Lights, how much is a life worth?

[Mrs M]

I always have lights on during the day.
May have seen them, may have not.
Just think that my solid and flashing lights may capture the attention of even the most half asleep, short sighted individual and if not I am in the same boat as those with no lights anyway.
I always have lights, helmet and hi viz/ fluorescent, appreciate there are no guarantees but just makes me feel safer.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I always have lights, helmet and hi viz/ fluorescent, appreciate there are no guarantees but just makes me feel safer.

My lucky rabbit's foot achieves much the same effect.

 

[Mrs M]

My lucky rabbit's foot achieves much the same effect.

I'm so happy for you,

 

[glasgowcyclist]

... Imaging a scenario where no road users had lights of any sort on busy unlit roads.

I imagine everyone would be paying very close attention to what was happening around them and driving at an appropriate speed for the circumstances. By Jove, I think you're on to something! When do we start?

GC

 

[fossyant]

I've given up worrying about others. I was clipped in daylight with two Smart R2s on flash in September.

Some folks lights are seriously crap. God knows what they think when they see my lights powered by a small reactor in my panniers. I'm not riding down a pitch black lane that's covered in debris, branches and camouflaged dogs without some wattage. I do drop them as soon as I spot someone.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

You assume that there weren't some other riders who were not seen, who otherwise would have been if they'd made an effort?

I assume that riders without lights aren't invisible, especially in car headlights. Else I'm sure I'd have hit one by now, when driving.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I'm so happy for you,

Alas the feeling isn't entirely mutual on account of your space lemon look. It's nothing personal.

Hi-viz doth offend mine eye.

 

[KneesUp]

I assume that riders without lights aren't invisible, especially in car headlights. Else I'm sure I'd have hit one by now, when driving.

How can you be sure you'd have hit one? And why are you creating such an obvious straw-man based on trying to equate 'less visible' with 'invisible'?

 

[Mrs M]

Alas the feeling isn't entirely mutual on account of your space lemon look. It's nothing personal.

Hi-viz doth offend mine eye.

What's a space lemon?

 

[Dan B]

I can't think of many unlit objects that are on the carriageway in the dark and move. Can you?

Pedestrians are the obvious example. Why "and move", specifically?

 

[KneesUp]

Pedestrians are the obvious example. Why "and move", specifically?

Pedestrians tend to spend very little time on the carriageway though - that said, the fatality rate of pedestrians is three times higher at night than in the day.

Movement can make things harder to see. Perhaps, for example, a cyclist might be in the shadoiw of a parked van when you glance in his direction, then you miss him when he's under the streetlight because you're watching a pedestrian or concentrating on an oncoming car and working out where one of you must stop for the other to pass and by the time you look again the cyclist is being overtaken by another car - whatever - movement can make things harder to see. Movement can also be unpredictable - a cyclist you haven't seen riding along a road in the bus lane is one thing, but a cyclist you haven't seen pulling out to avoid a pothole he has only just seen (perhaps because he has no lights) is quite another.

 

[theclaud]

What's a space lemon?

A thing of unearthly yellowness. The term was coined by Ravenbait, formerly of this parish.

 

[Mrs M]

A thing of unearthly yellowness. The term was coined by Ravenbait, formerly of this parish.

How about pink?

 

[Dan B]

I often see pedestrians in the carriageway on my commute (central London -> E17), I guess we use different roads.

Reason I ask about moving is that I find it *easier* to see things that move - our peripheral vision is more or less designed for that purpose after all.

 

[theclaud]

How about pink?

Fluorescent pink? Personally, I do neither fluorescent nor pink. Both at once doesn't bear thinking about.