All the gear - No Idea

[PpPete]

OK so I'm just assuming from the time of day, location, direction etc that this particular individual was commuting on his bicycle....i could be wrong.

I was on foot and alerted to his presence by huge pool of white light travelling in same direction. Don't know what front light it was, but it was sure bright. Bit OTT for a well-lit suburban street but you can never have too much light, right?
On the back of his bike two seriously bright flashers, maybe 1/2 watt Smarts - or better. On his helmet another red flasher (although slightly obscured by hood of his reflective & fluorescent yellow jacket)

You get the picture.... this guy was VISIBILITY personified. Later in the years and the residents would have been complaining about him putting their Xmas trees to shame.

Pedalling up the very gentlest of gentle inclines, with a nice high cadence too - on some ludicrously low MTB granny gear, so he was travelling at very little more than my walking pace.

Only light traffic, but then he turns right into a side road WITHOUT ANY HAND SIGNAL.

I know we all see plenty of people failing to signal... but it was just the contrast between all this gear and the utter lack of road sense that shocked me.

If any of the kids in my Cycling Proficiency class had done that they would have been in for right royal rollicking (well as royal as we're allowed to give them anyway)

Surely a case for compulsory training ?

 

[gbb]

OK so I'm just assuming from the time of day, location, direction etc that this particular individual was commuting on his bicycle....i could be wrong.

I was on foot and alerted to his presence by huge pool of white light travelling in same direction. Don't know what front light it was, but it was sure bright. Bit OTT for a well-lit suburban street but you can never have too much light, right?
On the back of his bike two seriously bright flashers, maybe 1/2 watt Smarts - or better. On his helmet another red flasher (although slightly obscured by hood of his reflective & fluorescent yellow jacket)

You get the picture.... this guy was VISIBILITY personified. Later in the years and the residents would have been complaining about him putting their Xmas trees to shame.

Pedalling up the very gentlest of gentle inclines, with a nice high cadence too - on some ludicrously low MTB granny gear, so he was travelling at very little more than my walking pace.

Only light traffic, but then he turns right into a side road WITHOUT ANY HAND SIGNAL.
I know we all see plenty of people failing to signal... but it was just the contrast between all this gear and the utter lack of road sense that shocked me.

If any of the kids in my Cycling Proficiency class had done that they would have been in for right royal rollicking (well as royal as we're allowed to give them anyway)



Surely a case for compulsory training ?

I'm trying to think if, and when i actually use hand signals on the bike.
Exiting a r/a...even then i dont 'signal'...rather point with my hand my intended exit to waiting drivers.
Almost any other time...no, i dont signal, with the exception of occasions where there was a car waiting perhaps who can go once i've signalled.

Did the lack of hand signal delay anyone ?
If it was dark, could a driver have seen it that well anyway ?

I dont wish to sound unsympathetic....but if i signalled every turn and r/a on my commute, i'd look like a crazed semaphor flag.
I use signals sparingly, and its always dictated by only close and waiting traffic.

 

[dondare]

I can probably be seen from space but I am economical with hand signals.

 

[hackbike 666]

I signal generally because that's what I would like to receive from the motons now and again

 

[GrasB]

One of the first things my advanced driving tutor did was to untrain me to always signal. There are 3 main reasons for this:
1) if you're signalling to no one you've just wasted effort
2) you end up being more aware of road users around you because you need to work out if you should signal or not
3) prevents over use of signalling leading to confusing signalling

So the question is was there anyone around who needed to know what he was going to do?

 

[XmisterIS]

I would love to see a motor-bike type indicator for bicycles - it would have the motorbike-style push-on-click-off switch on the handlebar, and then two little yellow LED flashers mounted on the seatpost, each one shaped like and arrow to point right or left.

It wouldn't alert vehicles in front, but vehicles behind would see it (and they're the dangerous ones because we don't have mirrors on a bicycle).

You could have a deluxe version that had LED arrow flashers on the handlebars too.

It wouldn't need to be heavy or bulky and would be pretty easy to make.

 

[swee'pea99]

I signal when necessary. Seldom.

 

[Norm]

I would love to see a motor-bike type indicator for bicycles...

I've never seen them on the road but...


or...

 

[hackbike 666]

Nice watch.

 

[Norm]

A bit flash for my taste.

 

[hackbike 666]

Never had a problem with my signalling so I don't see what the big deal is.

 

[Tynan]

in a car at least, signalling should be for other users that you might have missed, I wonder how many cars don't signal because they haven't noticed a bike

 

[BentMikey]

PorkyPete, did he look behind before turning? I'd be much more concerned about that than signalling. There may have been no road users needing a signal, so not signalling might have been the right approach.

 

[Crankarm]

Most numpites on BSOs only signal when they need to show you they only have one middle finger .

Not saying that the cyclist you mention necessarily needed to signal to any other road user to make them aware of their intended manouevre.

 

[rh100]

According to Cycle Craft - care should be taken when signalling - eg, a left signal could encourage a following car to overtake you whilst both of you turning left, but no signal would keep him behind. Anyone agree with that one in particular?