.
You realize the sun doesn’t
You realize the sun doesn’t go down, it’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning round.
Organon wrote:
And everyone you know, someday, will die.
brooksby wrote:
And hawkinspeter’s a lapsed Catholic.
mdavidford wrote:
Not that sort of pope.
mdavidford wrote:
How dare you! I’ve never associated with the Catholic church in any form.
We were talking about Discordian Popes: https://www.mookychick.co.uk/health/witchcraft-spirituality/discordia.php
My mistake. At least I didn’t
My mistake. At least I didn’t make any claims about your arboreal defecation habits.
Organon wrote:
I thought about what you said all night, and I could only conclude you are right, when it dawned on me in the morning.