As Appeared in a Letter in a cycling mag

[Vikeonabike]

Quite bluntly put, if I find anyone using a flashing blue light on thier bike on my patch, at the very least it will get confiscated, next level up is a £30 fine, then arrest for impersonating a police officer.
Now would I get impersonating a police officer through court for somebody using a flashing blue light. Very Unlikely, but the 3 hours + sitting in a cell, being photographed, fingerprinted and dna taken. Then interviewed etc. may just make somebody think again about using blues.
Heavy handed? Possibly!. However until you use blues and two's you do not realise how dangerous they are as road users will react in very different ways.
Yesterday I stopped a young lady for speeding and jumping a red light (I was on a motorcyle). Her reaction on seing blue lights was to do an emergency stop right in front of me in lane two. Not fun going from 50 to 0 in a nano second on a trail bike on wet greasy roads. Had I not been trained to anticipate this the consequences could have been unthinkable.
Quite simply....DO NOT USE FLASHING BLUE LIGHTS on your bike, car. wheelbarrow etc. They are for Emergency services only!

 

[661-Pete]

Legal or not (and the consensus here seems to be: illegal) I'd advise against blues. I often used to wonder why the emergency services switched - back in the 1950s and 60s when I was a child, from ringing bells to flashing blues. I decided the answer was, they were unique: nothing else on our streets gave off flashing blue light, so you knew it was an emergency service coming up. I still think that was the reason.

But the human eye is far less sensitive to blue light than to red. As an amateur astro, I know the phenomenon well! And red LEDs take up far less battery power than any blue light. I'm sure you've all noticed how seldom you need to change the batteries in your rear light! But the flashing blue on an ambulance, that takes up a lot of power if it's to be bright enough. Rear lights on cars, brake lights, cycle rear lights, they've all been red for yonks for a good reason!

In USA, they used to do things different: the emergency vehicles had flashing red lights. More recently they appear to have changed to a combination of red and blue, more like the European standard. I don't know the reason, but maybe it's exactly what we've been talking about: the risk of confusion with ordinary vehicles' lights.

 

[HJ]

Seems foolish. For best "look different effect" vs standing out vs not cheesing off the police/fire/ambulance the best colour is a proper green light I reckon, after seeing various chrismas decorations on cyclists around christmastime the last few years. When I say green I mean proper green, not those silly bogey coloured ones the cops give out.

If you bother to read the Highway Code you will find in Rule 219 you will find that green lights are for doctors making emergency calls...

 

[Crankarm]

Quite bluntly put, if I find anyone using a flashing blue light on thier bike on my patch, at the very least it will get confiscated, next level up is a £30 fine, then arrest for impersonating a police officer.
Now would I get impersonating a police officer through court for somebody using a flashing blue light. Very Unlikely, but the 3 hours + sitting in a cell, being photographed, fingerprinted and dna taken. Then interviewed etc. may just make somebody think again about using blues.
Heavy handed? Possibly!. However until you use blues and two's you do not realise how dangerous they are as road users will react in very different ways.
Yesterday I stopped a young lady for speeding and jumping a red light (I was on a motorcyle). Her reaction on seing blue lights was to do an emergency stop right in front of me in lane two. Not fun going from 50 to 0 in a nano second on a trail bike on wet greasy roads. Had I not been trained to anticipate this the consequences could have been unthinkable.
Quite simply....DO NOT USE FLASHING BLUE LIGHTS on your bike, car. wheelbarrow etc. They are for Emergency services only!

+1.

There are some real f***wits out there. I am really surprised that CW printed the letter. Mind a number of their articles recently indicate that standards might well have already slipped too far. Was there an Editor's comment pointing out the illegality and irresponsible behaviour of anyone, not a member of the emergency services, tempted to fit or use blue, solid or flashing, lights on their bicycle? If I was a magistrate and you brought them before me on the bench they would get a £1000 fine, if this amount of penalty is allowed, and a month with each of the emergency services going to fatal RTAs, to casualty hospital units or burning buildings.

 

[Arch]

Quite bluntly put, if I find anyone using a flashing blue light on thier bike on my patch, at the very least it will get confiscated, next level up is a £30 fine, then arrest for impersonating a police officer.
Now would I get impersonating a police officer through court for somebody using a flashing blue light. Very Unlikely, but the 3 hours + sitting in a cell, being photographed, fingerprinted and dna taken. Then interviewed etc. may just make somebody think again about using blues.
Heavy handed? Possibly!. However until you use blues and two's you do not realise how dangerous they are as road users will react in very different ways.
Yesterday I stopped a young lady for speeding and jumping a red light (I was on a motorcyle). Her reaction on seing blue lights was to do an emergency stop right in front of me in lane two. Not fun going from 50 to 0 in a nano second on a trail bike on wet greasy roads. Had I not been trained to anticipate this the consequences could have been unthinkable.
Quite simply....DO NOT USE FLASHING BLUE LIGHTS on your bike, car. wheelbarrow etc. They are for Emergency services only!

As you're here... What would you say about my POLITE waistcoat?

View attachment 4692

(It's not the only one, someone had a small batch made up years ago and a few forummers got them. I've worn mine for two or three winters, with no adverse reaction... And you know what, I'm not sure it makes a huge difference to some drivers, which seems to imply that they are either very observant and can read it clearly from a distance, or that they just don't care whether they cut up a policeman)

 

[lit]

Heavy handed?

Yes and it could be a argued a abuse of police powers since impersonating the "officer" probably wasn't their intention but ego's and all that.

 

[Vikeonabike]

As you're here... What would you say about my POLITE waistcoat?

View attachment 4692

(It's not the only one, someone had a small batch made up years ago and a few forummers got them. I've worn mine for two or three winters, with no adverse reaction... And you know what, I'm not sure it makes a huge difference to some drivers, which seems to imply that they are either very observant and can read it clearly from a distance, or that they just don't care whether they cut up a policeman)

No Problems with that whatso ever it says POLITE, not POLICE!
Could even say POLTIE for all I care you don't get dutch police over here!

 

[Arch]

No Problems with that whatso ever it says POLITE, not POLICE!
Could even say POLTIE for all I care you don't get dutch police over here!

Excellent! That has always been my feeling - if you take the trouble to look, as you should, it's clearly not Police.

Yes, it works in many languages too - I've had a German comment on doing a double take.

An interesting side effect is that when I'm wearing it, I feel obliged to be polite!

 

[Vikeonabike]

I've seen german Police issue cycling tops on Ebay...trying desparately to get hold of one for commuting next summer.


View: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=L8uZI-oO15Y

 

[atbman]

There seems to be a somewhat heavy response to the CW suggestion. Does anyone seriously think that a teensy-weensy, little, blue, flashing led light on the rear of a bike is going to confuse people into thinking that there is an ambulance up ahead?

And that this will lead drivers to ignore ambulances with their blues'n'twos going like fury because cyclists have the teensy.......etc. lights the back of their bikes?

As for confusion with bike police, some on, people. Don't they also have the usual police accoutrements of hi-viz jackets with Police/PCSO on the back, not to mention the equipment belt?

Let's have a sense of proportion about this suggestion.

 

[albal]

I use one on rear of my bike. I can hear cars slow down. That's good enough for me, purchased in LBS.

 

[Vikeonabike]

There seems to be a somewhat heavy response to the CW suggestion. Does anyone seriously think that a teensy-weensy, little, blue, flashing led light on the rear of a bike is going to confuse people into thinking that there is an ambulance up ahead?

And that this will lead drivers to ignore ambulances with their blues'n'twos going like fury because cyclists have the teensy.......etc. lights the back of their bikes?

As for confusion with bike police, some on, people. Don't they also have the usual police accoutrements of hi-viz jackets with Police/PCSO on the back, not to mention the equipment belt?

Let's have a sense of proportion about this suggestion.

Let me think about that....YES!

One little teenie weenie blue light, leads too two teennie weenie little blue lights, which leads to bigger blue lights...Don't a lot of cyclists wear High Viz vests.

Don't use blue lights..flashing or otherwise.