Watch out for people on bikes in the dark months especially.

[LisbethSalandersPan]

So the clocks change this weekend, and darkness on the roads comes early.

I think this is an annual request from me to MN drivers to bear in mind the fact that we as folks who ride bikes are pretty vulnerable usually, and more so for the next few months. Windscreens get fogged up, rain comes down, wipers are going, and people just want to get home.

But even the best lit up/legally lit up rider can be difficult to see from a driver's POV (and most adult commuters are also drivers of cars) at times.

So it's a request for drivers to bring an extra awareness to their driving pratices, to recognise that your fellow road users are around you, usually to your left hand side and that we need to be seen by you to avoid nasty outcomes.

I don't think I am being unreasonable?

I have noticed a trend in our town, commuters almost always tend to be dressed up like xmas trees, with reflective clothing and headlamps - the works. But more casual cyclists (IME) tend to wear dark clothes and don't have the appropriate lights.

It's very hard to see someone that isn't lit up correctly in winter, cars are not excluded from this at all (people without their headlights on? Wtf?!) I see both sides of this argument and I think people probably wouldn't have jumped on the OP if it was more of a "let's all be mindful of each other in the winter months" rather than "all drivers are to blame for cyclists being in danger because it's darker out."

That being said, everyone loves a good ole rant about cyclists!

bear - well done on the Breeze ride! IF I were a woman I'd probs be out with you. But I'm a mere bloke..

Road users need to abide by the rules of the road. Stay within the flow of traffic, stop thinking you can nip in there on the side of a vehicle.

The Breeze rides are brilliant. The Breeze champions are so encouraging. I have joined the cycling club now and wouldn't have done so without Breeze.

cran I haven't anywhere said 'drivers are to blame' for anything...I am also a driver so mea culpa. The OP is an annual request for drivers to bear some things in mind re rider safety esp when windscreens get foggy and rain comes down for eg.

Sorry for assuming you were a lady

I had an altercation this week with a very fat woman on a bike

What has someone's weight got to do with it.

Would you say 'I had an altercation this week with a very thin woman on a bike'

I follow Breeze Network on twitter and the items/photos look a hoot, all fresh faces and smiles.

I've been on MN for 4/5 years now and I've never seen this annual message that no one's allowed reply to before.

On what authority do you have to dictate what users can post

I don't see any of it being irrelevant and I don't have an agenda. When I posted in support of cycle lanes not always suitable coming off of the ops post I was directed again to only posting what the op wants on the thread.

Start a petition for broadcast messages if you don't like discussions.

Can I just point out that on the whole most drivers are pretty safe. As with everything there is just the odd idiot, driver and cyclist alike. I don't know if any of you remember the advert in the 70s, think once, think twice, think bike. That was aimed at motorcyclists. You can be automatically looking for cars not bikes when you pull out from a junction. I guess the same. Applies to cyclists.

Don't really understand the comment that everyone loves a good rant about cyclists. We are vulnerable road users. It is common sense to take care. Try riding a bike yourself. Not every one has a car.

Well tbh I've posted this request for about the last 7-8 years. I've been a poster since 2006. I do like discussion - on the OP? IF folks go off of it then I'm okay to say that;s irrelevant, when it is.

If people on bikes go through a test as every other road user has to. If people that use bikes have insurance. If people that use bikes go with the flow of traffic. Then I dont see a problem. Im so over the fact that bike users see themselves as "vulnerable".

I drive a car and believe me, I DO watch out for people on bikes in the dark months especially.

Trouble is, some of them are bloody hard to spot.

I don't remember seeing this annual request either. Motorists need to look out for cyclists that wear dark colours, have no lights or reflective gear and making themselves invisible at night?

sparkling that's not relevant to the thread it's like the parking police all over again.

Aah ok Brand. It's one of those threads.

I ride a bike and drive a car. As a cyclist I will use appropriate lights, hi vis gear( helmets not revelant when it comes to people crashing or not crashing into me), I will also obey the rules of the highway code. As a driver I will also obey the highway code, lookout especially for vulnerable road users, even stoned idiots on bmx bikes with no lights, because theses idiots are still someone's kid. I have lost someone in a rta its not about whose right and whose wrong but just about looking out for each other as human beings rather than alien cyclists vs people in metal boxes.

YANBU, I had a close call with a cyclist the other day, it scared me shitless (and him more, I'm sure). In my defence he wasn't wearing reflective clothes or had a light AND ran a red light but it did make me realise I might need to pay more attention.

I think the cyclist was probably the one needing to pay more attention in that scenario Flambola.

I am a very infrequent cyclist, but I sympathise with not always using cycle paths and lanes especially when you see how badly designed and maintained they are.

Yeah, I passed three cyclists yesterday who were wearing dark clothes and cycling without lights. However, they were in the minority: I probably encountered forty who were appropriately lit up (my route home from work has a LOT of cyclists on it).

Surely if car drivers know that cyclists are sometimes virtually invisible then that's all the more reason to check even more carefully for cyclists in poor visibility? Even if you hate cyclists, it's really hard to get the dents out of your bonnet...