Cylists without lights - disproportionately annoys me!!

Pound

parkmalco wrote: »

whats with these cyclists riding on the road holding up all the traffic when there is an empty cycle lane at the side of them?
they get a blast from my horn to scare the bejeasus out of them.

1. Using the cycle lane is slower if it involves having to leave the road and merge back in with the traffic.
2. Debris can sometimes collect up on cycle lanes.
3. Some cycle lanes are badly designed and dangerous, this is the reason the government cancelled their plan to make their use mandatory.

hippey

Got to say I have no lights & ride all in dark clothing. Luckily I live in an area where I can get to and from work all on off road cycleways, all lit although some parts have non working lights & quite a few underpasses.

The reason I like NOT to be seen late night? I had the rather frightening experience of an attempted robbery, at the time I had a bright reflective jacket and lights and could be seen coming by a nice friendly gang of dark clothed youths and got jumped on in a poorly lit area thank goodness I got away! 2 others that evening had not been so lucky!!

Since then I have been in stealth and it's worked, it might annoy law abiding people but it's much safer for me!

sharnad

hippey wrote: »

Got to say I have no lights & ride all in dark clothing. Luckily I live in an area where I can get to and from work all on off road cycleways, all lit although some parts have non working lights & quite a few underpasses.

The reason I like NOT to be seen late night? I had the rather frightening experience of an attempted robbery, at the time I had a bright reflective jacket and lights and could be seen coming by a nice friendly gang of dark clothed youths and got jumped on in a poorly lit area thank goodness I got away! 2 others that evening had not been so lucky!!

Since then I have been in stealth and it's worked, it might annoy law abiding people but it's much safer for me!

do you ever come across people on these cycleways

adouglasmhor

sharnad wrote: »

do you ever come across people on these cycleways

He's cycling home from work not dogging.

hippey

sharnad wrote: »

do you ever come across people on these cycleways

Of course I do, mainly in the daytime. But the Redways are well known for their problems, why do I need lights anyway when most if the routes should be lit anyway??

rev_henry

hippey wrote: »

Of course I do, mainly in the daytime. But the Redways are well known for their problems, why do I need lights anyway when most if the routes should be lit anyway??

Yeah I don't see what's wrong with what your doing. You're not even legally required to have lights because you're off the road right?

marleyboy

hippey wrote: »

why do I need lights anyway when most if the routes should be lit anyway??

Something about it being law. I think the majority of "off road" tracks remain unlit, making such a legal requirement all the more valid.

esuhl

marleyboy wrote: »

Something about it being law. I think the majority of "off road" tracks remain unlit, making such a legal requirement all the more valid.

Just out of interest... does anyone know what the law says about needing lights at night if you're not on the road?

I imagine that you'd need lights on any public thoroughfare, but I could drive a car or ride a bike round my back garden without lights if I wanted... But what about private land where the public are allowed limited access... or on Crown Estates...?

When I go cycling through the forest nearest me (partly public land, partly private, and partly Crown Estate!), I usually turn my rear light off as it would be extremely unlikely for anyone to approach me from behind, and in the pitch darkness they'd easily see my front lights from behind anyway...

It's quite annoying when I come up behind someone else in the forest who has their rear light on. They're clearly visible without it (due to their front lights) and the rear lights can be painfully dazzling, making it harder to see where you're going...

Obviously I have my lights on all the time (at night) when I'm using a cycle paths or roads, etc.

hippey

marleyboy wrote: »

Something about it being law. I think the majority of "off road" tracks remain unlit, making such a legal requirement all the more valid.

In Milton Keynes the Redways are off road red tarmac paths all have street lights (if they are working!) so it's very easy to see who is coming. It's the areas where the lights are broken which get freqented by the odd gang of youths.

Unfortunatly these youths don't always have the best of intentions as I have found out many times. I have riden the same / similar route for 8 years and found riding without lights the best method.

Funny enough I passed 2 police officers dressed in black, cycling without lights in the same area where I was jumped a few months ago. They were not interested when I shot past them without my lights!

Mids_Costcutter

paddedjohn wrote: »

another pain in the ar*e are the cyclists who are going nowhere. i can just about put up with the ones who are cycling to or from work or the shops, but local to me are a number of country roads with a 60 limit and there are idiots on their cycles all the time holding up the rush hour traffic morning and evening, and they are going nowhere, back and forth, up and down, dressed like ballet dancers in lycra, why dont they have a bit of regard for proper road users and use an exercise bike

So a leisure journey is somehow less 'valid' than a commuting one? Do so many leisure cyclists (going nowhere) all choose to use busy roads at peak times where you live? Seems a little hard to believe.

Does this antipathy to cyclists also apply to horse riders, tractors, pedestrians etc? It gets us nowhere.

So what if a motorist has to wait for a short while behind a cyclist where it's not safe to pass: it's called sharing the road. Cyclists are proper road users and have every right to be there.