Dangerous or not?

[nagden]

I was in our nearest town yesterday and saw a fellow cyclist. He was completely dressed in black, with not a hint of anything reflective or a flashing rear light. He was riding a full blown time trial bike in the most aero position possible. My concern is that this was on a busy road bound for Paris. Although it was in full daylight you could barely see him against a dark background. On top of this would his reaction time have been good enough in this situation and would his vision have been good enough?

Am I being over cautious?

 

[Oldhippy]

Yes.

 

[Drago]

I'd want to eyeball it myself to make a judgement.

A lot of people nod sagely at the sight of hi vis, but typical yellow hi vis has been shown to have a camouflage effect against a green background (hence MREW etc wearing red) so out of town the supposedly sensible option might be even worse.

 

[All uphill]

People often comment to me on cyclists who are not wrapped up like Christmas presents and lit up like Christmas trees; less so about car drivers drinking their coffee, exceeding speed limits and pedestrians crossing without looking.

I guess we each make our own risk assessment and then live with the consequences.

I always have lights on my bike, I take care to position myself well out of the gutter, give early and clear signals, and offer "helpful feedback " to drivers who endanger me. I wear whatever I put on in the morning that day, with a woolly hat.

 

[AndyRM]

And yet, you saw him...

 

[Time Waster]

But seeing him doesn't mean recognition and appropriate reaction. One thing I noticed the unusual results in drivers giving me more space.

Recumbent I get more consideration than my DF upright towing my child in a trailer or sat on a child seat on the back.

 

[nagden]

And yet, you saw him...

Yes from the side as he passed in front of me at a junction. From behind against a dark car he was barely visible.

 

[Vantage]

Dark coloured cars should be banned.

 

[johnblack]

I have never had this problem, but what do I know, maybe I just couldn't see them.

 

[AndyRM]

Yes from the side as he passed in front of me at a junction. From behind against a dark car he was barely visible.

So, again, you saw him.

I suppose I don't understand these sorts of threads. If your levels of perception are so poor that you can see but somehow not see a cyclist then that's a whole other issue.

Unless it's pitch black and there's no other light source, you're going to see things assuming your vision isn't seriously impaired.

 

[All uphill]

So, again, you saw him.

I suppose I don't understand these sorts of threads. If your levels of perception are so poor that you can see but somehow not see a cyclist then that's a whole other issue.

Unless it's pitch black and there's no other light source, you're going to see things assuming your vision isn't seriously impaired.

I think it's a bit more complicated than that; we tend not to see things outside our central zone of vision, and we miss things that that don't fit what we are looking for. That's why I want to place myself directly in driver's eyeline and use flashing lights.

Of course if the driver is looking at the touchscreen in their car or munching on their sandwich there isn't much that will help.

 

[Cycleops]

I'd say ill advised but you can't live other people's lives for them. Perhaps when he has an incident it might make him adjust his appearance.
If you were to stop him and try to advise he might just tell you to Foxtrot Oscar.

 

[Hover Fly]

A long time ago, before the internet told us all what to do in every situation, a local landowner was hit and killed. The court case against the driver went something like (heavily paraphrased)
Driver, “…He was wearing dark green and brown clothes against a hedge , I didn’t see him until it was too late…”
Magistrate, “….not guilty”
If the worst comes to the worst I ain’t giving no crap driver no chance to get off that easily. It’s light and bright colors for me, plus plenty of lumens.

 

[Hover Fly]

Dark coloured cars should be banned.

I once had a dark blue MG with a cloth roof, I also drove a small works van in white. I noticed that when I was a certain A road junction known locally as “ killer junction” I was far more likely to have someone pull when I was too close (measured as having to brake) when driving the MG than when driving the van. I swapped the dark MG for a brighter colored model.

 

[Alex321]

So, again, you saw him.

I suppose I don't understand these sorts of threads. If your levels of perception are so poor that you can see but somehow not see a cyclist then that's a whole other issue.

Unless it's pitch black and there's no other light source, you're going to see things assuming your vision isn't seriously impaired.

I think his point was that while he did see the cyclist, he may well not have done if it weren't for the cyclist moving beyond the dark background of the car.