Was this bus driver bad?

[magnatom]

Does it really though?

Is the balance between winding up motorists by being perceived as dayglo, lycra clad street warriors actually not tip things in the other direction? I mean, if I'm in primary position then in ordinary clothing I'm visible. Am I really significantly easier to see in dayglo? And if I'm not am I not just reinforcing the stereotype of the vulnerable but pushy bright coloured cyclist?

Yes.



Come on cab. How could wearing hi viz wind up a driver? How many drivers have you heard saying:
'I hate those damn cyclists their colours just wind me up. And what's that with the hi-viz! I mean, it's as if they want me to see them or something. The other day I saw a cyclist who's colours all clashed it just made me fume!! And then there was the cyclist who had just had his teeth whitened. He kept smiling just to irritate me.........'

 

[gambatte]

I'm not making any comments about what you or anyone else should wear!! Wear what you want!

I'll stop winding you Mag!!

 

[magnatom]

I'll stop winding you Mag!!

Your alright! I quite enjoy it today. I'm in work knackered because the family isn't sleeping at night at the moment. I have work to do, but it involves setting something running and waiting for it to finish 15 minutes later. So I have to do something while I wait.

Cab seems to have taken the bait though......

 

[gambatte]

Your alright! I quite enjoy it today. I'm in work knackered because the family isn't sleeping at night at the moment

Similar:- pregnant wife not sleeping well, and 6 year old, Mini Me No1 suffering with a dose of 'man flu'

Keep thinking of popping out on the bike, but it looks cold out there and I can think of lots of reasons to stop in

 

[mickle]

Aren't cyclists who light themselves up like Christmas trees and smother themselves in Dayglo blouses doing the rest of us a disservice by encouraging drivers to be lazy in their observational checks?

I do believe this to be the case.

 

[tdr1nka]

On the Peds wearing hi-vi issue, there has been a big push over the last few years to cover school kids in company endorsed(Nationwide Building Soc. & Texaco for example)reflectors and hi-vi's. It doesn't look like compulsary hi-vi for peds is that far off in some situations.

The problem I see with hi-vi is that they are everywhere, Police officers, PCSO's, building sites, railway, highway, utility maintainance etc, that it is possible to get too used to them in your field of vision and not recognise them as a specific warning.

In answer to Brock, I can only think that one morning I woke and had aquired some common sense with regard to looking like Blackpool on a Bike.
A cyclist friend who was a nurse showed me some papers of the stats of head injury survival(at 30mph) apposed to those without helmets and I was convinced.
Like I've said, I don't enjoy the rigmerole and faff of getting garbed up to look like a nutter.
I have even had an incident where I was being chased at night by a driver in a Volvo estate(who I had given two fingers to for overtaking me on a roundabout), in this case I found it prudent to extinguish my lights, lose the hi-vi and hide me and the bike under a van for 20mins while they drove round looking for me and eventually gave up.

Well that's mangled my argument to pieces, dissect as you will......

T x

 

[magnatom]

Similar:- pregnant wife not sleeping well, and 6 year old, Mini Me No1 suffering with a dose of 'man flu'

Keep thinking of popping out on the bike, but it looks cold out there and I can think of lots of reasons to stop in

Because of my man flu I decided that cycling in to work would not have been in my best interests, despite my urge to start purging some of the excesses of the past few days!

 

[magnatom]

tdr1nka,

I think that you probably provided a reasonable example of when it is ok to go without lights at night! I think you could have done with one of those visibility coats!

I've just had an image in my head of some poor passer by walking past and seeing some legs and a bit of a bike hanging out from under a van. Poor soul probably thinks you had been run over and is traumatised to this very day...

 

[tdr1nka]

LOL, hadn't thought of that possibility! It was at about 2am and there were very few people around.

After the 20 mins of hiding under the van I figured it safe to emerge and head swiftly home. Minutes later I met the same car coming back the other way, beying for blood, and the chase continued around the grounds of a local Hospital for another hour until a Doctor, who had come out for a fag, saw what was happening, locked me in the building and called the police, who then took me home.

This event, which oddly enough only happened 2 months after the ped from off the bus incident(posted earlier), put me off cycling entirely for 5 years although I'm in my second year back in the saddle and feeling so much better for it.

My riding style, lid & hi-viz are really just things I've carried over from my
days of motorbikes, stay visible and ride defencively.


T x

 

[nethalus]

Aren't cyclists who light themselves up like Christmas trees and smother themselves in Dayglo blouses doing the rest of us a disservice by encouraging drivers to be lazy in their observational checks?

I wouldn't say it would make people lazy. Only a fool would not do there observational checks when driving. Unfortunately you know what they say about fools, one born every minute!!

 

[nethalus]

Does it really though?

Is the balance between winding up motorists by being perceived as dayglo, lycra clad street warriors actually not tip things in the other direction? I mean, if I'm in primary position then in ordinary clothing I'm visible. Am I really significantly easier to see in dayglo? And if I'm not am I not just reinforcing the stereotype of the vulnerable but pushy bright coloured cyclist?

Is that really true though? Speaking from personal experience, and from no other, I find day glow on cyclists helps them stick out more from further away. Just because someone is wearing it wouldn't wind me up in the slightest. I think the sort of idiots it winds up are idiots who probably don't like cyclists full stop and are simply using them wearing something for their own saftey as an excuse. Even if you went cycling in a suit and tie these mongs would probably get wound up about it!!!

 

[tdr1nka]

I have never had anyone get wound up because I was wearing Hi-Viz, then again when dressed like a mobile disco some might have difficulty seeing anything else!

T x

 

[domd1979]

No.

Would you apply the same argument to highway gangs wearing hi-viz when working? Do staff working on the railway wearing hi-viz encourage train drivers to be lazy?

Its not a matter of drivers being "lazy". Its recognising that certain colours, and reflective gear at night WILL make you more visible and more visible from further away.

Aren't cyclists who light themselves up like Christmas trees and smother themselves in Dayglo blouses doing the rest of us a disservice by encouraging drivers to be lazy in their observational checks?

 

[domd1979]

The point made was that most buses now go round with headlights on at all times. The companies that have introduced this policy have seen a significant reduction in accidents. Logical conclusion = making something on the road more conspicuous (even though you'd think a bus would be pretty obvious) can help.

Just one point to Nethalus, you say that accidents happen when people don't look and manage to hit buses, cars, motorbikes etc., if people don't see these large objects do you really think that wearing day glo clothing is going to help in these circumstances?

 

[nethalus]

The point made was that most buses now go round with headlights on at all times. The companies that have introduced this policy have seen a significant reduction in accidents. Logical conclusion = making something on the road more conspicuous (even though you'd think a bus would be pretty obvious) can help.

Aye it's not 100% fool proof, but it does go a long way to help.