bluefoxicy

Driving home in the dark. Noticed movement on my right, squinting I could pick out the reflector after a bit... and two yellow ones on the wheels... didn't see most of it, but the white one (my mistake: not recognizing this) was a dark speck floating around. Slowed down a bit, made sure I was prepared to maneuver and holy ***** he's coming right for me!

Yeah, reaction time I projected and pretty much everything else was totally useless. But I went around him, I picked this stuff out way early... didn't realize he was going the wrong freaking direction, at night, on a dark bike, in dark clothes, with no freaking lights!

Note to self: The rear reflector is red. If you see a white one, immediately consider alternate dynamics.

A block and a half later, the next guy. His mistake: He was in my way.

He was in my way because I had a green light and he had a crosswalk.

Correction: He had a red light, which he was running. Bicycles do not belong in a crosswalk, unless they are sidewalk riding (if it's legal in that locality) and pedestrian traffic may cross--and if I have green, cross-traffic pedestrians get a "DO NOT WALK" sign, which for sidewalk bicyclists means "DO NOT RUN THE RED LIGHT TWELVE INCHES OVER."

Also dressed dark, I caught him because I spotted movement and braked as fast as I could; it was close! When he swerved I saw his reflectors flash--again, no lights, dark bike, dark clothing. Great night to be running a red light, right?

For ^*@! sake do I have to open a school here or something?



This guy sans reflective highlights and wheels is what I was looking at, both times. Find some wheels like that and ride on the right side of the friggin' road people!

You know what? Go to Rei and buy these:



And every other kind of light they have, and a screaming yellow jacket, and reflective patches, and a strobe light. If I can't see you from four blocks away, you need more lights.

Oy vey.

Next time you see somebody run a red light on a bicycle, hit them. When they ask you why you did that, tell them you're giving them practice for the car.

AC1074

Riding at night is a bit dangerous. I suppose if you had to be sure you check your local laws. Here in Tx we have to have a white light in the front and a red one at the back during the night hours.

UptownJoe60640

Yeah, this is an answer. Fight ignorance with violence and more ignorance! I am not supporting running lights, riding on side walks, and riding at night with no lights but this statement was unnecessary. I have nothing else to say about this to be honest.

ItsJustMe

It doesn't have to be. Depending on the situation and whether you use proper lights and reflectors, IMO riding at night is SAFER than riding in the daytime. I can see where someone might not notice me in the daylight (despite neon-green reflective gear) but nobody who's conscious can not see me at night.

Looigi

I don't care if idiots who insist on making themselves as inconspicuous as possible at night get hit and killed... as long as I'm not the driver who winds up doing.

rydabent

Something tells me those bikers wont be called down to the Cape to work on rocket problems.

Sledbikes

out of curiosity your headlights arent fogged up right?

sggoodri

Cyclists need headlamps at night. They also need to ride the right way.

See John Schubert's article Why Reflectors Don't Work.

Also my own article Cycling at Night

bluefoxicy

No, we need a solution. The base problem is that people are free to do stupid crap; you can't (shouldn't) fix this problem (that causes far more problems than it solves, plus how do you STOP people from doing stupid crap? They're already breaking the law...). The more relevant and better addressed problem is people are dumb enough to do stupid crap. Somebody needs to fix this, somehow.

The "somehow" is hard, because all enforceable solutions suck (purchase of a bike requires certification/license/15 minute video? A lot of annoyance, and a lot of breaking online bicycle retail, and you wind up with people buying bikes for other people...). No problems are simple.

It is only directly distressing when you're the driver; that doesn't mean it's not a problem when it's not your problem. People are ******** but I still don't want to run them over with my car. :|

Not at all. When I ride on a divided highway where high beams are safe, I'll see 2 or 3 cars around me with theirs on and I'll throw mine on and light up the whole tree line My headlights are freaking awesome. But I don't use them in two-way traffic because high beams can be blinding for oncoming traffic (which is worse, especially since they then don't see bicycles in their way).

crhilton

While I think the guy was being an idiot, I'd like to point out that it's only stupid because of how we use the roads. If he were doing that in his back yard, where there aren't speeding cars, we'd just think he was a drunk idiot. Now we think he's suicidal.

So, consider everything you say keeping in mind that his actions are only stupid in the context where someone might hit him with their car.

Also consider that he probably got home fine that night, regardless, and so it may not seem quite so stupid to him. Don't just call this person an idiot and assume you can law him into sanity. Cops aren't gonna enforce the existing laws so don't expect them to enforce new ones.

Okay, hate on me for providing perspective.

ItsJustMe

The Darwin awards are enforced without mercy, and will take care of the problem of terminal stupidity eventually. Harsh but true.

bluefoxicy

https://midatlantic.aaa.com/DrivingP...edDrivingVideo

https://skipbarber.com/mazdadriving.asp

This stuff is a direct counter to darwinizing idiots on bikes (and idiots in cars, and idiot pedestrians, etc ... basically anyone who gets in the way of your 1.5-5 ton mountain of high-speed traveling metal). I am firmly of the opinion that we need something like this made mandatory for base vehicular licensing: if you drive a car, you need to know how to drive, not how to operate a vehicle. There's a distinct difference between making it go and actually knowing what you're doing with it.

We don't license bicyclists, and while I'm pretty sure licensed powered vehicle drivers are good, I'm not sure we need to license human powered vehicle drivers or low-speed vehicles (for some arbitrary definition of "low-speed"). I mean if you need a license to ride a bicycle, do you need a license to run? Runners move pretty fast. Still, we need some magical way to get people on bicycles educated... but seeing as how we have laws about having actual credentials for driving a car and seem to fail getting them educated, I don't see how we can get anyone on an unlicensed road vehicle educated.

And there comes the air gap.

Perhaps we need to stop making this recreational (there is recreational bike riding in middle school for a few weeks) and, more importantly, stop treating 16 year olds like children. They are not children, they are not suddenly adults just because they turned 18. We're so afraid they'll hear dirty words and see boobs and--god forbid--wander off school grounds without an adult holding their hand. They're not 5. Maybe we should add bicycle riding in the city to the high school curriculum, with a coverage of local law, and an end discussion about variations in laws (very brief, nothing detailed so there's no confusion; details about alternatives are what you do after you're comfortable with one reference system).

Not that I want to specialize a class like that so much; but there's no other way to get that information into peoples' hands in an acceptably reliable way if they start riding bikes. Though I guess motorists would like this because they don't have to deal with insane cyclists trying to get a ground's-eye view of their exhaust system; and hard-core cycling activists would like this because it would make a lot more people consider cycling as a viable commuting option (the idea of biking 2 miles to work every day is a joke in most peoples' minds, and some people here do 15 mile commutes) and thus create political pressure to improve shared roadway infrastructure, as well as educate motorists so they're more apt to work with cyclists (which, as well, becomes more natural when cyclists are educated to work with them).

I know, crazy idea, right?

randya

for all the motorists that don't see cyclists unless they are lit up like an Xmas tree:

slow the F down and watch where you're going

Drew Eckhardt 

I find it safer.

1) There's less traffic

2) With plenty of parking spaces available no one is suddenly deciding to stop and then make a U-turn to get into one they missed on the other side of the road.

3) A smaller percentage of the drivers who are out pull out or turn in front of me. I'd guess that's because of my bright head-light which they can see before getting to intersections and when turning they think I'm a motorcycle.

exile

But you still saw them bluefoxicy, so more visibility isn't necessary . Not to excuse them, but there were parts of my commute where I ninja and/or salmon it on purpose . I did that to blend in or creep around less desirable spots on my commute.

nycphotography

If they ask why, then you didn't hit them hard enough.

Of course, by the same token, the next time someone crowds you out of your lane on your bike, I guess this means you have to shoot them?

Standalone 

The human being who is in control of the potentially deadly weapon has a grave responsibility. I'm not saying that I always drive in such a manner that I would avoid even rule breaking road users and crossers, but I believe that I should always do so. Going fast is great for limited access freeways.

gcottay

You really do need to talk to someone who can help you.

UptownJoe60640

+1. Statements from people like this are disturbing!

mikeybikes

Right. Violence is the best educational tool. Works all the time.

bluefoxicy

xenologer

The solution is easy, put lights on your bike and quit using a car.
I've aready started, as soon as you and everyone else gets on board we'll all be safe.

Seattle Forrest

Spoken like a true bike advocate: encouraging people to run cyclists over. You must be a "vehicular cyclist."

bluefoxicy

Reading comprehension fail. You can hit people with things other than cars. I can't imagine the logical disconnect your brain must have followed parsing that whole two sentences; you'd have to put them in two completely separate contexts for them to both make sense that way.

KD5NRH

Careful; if you have a seatpost mount reflector, and a Bell seat bag, the bag will often cover the reflector and the morons at Bell put a white reflector strip on the bag.

Class III reflector vest, Scotchlite on helmet and frame, Sette Glo on the back of the helmet or left pannier, amber BikeBrightz on the left seatstay, cheap Radian head and taillights on solid, good LED tactical light to see by, and occasionally the helmet light as well. I know I can see my gear from a half mile away easily with car low-beams, and cops have complimented me on my visibility a couple of times. I hardly ever have to use the Airzound at night.