To be concerned about majority of cyclists not having lights on in the dark

[ZML]

It’s getting dark by about 5pm. It is very concerning that many cyclists don’t have any lights on their bikes and wearing dark clothing.

I have said to cyclists as driving past them - get some lights.

Also with increasing numbers of cyclists not cycling safely, pulling out without looking etc, the law should be more understandable towards drivers.

This problem isn’t with just the young. Seen cyclists, guessing in their 60s riding without lights

I agree - so many without lights and dressed completely in black!
It's hard to spot the ones cycling correctly, but it's even harder when they are riding on the wrong side of the road, cutting corners at junctions and riding through red lights. And don't get me started on the ones doing this whilst on their phones!

Im with you! When I used to go to yhe office with dark mornings/evening id
see so many cyclists without lights!

Mind you some car drivers forget to
put lights on as well, maybe because
its still light when they leave
somewhere but as it gets dark (and
quickly).

Yep I have actually thoughts about this in the past. When I was a kid one bike light would cost the equivalent of £50 today. That £100 to make you road legal.

You can pick up front at rear lights for less than £5 today

There's no excuse. I have several bikes, all have at least 2 rear lights and 2 front. My helmet also has a rear light.

Any parent who lets there kids out without lights should be prosecuted

And soon you will have the crazies on here to remind you that if you hit them it’s your fault, never mind that they are the one who will die.

The law needs to be amended to accommodate the idiots

I cycle and am horrified by the number i see who are:

• inappropriately dressed, big loose trousers and skirts round the chain & gears.
• wearing no helmet
• wearing no hi vis or reflective material
• have headphones in so can't hear traffic etc
• have no lights

Jesus christ it is 2026. I had a bike helmet & lights in 1993, they aren't new!

Former keen cyclist here. Agree wholeheartedly about lack of lights and dark clothing. I disagree wholeheartedly with “increasing number of cyclists not cycling safely”. I have seen numerous posts on here complaining about unsafe cycling and the example often given is the cyclist is too far from the kerb or cycling 2-abreast. This is how cyclists are meant to cycle in many circumstances to keep themselves and motorists safe.

I also disagree wholeheartedly with “the law should be more understandable towards drivers”. This has been tightened up recently in favour of cyclist ls and other vulnerable road users and this is a good change.

I also disagree wholeheartedly with “the law should be more understandable towards drivers”. This has been tightened up recently in favour of cyclist ls and other vulnerable road users and this is a good change.

This. Not to mention, from an environmental perspective, we should be prioritising non motor road users eg bikes & pedestrians, over cars. Where i work the drivers recently were whinging about a new cycle lane that basically means cyclists can bypass cars and skip to the front of a notorious traffic jam. There's also a new filter on the lights so cyclists can set off a few seconds before the cars. How on earth can anyone complain about this? It hasnt made the jam worse for the cars, they are just bitter/jealous that cyclists are no longer hindered by it.

About 15 years ago I sat and observed students leaving the campus on bikes in the dark. More than half had no lights. I subsequently set an exam question asking why (it was, believe it or not, relevant. The course was on human error). Among the explanations were:

• maybe they had just heard their flat was on fire and didn’t have time to put lights on
• students are poor and can’t afford lights
• students have a lot on their minds and just forget
• some students (subject specified) are a bit thick and don’t realise they need them)
• bike lights get stolen a lot
• batteries run out without being noticed

There were other answers firmly grounded in human reliability theory too (the fourth and fifth answers are ok from this point of view.
The general conclusion was that lights should be permanently attached to bicycles and always on, powered by a battery recharging from a dynamo. I don’t know why this isn’t required.

Thankfully most adult cyclists where I am have lights and wear very good reflectors (reflective harnesses that form a triangle in the chest and back, they light up like warning triangles when cars drive near) but far too many teenagers dress in dark clothes and not all use lights. DD biked to school then went round a friend's afterwards so it was dark when she was heading home and I realised she forgot her lights, told her to walk her bike home.

I cycle to the trainstation two days a week for commute. I do it for exercise really, and it's faster and cheaper. It's often scary these dark mornings and evenings. It's also dangerous earlier in the year when the sun is low around 7pm. A lot of inconsiderate and reckless drivers!

The same can be said for cyclists too. All black, no lights is fairly common, sometimes with no helmets and wearing earphones. We need a lot more education and enforcement for both cyclists and drivers. South east of England is potentially really very very good for cyclis.but
..

I'm pro cycling and would like to see more cyclists on the roads, but as a driver I also agree with you. It's so dangerous.

I do think sensible, safe cycle education has got lost in the ongoing motorists vs cyclists battle. I'd rather see an information campaign for both cyclists and drivers than yet another headcam of either a driver or a cyclist being a dick and a row on the Jeremy Kyle show.

If they are dumb enough to chose not to use lights and/or wear a helmet/headphones/black clothes then I have no sympathy if they get run over. Darwinism.
The only person I feel sorry for is the vehicle driver who no doubt will still get the blame.

I'd like to see more cyclists on the roads, too, especially if it includes those who think it's ok to cycle along the narrow pavements in my high street to avoid waiting at a 4-phase set of traffic lights.

I have no arguement against cyclists following the highway code - cycling 2 abreast etc.
My complaint is those that cycle dangerously. The one I saw last night who turned right into a side road by cycling on the right hand side of the road for about 50m before meandering onto the LHS in the dark with no lights. How the car approaching the junction missed him I do not know.
Or the one the other day who was on the wrong side of the dual carriageway, weaving in and out of the lane markings between the two rows of traffic against the flow.
Or the one dressed in black, no lights in the dark, no hands on the handlebars, texting on his phone.

Yanbu. I yelled at a chap on a Brompton for this once. He actually got off the road 😂.
If you can afford a Brompton to commute you can afford lights, and spares just in case.

People should have lights.

Hi Viz & helmets aren’t a legal requirement as there isn’t the evidence to support this (re helmets its too complicated to summarize but Cycling UK do on their website). Ultimately both are personal choice for the cyclists - in the same way that drivers can choose a “safety” colour for their cars such as yellow.

There are legal concepts such as contributory negligence that will take into account when cyclists’ behaviour contributes to an accident.

YABU as the law is currently fairly lenient towards drivers - see for example the recent suspended sentence for a road rage incident in Edinburgh where the victim (a cyclist) suffered a brain injury.

Well that is fair enough but drivers are just as bad to be honest.

I have twice crashed into the back of a car on narrow lanes on my bike because the driver overtook me when he couldn’t see whether anything was coming towards him and there was a big vehicle coming. So both times the car that overtook moved back onto the left directly in front of me and slammed their brakes on, so I could not avoid slamming into the back of them.

I have also had cars overtake me and while they are still overtaking, suddenly turn left. On those occasions I nearly crashed into the sides of the cars.

Those are some of the worse incidents but there are many more. What happened every single day, usually several times, even on a 5-mile ride was that motorists would squeeze past with inches to spare - which is obviously very dangerous.

There are dangerous cyclists out there and dangerous drivers. The majority of both are ok. However, there is much more of a narritive that cyclists are bad and many people l seem to think it acceptable to state this loudly and publicly. This is encouraging a few crazy drivers to take the law into their own hands now - there was a man living in my road who used to deliberately swerve towards cyclists and then at the last second swerve away - absolutely terrifying. My road was a popular cycling route. My friend was pushed off his bike in my road - a van drew alongside him and the passenger reached out and pushed him into the hedge. He broke his collar bone.

One of my neighbours posted a photo of club cylists outside my house. He complained how they had held him up for miles and they should be “knocked down like pins”. Numerous people agreed with this vile suggestion. He was however talking nonsense. They did not hold him up. The speed limit is 30 and they were cycling downhill. I could reach 30 on my shopping bike. These were young male whippets on racing bikes - they were would have been going at 40.

it's unbelievable, I was turning out of my side road onto the main road last week and only saw a cyclist at the last minute - dressed from head to toe in black, no helmet, no lights, on one of those e-bikes doing about 25mph.

As a someone who has grown up in a different country and used to cycle a lot, I tend to divide the conflict between drivers and cyclists into 3 main categories.

Standard bike safety is one.
I will never understand why bikes in this country are so expensive and yet come with none of the features that are standard elsewhere. Every bike should come with safety features like chain protectors, mud protectors, a dynamo connected to lights and a stand, as well as comfort features like a rack on the back wheel (stopping people from having to balance bags on handlebars). Those alone would make a huge difference to visibility and accidents caused by the lack of either of them. Even LED batteries will run out, and chances are it will be mid-cycle.
Then there is the law, of course, which should absolutely make it a cyclist's responsibility to wear hi-viz gear, appropriate clothing (including footwear) and helmets.

There is the actual road cyclists ride on.
Infrastructure for cyclists is abysmal. Few cycle paths outside of cities, even fewer that don't randomly stop or keep diverting between pavements and roads or changing road sides randomly. That makes for dangerous manoeuvrers. That's not to mention the number of dangerous cycle paths left to be overgrown, full of debris from cleaning vehicles pushing rubbish to the side or potholes that are fixed even less often than roads. Cyclist behaviour becomes less predictable when they do not have dedicated cycling spaces that are well-maintained. And how can it be legal for a cyclist to ride on a 50-70mph road? If these are single-track 50 or 60mph roads, this leads to dangerous driver behaviour because sitting behind a cyclist for a few miles at far less than the actual speed limit leads to a whole bunch of other issues. You can technically cycle along vast swathes of the A5 that are 70mph dual carriageway.
So now you have less visible cyclists potentially on roads which are unsuitable.

And then add in drivers themselves. How many without lights on in the rain, the changing weather or at twilight. How many facing time pressures high enough to be less patient, drive more faster, have less time to look out for cyclists and other road users.

Yes, lack of lights is an issue. But so are many other factors which mean cycling here is dangerous. I have stopped cycling in this country because I don't feel safe.

Yes it's been a huge issue around here. Mainly people with no lights, some cycling against the flow of traffic (wtf!) or dangerously weaving around. No doubt they'll soon complain when knocked over. As per anything there's idiots in all walks of life.

As a cyclist who regularly commutes to work in a big city, I sadly have to concede that the behaviour of a significant minority of cyclists is just plain dangerous.
No lights, hi viz, or helmets, riding through red lights, riding on pavements, wearing massive noise cancelling headphones, looking at phones, and simply assuming everyone else will get out of their way. The list goes on and on. I find people who ride the rented e-bikes particularly bad for whizzing through red lights and riding on pavements.
I’m amazed every day that I don’t see more accidents, and I think it is a real shame that it puts people off cycling, as it is great exercise, and a sustainable way to travel. We need a mass re-education campaign on rules of the road.

Same every year. Never understand it. Don't they want to be seen and stay alive?

Yanbu. Especially in the rain they might as well be invisible. The police should be stopping them whenever they see it. And i say that as a both a cyclist and a driver.

It drives me mad when they have no lights on. It's just idiocy. I can think of no sound reason why people wouldn't use lights

I see it very often on a shared cycle/pedestrian track I walk every day. People cycling at speed with no lights, when there are people walking and dogs running around. Pretty much every single dog has a light up collar on so they can be seen. Most cyclists don't have lights which poses a risk to both dogs and pedestrians. They don't use their bell either to let you know they are approaching. The worst ones are the deliveroo cyclists.