Ninja last night,

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J

J4CKO

New Member
Yep, I agree but it bumps up the statistics and makes cycling look less safe and puts other people off because some ride without lights, saying that they probably dont actually get hurt under sods law, minute you get some you will get taken out, I suspect some ride around concsious of it all the time but cant get their head round the £5 - £30 you can get lights for, just to complicated.
 

siadwell

Guru
Location
Surrey
XmisterIS said:
"Hi there, lovely warm night isn't it? You know you should really get some lights, you're virtually invisible."
"Fack orf you wankar" (Said in the chap's best Gosport accent).
"Oh, charming!"
"Fack orf you fackin' posh wankar!"
"Thank you ever so much. Good night!"

Should have given the blighter a sound horse-whipping.
 

goo_mason

Champion barbed-wire hurdler
Location
Leith, Edinburgh
Still far too many people riding and driving about in the dark between 6.00 and 6.30am at the moment with no lights on. Bikes I'm almost used to, but cars? I've tried to point out to them that their lights are off (since I can't flash my lights at them like you;'d do in a car), but get zero response.

And yes, I'd have told the lightless Ninja idiot that he might like to get some lights too.

(I yelled at some posh schoolkid yesterday who came steaming through red lights on Ferry Road, swerving between the OAPs who were on the crossing at the time. To his credit, he did look suitably ashamed when I yelled - hopefully he'll think next time and stop.)
 

siadwell

Guru
Location
Surrey
Came across some interesting figures relating to conspicuity on the CTC website:
Quite a lot of work was done on this by G R Watts, published in 1983-4 by TRRL.

[stuff about hi-viz clothing omitted]

Watts also surveyed use of lights: finding 75% of 2500 night-time cyclists properly lit and 9% completely unlit. It’s interesting to compare this with unpublished data collected by West Sussex Police about cyclists in reported night time accidents, which found 90% of them properly lit.

Comparing the two it might seem as if it’s safer to be unlit. In practice it’s more likely that unlit cyclists keep to back streets and ride on the pavement (where if they do have an accident it’ll be minor and go unreported), whereas those faced with an unavoidably dangerous commute will make sure they have all the right gear.
 

hydridmatt

Über Member
Geriatric Ninja

Last winter, I encountered a woman who had no working lights, as I approached a set of traffic lights. As I stopped behind her I said “your lights not working” to which she replied in a very posh voice, “no”.

Eh?

As she had old-school dyno lights I figured a bulb had gone so I just explained that to her, but she would not have it. I explained I wasn’t trying it on, I had just struggled to see her but she went on the offensive, and said “well I have had these lights a very long time, they are better than those little plastic things you have”. I explained that I had no agenda, just wanted to make her aware but she kept having a go at me. In the end, I lost my rag and ended up shouting at her

“I don’t give a f*** - I was just trying to help. You can get hit by a bus for all I care”

No driver has ever annoyed me more…
 
hydridmatt said:
Last winter, I encountered a woman who had no working lights, as I approached a set of traffic lights. As I stopped behind her I said “your lights not working” to which she replied in a very posh voice, “no”.

Eh?

As she had old-school dyno lights I figured a bulb had gone so I just explained that to her, but she would not have it. I explained I wasn’t trying it on, I had just struggled to see her but she went on the offensive, and said “well I have had these lights a very long time, they are better than those little plastic things you have”. I explained that I had no agenda, just wanted to make her aware but she kept having a go at me. In the end, I lost my rag and ended up shouting at her

“I don’t give a f*** - I was just trying to help. You can get hit by a bus for all I care”

No driver has ever annoyed me more…
Am I missing something? Wouldn't dyno lights stop working at traffic lights anyway? :smile:
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Lazy-Commuter said:
Am I missing something? Wouldn't dyno lights stop working at traffic lights anyway? :biggrin:

Yes, if they were the old sort without a standlight.

Which is why it's a good idea, although I don't think it's a legal requirement, to have a back up LED for junctions if you have dynamos without a standlight. Well, a back up is sensible anyway, whatever lights you have.
 
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