Nearly hit a cyclist this morning!

Mybike]

Mybike wrote:

[quote=BehindTheBikesheds]

I never have a problem seeing people or objects unlit and being able to avoid them at any time of day, it’s called obeying the law and the HC. Mater who is 68 was driving us both to the rugby earlier this year, we both saw three guys on bikes with no lights (a couple of tab ends IIRC) coming along a badly lit old industrial area road. Oh yeah, they were three abreast too … the horror!

Being aware of the extreme hazard you present to everyone else including other motorists is your first port of call when operating a killing machine, cossetted in your shell the mindset utterly changes for the vast majority. Everyone else should follow some set of rules you don’t follow yourself and other hugely more vulnerable road users including those on foot should have to follow the same rules as you in your killing machine and/or modify their behaviour for your convenience! This is what is wrong with the way our society and law makers see the order of things and thus why so many people are killed and seriously injured with barely a blink. Police are happy to blame victims despite the criminals not following the rules, it’s perverse.

I wonder how long it will take for those who have stabbed or shot someone blame their victim for not wearing a stab/bullet proof vest and police follow suit. Maybe if your daughter gets raped on the streets she’ll be at fault for no anti rpae device and wearing an ‘alluring’ outfit?

Telling people to get themselves lit up and take responsibility for safety is bullshit, despite the advent of hugely better lights, hi-vis asunder plus improved streetlights matters have not improved one iota. It’s always the vulnerable that are being asked to change their ways and not those that are doing the killing and maiming!

To say you always see everyone dressed in black at night is a false statement   You just been lucky you never hit anyone just as many other car drivers.  People in black are hard to see at night it called camoflage   Sharing the road as a cyclistit also means lights  at night time just as a car.  I have no problem telling a cyclist to buy a light for there bike if there riding at night  it the law where i live  just as i have no problem telling a car driver to turn on there lights at night   yes i have 3 bikes and ride all year even with the canadian winters  and I also drive

Nah. It’s ok. BTBS is our resident ninja. Perfect eyesight and reactions. Processes every single thing in his field of vision perfectly each time. Of course, bit of a self fulfilling prophecy. Everyone always sees the cyclists the see, and doesn’t see the ones they don’t. BTBS just doesn’t have enough self awareness to realise that the darkly dressed cyclists he doesn’t see might actually exist, so this pretty much makes him the most dangerous driver…. one who isn’t aware of the mistakes he can and does make.

 Follow the rules of the road

 Follow the rules of the road put lights on your bike Thats the law at least in Ontario Canada  I dont understand how someone can spend 1000plus for a bike and not a extra 50 for a simple light set up.  My commuter bike has lights and reflecters on it just as my car.  NPeople have to take there safty in there own hand and not others.  It hard to see people on foot or bikes that are dressed in black at night time no matter what speed your traviling at or how clear your view is. put a light on your bike if your riding on the road at night.

ChrisB200SX wrote:

Sunrise was at 07:48 this morning.

Sunrise *where I am in Britain* today, (two days later) was 0846  I’m betting two days ago it wasn’t 0748, but you know “cool story bro”.

Freetime101 wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

Freetime101 wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

So, why was there that “threat” about the physics of cars vs bikes?

 

I don’t know, I can’t see any “threat”…  Only a light hearted comment that cyclists usually come off worse so be careful…

 

Anyway, lesson learned, the readers of road.cc are intellectually superior and do not need to be reminded or informed of anything. 

I am however slightly confused as to why people who know everything would spend so much time on a site which predominately posts news and reviews? Presumably you also get annoyed at the entire advice section of this site? How dare some presumptuous journalist lecture you about which lights are best?! Or which jacket is best, or how to prep your bike for winter?

Well that’s a strawman argument. We’re not claiming to know everything and most of us welcome insights about cycling products and the like.

However, cyclists tend to get bullied on the road by motorists who don’t even know the Highway Code correctly and then you come along and warn us about using lights or else the bigger, heavier vehicles will do us physical harm. Can you understand why that is considered victim blaming by a lot of us?

I totally appreciate the value of being easily seen and like most Road.cc readers, I take precautions, but if you’re serious about improving road safety, then you need to get your message out to motorists so that they can take especial care when it’s dark. They are the ones that can make the road safer.

 

I don’t think I was victim blaming at all – in fact there was no victim in my story as nothing really happened. My post certainly wasn’t intended this way. 

I appreciate that you, and many other readers are seasoned cyclists, but there are plenty of lurkers and newbies reading this who may or may not comment. I may be preaching to the converted, but the message may also get beyond that and reach a wider audience. Also, once again – this was a light hearted post. 

 

Don’t get me wrong, the burden of saftey shouldn’t be on the cyclist – and from a legal position, the driver of the more dangerous vehicle should take care. However, I think it’s in all of our own interests to keep ourselves safe. 

I know nothing else about this cyclist, or his route, for all I know it’s entirely off road and this is the one point where he has to cross a busy road – but the fact is he did cross the road and it would have been wise to be wearing something more visible given the conditions, not a legal requirement, merely wise. Had this happened on a bright summer morning I wouldn’t have said anything, but it wasn’t a bright summers morning.  Perhaps he thought that as a fully grown adult he would be easy to see – cars have headlights afterall. Perhaps he looked at the clock and figured suns up, must be light. Maybe he set off earlier than usual and wouldn’t normally be riding in these conditions. Maybe it was his first time out and he’s still learning – in fact if he is a newcomer to the sport it wouldn’t surprise me if his new interest lead him to a forum such as this eventually, in which case he may see this thread – he almost certainly didn’t notice me or my car as I slowed in plenty of time so he may be unaware of the situation entirely.  Who knows.

 

As for getting the message across to motorists, I highly doubt the motorists in question are reading this forum but I do spend my fair share of time explaining to them that an inch isn’t enough space for an overtake, or that overtaking then turning left immediatley isn’t just highly annoying but potentially dangerous, or that cyclists are often travelling faster than you think – and need more space to stop than you think etc…

Okay, I accept that there was no malice in your post – we do sometimes get motorists trolling us with posts similar to this, so that probably got some of us jumping to the wrong conclusions.

There’s a common misconception that “cyclists” form a cohesive group – there was even a case when some minister sent a warning letter to a cycling group (can’t remember which one) about policing cyclists. In reality, there’s little that we have in common except for enjoying cycling and as can often be seen  in the comments, we don’t tend to agree on much (except for poor driving standards by some motorists).

My view on “cyclists” is that we need to get as many idiots as possible out of cars and onto bikes/feet/public transport. That means that we’ll get pedestrians staring at their phones whilst stepping into the road and cyclists not taking any reasonable steps to make themselves visible or safe. It’s the job of the “rest of us” (i.e. everyone who considers themselves an experienced rider/driver) to ensure that we can cope with idiots being on the roads and to do what we can to let everyone get to where they want to go in a safe fashion.

There’s always going to be dark clothed pedestrians and cyclists. Whenever you get through to one “idiot”, there’s always plenty more to take their place.

I think you’re all over

I think you’re all over reacting to a throwaway comment from the OP ref being safe while riding.. yes the newtons comment was patronising, but the intent was not worthy of two pages of bashing for it. 

Oh, sorry..hang on.. this is the internet, ignore me, carry on. In fact where’s my pitchfork… lets burn him! 

 

 

Griff500 wrote:

Where did the OP say it was a kid? Aren’t you putting words in the Ops mouth? The OP was travelling to work. Aren’t hoody clad junky kids in bed at 8am?

If you read the posts properly you would see that I was replying to madcarew about efforts to get some lights to schoolkids. I don’t think anyone said that the OP encountered a child.

Are you going to explain your previous post so others can comprehend what you meant?

Freetime101 wrote:

I was simply trying to say “take responsibility for your own safety” with an annecdote to support why it would be a good idea.

But we all are extremely aware of this already! You’re addressing totally the wrong audience and wondering why we’re not entirely receptive. If you like doing that then maybe you have a future in the stand-up comedy circuit.

Freetime101 wrote:

This isn’t a lecture

It certainly feels like one!

Freetime101 wrote:

And as for quoting lines of highway code, unless you are wearing a helmet, light-coloured or flourescent clothing with reflective accessories (rule 59), have pedal reflectors and a red rear reflector (rule 60), you can pipe down.

No. This is not a school and you’re definitely not the teacher. I can’t seem to find an ‘up yours’ emoticon. Pity.

Freetime101 wrote:

In fact whilst the HC is out, rule 66 states that you should be considerate of other road users. This is obviously a broad statement, but I would argue that making yourself seen would fall under this.

Blindingly obvious statement of the week there.

We’re not the errant cyclist you encountered just like you’re not the tw@t in a van tailgating me this morning (or the BMW doing the same yesterday morning) and neither were you the driver that overtook me into oncoming traffic so I won’t lecture you about those things. Everyone has a responsibility to others but my point was that anyone driving a motorised vehicle has a greater responsibility to more vulnerable road users.