Mr Taxi Driver - the Fashion Police

[brokenbetty]

Just makes my blood boil that no matter what we do to be seen we are always at fault Ahhhhhhhhh !

You have to understand it's a purely logical deduction. The logic goes like this

"I am a good driver therefore I don't make mistakes. As I didn't see you and I don't make mistakes, the only possible explanation is something wrong with your lights / clothing / position. These are things you are responsible for therefore it's your fault. QED"

 

[sonic]

I'm sorry, but you are having a laugh if you think that you were well lit up, and indeed if you think the taxi driver was at fault. From my understanding if the situation as you explained it, being dressed in black as you were, the only things to make the driver aware of your presence were your night-vision trousers and your front light.

the reflectors on your trousers will only work if light is reflecting off them, which they wouldn't be if he was sitting in a junction (you say he only noticed you when you were right infront of him - i.e. when his headlights were able to light up your reflectors!)

as for your front light - the flea is a back-up only. how much more visable could you be? well get a proper front light for starters! especially with street lights and other cars' headlights, he would really struggle to see it - many concider the likes of knog frogs, fleas, electron backupz, etc to be about as good as nothing at all.

you were lucky you weren't knocked off your bike - I implore you - buy a proper light, at the very least. but ideally, have two £30+ lights, one flashing, one steady.

 

[snapper_37]

I'm sorry, but you are having a laugh if you think that you were well lit up, and indeed if you think the taxi driver was at fault. From my understanding if the situation as you explained it, being dressed in black as you were, the only things to make the driver aware of your presence were your night-vision trousers and your front light.

the reflectors on your trousers will only work if light is reflecting off them, which they wouldn't be if he was sitting in a junction (you say he only noticed you when you were right infront of him - i.e. when his headlights were able to light up your reflectors!)

as for your front light - the flea is a back-up only. how much more visable could you be? well get a proper front light for starters! especially with street lights and other cars' headlights, he would really struggle to see it - many concider the likes of knog frogs, fleas, electron backupz, etc to be about as good as nothing at all.

you were lucky you weren't knocked off your bike - I implore you - buy a proper light, at the very least. but ideally, have two £30+ lights, one flashing, one steady.

Bugger me! If you'd read the thread, you would have seen Foss giving me some advice ref lights and advice taken on board (awaiting delivery today).

I don't agree that I wasn't seen because it's 'only' a back up light or because I wear black. He was looking straight at me whilst still pulling out, so unless I had an invisible cloak on, the SMIDSY is bullshit anyway.

But thanks for honouring me with your first post .

 

[summerdays]

I think with taxi drivers you really do get the 2 extremes from really awful to really nice.... I have one junction that I regularly have problems at (by Millpond School) which is at the end of a cycle contraflow although it is 2 way for motor traffic for the last 20 m or so. Somehow they don't expect anything coming out of that junction and I have had 2 cars turn in at the same time on either side of me waiting to turn out before now.

Yesterday I arrived there at the worst time ... school coming out... it becomes complete chaos then and the only saving grace is the nice lollipop lady who often seems as if she is standing in the road to let me across on my bike as well as the kids. But before she could step into action a very nice taxi driver flashed me across.

What lights have you bought Snapper? Have you got charged batteries ready and waiting? And do remember to test the light by looking directly at it to see how bright it is (important ritual blinding in the new light purchase process)

 

[snapper_37]

Hi Summer, I've had the Exposure Flash Front Light which I will use in addition to the flea. Hope this is ok.

I feel a bit of a twat as I really thought the flea was a decent light (and it passed the blinding test ) but I hadn't taken into consideration street lighting and car lights as mentioned by other posters.

Ahhh well, as they say, you learn something new everyday!

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i find that a helmet-mounted light such as you find in camping shops is very useful for deterring the smidsys. if you look at them with a flashing white light there is not a court in the land that will accept that they did not see, it would be proof they did not look.

i've seen many drivers think twice when i've done that.

the caveat is that i've never done city centre commuting.

 

[Mad at urage]

I'm sorry, but you are having a laugh if you think that you were well lit up, and indeed if you think the taxi driver was at fault. From my understanding if the situation as you explained it, being dressed in black as you were, the only things to make the driver aware of your presence were your night-vision trousers and your front light.

the reflectors on your trousers will only work if light is reflecting off them, which they wouldn't be if he was sitting in a junction (you say he only noticed you when you were right infront of him - i.e. when his headlights were able to light up your reflectors!)

as for your front light - the flea is a back-up only. how much more visable could you be? well get a proper front light for starters! especially with street lights and other cars' headlights, he would really struggle to see it - many concider the likes of knog frogs, fleas, electron backupz, etc to be about as good as nothing at all.

you were lucky you weren't knocked off your bike - I implore you - buy a proper light, at the very least. but ideally, have two £30+ lights, one flashing, one steady.

I wonder what colour the taxi was. I wonder whether there were bright lights shing from its side. If I drive or cycle into the side of a black taxi (or car), t-boning the driver, can I claim it is the driver's fault because (s)he is driving a black (therefore invisible) vehicle?

 

[mumbo jumbo]

Hmmm. I've been wearing my Foska "bones" jacket these last few weeks. Black but reflective. After the vitriol following the BBC helmet cam piece yesterday I switched to the yellow "crash test dummy" (with less reflective stuff) this morning. Am I more visible in it in morning half light or in the dark? Doubt it, especially with the bright light set I have. But I did it all the same. Must be getting soft...

mj

 

[snapper_37]

I wonder what colour the taxi was. I wonder whether there were bright lights shing from its side. If I drive or cycle into the side of a black taxi (or car), t-boning the driver, can I claim it is the driver's fault because (s)he is driving a black (therefore invisible) vehicle?

lol, i've got a bit of meat on my bones but probably not the size of a mondeo estate yet.

 

[Norm]

Hi Summer, I've had the Exposure Flash Front Light which I will use in addition to the flea. Hope this is ok.

I just bought an Exposure Flash as an addition to the Maxx D already on my bars and the Joystick I have head-mounted.

It's a great little light for "being seen" purposes and, as the Flash and Flare are available in a kit for £80 with rechargeables and charger, there's little excuse to go with any of Cateye's products any more. IMO.

However, I'll support the poster above who said that a head-mounted torch is a great way to be noticed.

 

[Mad at urage]

It's the whole "If it's not lit up like a Christmas tree, I have every right not to see it" attitude that grates with me: How do these people manage not to walk into doors, bins, trees etc in everyday life?

Or is it just that when sitting inside a 1.5 ton ( or whatever ) metal can, with 100 bph ( or whatever big boy ) "under their control", they don't need to pay as much attention to what they 'might' hit?

 

[Dan B]

lol, i've got a bit of meat on my bones but probably not the size of a mondeo estate yet.

A big black object is more visible than a smaller one? What does it do, block out the stars?

 

[Arch]

When I leave work, I do a right turn out of a side road, onto a main road, and since Octoberish, I've been doing this in the dark, or dusk.. There are often cyclists coming along, some lit, some not (and one last week lit by a flashing amber LED on the front....).

It's true, I see the lit ones sooner, but I see the unlit ones too, no matter what they are wearing. The reasons?

a) up here, we have these things called 'streetlights', which make it possible to see quite well at night

and

b) I look, look, and look again before I pull out. With some more looking as I go.

It is possible to miss a badly or non lit person until the last minute, esp with other lights behind them. But I suspect in about 90% of cases, it's down to people actually not looking properly. Like really properly. The difference between me and a driver I suppose, is that if I get it wrong, I get hurt, they just get a dent in their door.

That said, I carry two or three lights, and wear a yellow jacket - mostly so that in the event of SMIDSY I can say "And which bit could you NOT see?"

 

[Mad at urage]

When I leave work, I do a right turn out of a side road, onto a main road, and since Octoberish, I've been doing this in the dark, or dusk.. There are often cyclists coming along, some lit, some not (and one last week lit by a flashing amber LED on the front....).

It's true, I see the lit ones sooner, but I see the unlit ones too, no matter what they are wearing. The reasons?

a) up here, we have these things called 'streetlights', which make it possible to see quite well at night

and

b) I look, look, and look again before I pull out. With some more looking as I go.

It is possible to miss a badly or non lit person until the last minute, esp with other lights behind them. But I suspect in about 90% of cases, it's down to people actually not looking properly. Like really properly. The difference between me and a driver I suppose, is that if I get it wrong, I get hurt, they just get a dent in their door.

That said, I carry two or three lights, and wear a yellow jacket - mostly so that in the event of SMIDSY I can say "And which bit could you NOT see?"

Errr, I mean yeah

 

[Norm]

... mostly so that in the event of SMIDSY I can say "And which bit could you NOT see?"

I had a chap try to drive into me on a roundabout in town a year or so back.

He probably would have succeeded too, if his wife hadn't been screeching from the passenger seat - she was loud enough I heard her from outside the car. He stopped close enough that I rested my bike on his front bumper to get off and have a little chat with him.

I can't remember my exact words to him but they were along the lines of "If you didn't see 20 stone of cyclist in flouro yellow, don't you think you should pop along to an optician."