Tell me this is a wind up

[ACS]

I take my personally safety seriously, helmet, bright lights, reflectively jacket etc etc so I was surprised this evening when a ninja cyclist appeared next to me at a set of lights, in St Andrews. He (student type) told me in quite a vociferous manner that I should be ashamed of myself, did I not realise that motorists in University towns expect cyclist not to use lights so by doing so, it would be my fault if a student got ran over because locals will expect all cyclists to use lights. Having had his say he pedalled off in the direction of the residence leaving me speechless.

Tell me this is a wind up?

 

[buggi]

the perfect answer would have been .... "don't be a pr!ck all your life"

 

[ComedyPilot]

the perfect answer would have been .... "don't be a pr!ck all your life"

Given his riding attire (black) he might just manage to be a prick all his life if he gets knocked down soon.

 

[yello]

I reckon he was being ironic. At least, I hope so!

 

[marinyork]

Some of it was probably the hi-viz. It happens.

 

[domtyler]

He has a perfectly valid point.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

No he hasnt he was just being a tosser

 

[wafflycat]

Sounds like he was yanking your chain - and seems to have succeeded!

 

[ACS]

No he hasnt he was just being a tosser

Bigtallfatbloke ignore Domtyler, he is just likes pulling his chain.

 

[Crackle]

He has a perfectly valid point.

Yep, sticking right out the top of his head.

 

[Wolf04]

Tsch don't they teach Darwin's theories at Universities any more!

 

[domtyler]

His logic is perfectly sound although it seems to have escaped many people on here. Indeed, were there many cyclists on the roads with no lights or dayglo clothing then drivers would become adapted to looking for them. If many then switched to using lights and dayglo drivers would switch to looking for lights and dayglo leaving the ones who remained unlit at a distinct disadvantage.

 

[Wolf04]

His logic is perfectly sound although it seems to have escaped many people on here. Indeed, were there many cyclists on the roads with no lights or dayglo clothing then drivers would become adapted to looking for them. If many then switched to using lights and dayglo drivers would switch to looking for lights and dayglo leaving the ones who remained unlit at a distinct disadvantage.

Tosh! If I can't see the buggers when I'm traveling at cycling speeds how the hell are BMW drivers meant to see them?

 

[ACS]

His logic is perfectly sound although it seems to have escaped many people on here. Indeed, were there many cyclists on the roads with no lights or dayglo clothing then drivers would become adapted to looking for them. If many then switched to using lights and dayglo drivers would switch to looking for lights and dayglo leaving the ones who remained unlit at a distinct disadvantage.

Yet again your are assuming that all drivers are local. While St Andrews is recognised as a University town, it is perhaps more famous for being the home of golf. This fact results in a lot of visitors for other parts of the planet. They all know of course that it is acceptable for cyclists in the town to ride bikes at night without lights and therfore it is their reponsibility not to run them over.

 

[John the Monkey]

I've seen the argument made along these lines;

"
Put two cyclists together on a dark road. One with a reflective vest, one without. The one without becomes invisible because the other one has reflectives. Without reflectives, both are visible. OK, you might have to slow down a wee bit, but that is surely not a bad thing. The reflectives reduce the danger for one cyclist but massively increase it for the unadorned ones.


If we want to improve road safety, especially at night, we need to get people to take note of their surroundings. Retroreflectives have the opposite effect. They allow people to drive faster whilst paying less attention, and as cyclists we have to visually announce our presence on the road as the drivers are no longer able to look for us in the shadows."

(From the cyclologist column in City Cycling)