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Slow down when driving into the sun, urges Cycling UKBroken bike (CC licensed image by garryknight, www.flickr.com)

Slow down when driving into the sun, urges Cycling UK

In the past week alone two drivers convicted of killing cyclists have cited low sun as an excuse
by Simon_MacMichael
Fri, Oct 29, 2021 17:18
42

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.

> “The justice system has let my beloved Lorraine down,” says widower after speeding driver who killed his wife given suspended

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.

cycling uk
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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42 comments

Avatar
giff77 replied to Jenova20 | 3 years ago
0 likes

Who knows?  Their normal may be quite normal to them! 

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to giff77 | 3 years ago
0 likes

giff77 wrote:

eburtthebike wrote:

Steve K wrote:
eburtthebike wrote:

Jenova20 wrote:

Stupid commenting system doesn't allow deleting comments...

No; but you can edit it until nothing is left except the final full stop.

Good point.

It's a full stop not a point, yankee!  yes

Actually it's a period! 🥸

Is that sexist?

Avatar
giff77 replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
3 likes

That has the makings of a highly charged philosophical discussion...

Avatar
OnTheRopes | 3 years ago
8 likes

But who reads Cycling UK posts apart from cyclists and trolls?

Avatar
Grahamd replied to OnTheRopes | 3 years ago
10 likes

OnTheRopes wrote:

But who reads Cycling UK posts apart from cyclists and trolls?

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

 

 

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to Grahamd | 3 years ago
7 likes

Grahamd 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

What again?  I read it once to pass my test, that was quite enough.

Avatar
TheBillder replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
9 likes
eburtthebike wrote:

Grahamd 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

What again?  I read it once to pass my test, that was quite enough.

When I was reading it the sun was low and I was dazzled so I didn't see that bit.

Avatar
brooksby | 3 years ago
10 likes

Another call for something which should be bl00dy common sense! surprise

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
5 likes

brooksby wrote:

Another call for something which should be bl00dy common sense! surprise

I wonder if we'll ever see the police running a safety campaign and stopping drivers to hand out polarised sunglasses?

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
2 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

brooksby wrote:

Another call for something which should be bl00dy common sense! surprise

I wonder if we'll ever see the police running a safety campaign and stopping drivers to hand out polarised sunglasses?

That'll stop as soon as they get sued by a driver who used them in their tinted-windscreen car. no

Avatar
Sriracha replied to chrisonabike | 3 years ago
1 like
chrisonatrike wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

brooksby wrote:

Another call for something which should be bl00dy common sense! surprise

I wonder if we'll ever see the police running a safety campaign and stopping drivers to hand out polarised sunglasses?

That'll stop as soon as they get sued by a driver who used them in their tinted-windscreen car. no

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?

Avatar
OnTheRopes replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
1 like

brooksby wrote:

Another call for something which should be bl00dy common sense! surprise

The trouble with Common Sense is, it has to be learned like anything else, we aren't born with it.

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