Cyclists gets a finger wag !

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martint235

Dog on a bike
Location
Welling
My point is that ok,you could still be hit if you're wearing head to toe high viz with flashing lights, but the chances of being hit while wearing dark clothing are considerably higher. It's the same with bullet proof vests. Wearing one in a shoot out doesn't guarantee you wont get shot but it does decrease the chance considerably
There's an issue with your logic there.
 
No it doesn't. It decreases the likelihood that, having been shot, the bullet will cause you a severe injury. A bulletproof vest doesn't make bullets magically veer around you.

Hi viz doesn't decrease the likelihood that, having been hit by a car, that the car will cause you a severe injury - not does it make cars magically veer around you.

Your analogy does not stand up.
If anything a bullet proof vest will increase your chance of being shot because you are now a slightly larger target, you are heavier so less agile and difficult to ascertain increases due to things risk-compensation thinking you are less vulnerable. Now, what does that all remind me of.....
 
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User32269

Guest
I agree it appears to make sense to increase your visibility. The problem I have with the whole issue is the burden of safety always appears to be put upon all other road users except the ones, in a ton of metal, who do all the damage.

A child was killed in the road outside my kids school. After campaigning the speed limit is now widely signposted at 20mph. Even though everybody was shocked and saddened at this life lost, it didn't take long for selfish scumbags to go over the limit, then throw their cars on pavements or block junctions, endangering more kids lives, so they didn't have to walk 20 yards to the school gate.

All our kids were given hi viz vests to wear on the way to and from school. This will be no protection if they are hit by a car, but if your child was not wearing it at the time, a subtle perception that it was a contributing factor would exist.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Does he ride a motor pike and side carp?
Autocorrect loves fishing, yet again.
 

skudupnorth

Cycling Skoda lover
They were meant to be mounted onto a fin brazed on the outside of the front fork, not directly to the fork IIRC, else that was a risk. If you didn't have a fin, there was some adapter to fit it to... I think the headset.


The rears tended to get thrown clear by the wheel rotation, but rear-wheel lockups tend to be less dramatic anyway.
Mine was an aftermarket clamp affair which came lose and swivelled the wrong way :cry:
 

skudupnorth

Cycling Skoda lover
Same thing happened to someone I know (although I didn't at the time) and I would imagine many many others, they really were shocking :laugh: How did we ever survive?
Mind you I don't know what the lesser of the two evils was when the toss up was between them and a dynamo that wore your tyre away and made it feel like you were constantly going up a 1:4
View attachment 333835
That centre screw was supposed to help secure the dynamo bracket to your frame but it had no chance against the force of the spring that activated the main unit !
 

Sandra6

Veteran
Location
Cumbria
I'm sorry if I have this wrong but it sounds as if you're suggesting that it wasn't really the motorists fault that they pulled out on you.
Not at all. And if you'd heard me turn the air blue at the time you'd know who I thought was at fault!

Proper bike lights have to be visible from the sides, which is an oft-overlooked benefit of standards-compliant lights. It's a shame the UK bicycle chain stores rarely sell any.


:smile: My usual bike has the rear quarter of its rear mudguard white but I bet many of the nerks telling us to dress like alien space lemons haven't done that.
My light is actually visible from the side now I come to think of it, it has a cut out bit for that exact purpose according to the packaging !
Because I use my lights when I am cycling. Even in daylight.
.
why do you ride with lights on in the daylight? I'm assuming you mean even on a nice, clear, sunny day?
We were once riding along a disused railway line on a beautiful summer's day and were dazzled for a full ten minutes by the oncoming cyclists ridiculously bright front light.
I tend to follow the lead of other road users, and if the majority have their lights on, so do I.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
That centre screw was supposed to help secure the dynamo bracket to your frame but it had no chance against the force of the spring that activated the main unit !
Wasn't that screw meant to do up so tight that it pierced the paint and bit into the steel, providing the earth return connection for a headlight as well as resisting the spring?
 

steve50

Disenchanted Member
Location
West Yorkshire
Not at all. And if you'd heard me turn the air blue at the time you'd know who I thought was at fault!


My light is actually visible from the side now I come to think of it, it has a cut out bit for that exact purpose according to the packaging !

why do you ride with lights on in the daylight? I'm assuming you mean even on a nice, clear, sunny day?
We were once riding along a disused railway line on a beautiful summer's day and were dazzled for a full ten minutes by the oncoming cyclists ridiculously bright front light.
I tend to follow the lead of other road users, and if the majority have their lights on, so do I.

For clarity, I ride with my lights on in the winter months I also will switch my lights on in the summer months should the weather change (heavy rain or fog). I do not have my lights on during fine sunny weather, I also angle my front light so as not to dazzle other road users.

Edit; Up here in north west yorkshire it is quite common to see other cyclists riding with their lights on, probably something to do with the crap weather we seem to get a lot of.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Edit; Up here in north west yorkshire it is quite common to see other cyclists riding with their lights on, probably something to do with the crap weather we seem to get a lot of.
You don't think it's anything to do with many local cyclists thinking they should, possibly because West Yorkshire Police come out with evil shoot like "Hi-Vis clothing when cycling at night can be real a life saver"? I wish we had a data quality law like the USA so public bodies had to retract such unjustified claims when challenged. (Edit: most of that page is hilarious. Apparently "NEVER leave your bike over night as 80% of bike thefts occur during the hours of darkness" - so what? Take your bike to bed with you?)
 
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