Fed up of cyclists not wearing hi viz clothing and no lights on bikes

[Jdot]

Yesterday about this time I saw about this time 10 cyclists including food couriers on bikes with no lights and no hi viz clothing. Black clothing

This really makes me cross. If car drivers hit cyclists that are not visible, drivers should not be punished for this

I agree 100%!!!

I think both cyclists and pedestrians think that car lights and street lights make them far more visible than they actually are - light clothes are a help but a small one.

I think some would be shocked to see just how pretty-much-invisible they are cycling/crossing the road now the evenings are so dark. They need to be wearing something reflective.

I am even consciously buying my 3 year old a reflective coat now due to this.

Just wanted to post & send sympathy as this is absolutely awful. I also want to send sympathy to @pandaskitchentoo.

One of the reasons I take an interest in road safety campaigning is knowing too many people who have been victims in collisions.

No if they do not have lights and high vis they are stupid

The police should just be able to give out basic rechargeable bike lights and hi vis vests for free. They would probably cost about £20 a set and be far cheaper than trying to chase people around and prosecute them.

Edit - police or council road safety teams I mean

What is it with the hi viz posts! Lights area legal requirement. No where does it state that cyclists must wear hi viz or helmets!

These riders are generally not cyclists though.

They are on what look like standard bikes with an electric booster, but which are jailbroken (illegally) to go 40mph with no pedalling. They have no licence, no tax, no insurance. They give not one shiny shite about any of that when they're weaving in and out the traffic, on and off the pavement. And neither do the police.

Also helmets really aren’t designed to protect against cars in a collision.

Sorry, I was unclear, my son wasn't killed! I was just trying to make the point that even when cyclists follow the rules and wear all the right gear, they are still vulnerable to careless driving.

There are lots of bad cyclists, bad drivers and bad pedestrians around, but cars kill far more people than bikes. Government estimates show that of 1,600 deaths on UK roads last year, just four were caused by cyclists. But the ones caused by cyclists get far more media coverage than the much more frequent car accidents.

Well, that would be a bit nanny state even for my liking. Really they should enforce the law on bike lights, but there is very little activity on that here.

In my city, they could also enforce the 20mph residential speed limits which are seen as completely optional and in fact if you try to drive at 20mph you are seen as a bit of a social nuisance by other drivers.

If a car is turning right and signals, the cyclist must stop behind them, not overtake. Cyclists have poor awareness of road manoeuvres at times.

The pedestrians should wear visible clothing and drivers should be looking out for them.

I totally agree on the lights.

I would just say to every driver who moans about other road users not wearing high viz - do you yourself keep high viz vests in your car? If not, look to the plank in your own eye first and consider getting some. If you ever break down on a fast road in the dark, you and your children & passengers will be extremely vulnerable especially if you need to walk to safety and are wearing dark clothes that day. Having these things in the car will help.

If cyclists can’t manage to buy and use front / rear lights than quite honestly they deserve what they get. I feel sorry for the driver of any vehicle that hits them as it’s not their fault cyclists can’t take basic responsibility for their actions. The ones that also remove the reflectors off their wheels really annoy me as they’re very hard to spot when they suddenly shoot across road when lights aren’t as easy to see.

I'll add in the bloody joggers who run down the middle of our road where there's a pavement and a grassy area but neither suit - so they run on the road dressed in black with headphones in - I beep the horn to get by and they look at me like I'm the problem.

Was this in response to my post? My son was cycling on the left in the correct position approaching a junction. The car overtook him and turned left in front of him, clipping him and knocking him off. It's not unusual for impatient motorists to do this.

Nearly hit a jogger the other night. It was around 9pm very dark and wet, so poor visibility. The jogger dressed in dark clothes, no head lamp or hi viz on, running on the road towards me, luckily my headlights picked him out but not until I was almost on him, he sort of loomed suddenly out of the darkness. Frightened the bejasus out of me, I felt sick it was so scary!!

I think as a cyclist / pedestrian it’s easy to underestimate how invisible you are to drivers in the dark. You can be walking /cycling along thinking you can the way ahead perfectly well and assume you are equally visible to a car when you are not.

Drivers also have a responsibility to drive more cautiously in the dark, knowing how difficult it is to see people or hazards!

Side note but I find it really annoying that schools insist on plain black coats for secondary kids walking home from school in the dark.

If I was to make a general point

The last Government cut something like 45000 Police Officers and support staff to say nothing of the huge backlog in the Criminal Courts

Then you have the arrival of the food delivery riders many on either illegal electric motorbikes and all to often not entitled to be in or work in the UK

Discuss...........

They should have lights. But there is no requirement to buy additional clothing to cycle. If they have working lights then I don't really see why high vis clothing would be needed anyway.

Can't understand why bikes aren't sprayed with reflective paint, so at least there's a chance they can be spotted!!

Cyclists should have a legal responsibility to have lights and wear reflective clothing when light conditions make them hard to see.

And if the car is turning left, the car driver shouldn't overtake immediately before doing so. It's completely pointless (saves like three seconds) and a "left hook" can easily be fatal to the innocent party.

Same here op. The last couple of years there seems to be droves of them, although a lot them do seem to be on e-bikes and I assume delivery people. Why do they put themselves in danger in this way? It definitely needs a police crack down or public safety campaign!

Of course if they have hi vis and lights and get hit that's completely different. I dont know why we're comparing as the situations are obviously quite different. No one would say a car driver wasn't to blame if they got hit when driving in the dark with no lights on and they'd be much more visible due to being bigger.

Don't pedestrians always have priority? (That's not to say they can just wander around as they have a duty of care too)

Indeed.