Bike light question

[mjr]

@mjr What's the legal position, please?

In short, the law says one should have legal front and rear position lights of 4 candela (about 50 lumens) flashing or BS or K-marked or equivalent, even on "a segregated cycle path", even on a restricted byway. In practice, if you have any non-dazzling lights, I think you'll almost certainly not get stopped and fined even in a police crackdown.


The most relevant law is the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 but it's been amended lots, as listed on the recently-updated http://www.cyclinguk.org/cyclists-library/regulations/lighting-regulations

It's applied by http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/81 to "the use on roads of cycles" and "road" is defined in http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/192 as "any highway and any other road to which the public has access, and includes bridges over which a road passes," which includes all sorts of highways, carriageways, cycleways, footways and so on. When a provision doesn't apply to bridleways and footpaths, it says so specifically, such as http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/22A - and some other parts of that law are restricted to cycle tracks, so I'm pretty sure they include them as roads.

@ozboz - http://highwaycode.info/rule/60 might not give specific instructions for it, but it also doesn't give specific instructions for any other sort of road, so it applies to all of them!

And yes, the same definition of "road" means it's illegal to ride brakeless fixies on public cycle tracks as well as carriageways - keep them to the velodromes and private land.

 

[mjr]

She was illuminated of the righteous halo glow of not being lawfully required to have lights, unlike Beelzebub the cyclist.

She still broke http://highwaycode.info/rule/147 though!

 

[ozboz]

You did make it seem that way when you wrote this...

Does it matter ?

 

[mjr]

"road" is defined in http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/192 as "any highway and any other road to which the public has access, and includes bridges over which a road passes," which includes all sorts of highways, carriageways, cycleways, footways and so on.

By the way, this does mean that "off-road cycle routes" are nearly impossible, making the term slightly worse than "traffic-free" (which we hope they aren't). I used to prefer "motor-free" but is that still accurate because e-bikes... answers on a postcard in another thread, please.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Does it matter ?

Yes, if you don't want to confuse people reading your thread.

 

[ozboz]

I suppose it is confusing, I ask a specific question about an aspect of cycling ,
I wasn’t aware I had to write a fully informative word perfect essay in order to get my query across and an answer ,

 

[ozboz]

In short, the law says one should have legal front and rear position lights of 4 candela (about 50 lumens) flashing or BS or K-marked or equivalent, even on "a segregated cycle path", even on a restricted byway. In practice, if you have any non-dazzling lights, I think you'll almost certainly not get stopped and fined even in a police crackdown.


The most relevant law is the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 but it's been amended lots, as listed on the recently-updated http://www.cyclinguk.org/cyclists-library/regulations/lighting-regulations

It's applied by http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/81 to "the use on roads of cycles" and "road" is defined in http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/192 as "any highway and any other road to which the public has access, and includes bridges over which a road passes," which includes all sorts of highways, carriageways, cycleways, footways and so on. When a provision doesn't apply to bridleways and footpaths, it says so specifically, such as http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/22A - and some other parts of that law are restricted to cycle tracks, so I'm pretty sure they include them as roads.

@ozboz - http://highwaycode.info/rule/60 might not give specific instructions for it, but it also doesn't give specific instructions for any other sort of road, so it applies to all of them!

And yes, the same definition of "road" means it's illegal to ride brakeless fixies on public cycle tracks as well as carriageways - keep them to the velodromes and private land.

There is a lot of reading there so I’ll save it for my rail journey tomorrow

 

[ozboz]

Beware Capital scotsmen pedalling assumptions.
Did the lady have lights or was she a pedestrian? Could you see her before she started ranting?

She was on her bike fully lit up to at least 10,000 candle power ! , hi vis, helmet ,
the whole kit , thing is for me she should have seen me at least 200 yards away ,even without my lights being on, a lot of pedestrians walk in the cycle path and move out of it well in advance of me getting to them , obv , the ones walking in the same direction need a ping of the bell !

 

[ozboz]

Would it have hurt to walk the bike home?

In a way , I behind schedule for getting home , park bike, get shower go to see my youngest Lad and then get to pub to watch City !
Walking ...not an option !

 

[Johnno260]

I was delayed yesterday evening getting home so by the time I got going darkness was well on its way , i commute from the station along the cycle path , it is well illuminated and as stated segregated , as i peddled home there was a lady coming toward me having a rant because i had no lights ,to be honest, I wasnt aware that we had to , but with the clocks changing at weekend I thought I had better find out ,

I have been shouted at for having lights! haha I was on a cycle path and it was the part where no horses are allowed, horse rider went mental as my pulsing light could spook her horse.

 

[Andy_R]

She still broke http://highwaycode.info/rule/147 though!

Was she breaking it or just ignoring it, as rule 147 is a recommendation (use of the word "should")?

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I suppose it is confusing, I ask a specific question about an aspect of cycling ,
I wasn’t aware I had to write a fully informative word perfect essay in order to get my query across and an answer ,

You don't, you just ought not to contradict yourself.

 

[rogerzilla]

I get shouted at by peds because my light is "too bright". It's a 3W light aimed about 6 yards ahead. What do the poor snowflakes do if they see a car with 120W dipped towards the pavement?

 

[mjr]

I get shouted at by peds because my light is "too bright". It's a 3W light aimed about 6 yards ahead. What do the poor snowflakes do if they see a car with 120W dipped towards the pavement?

Probably nothing because it's a larger illuminated area and better aiming lens. Never mind the total watts, what's the lux above the horizontal at 10m on your light?

 

[subaqua]

Hell, some cyclists insist on having lights illuminated during the day, despite their being no proven safety benefit.

thats just because i cant be bothered to move the switch on the dynamo light