Originally Posted by
rousseau
"Joy ride"? Sounds like a puritanesque dismissal of riding for non-utilitarian reasons. The desire to experience joy is pretty much the only reason I ride. It's a reliable drug, too. Every hit is a good trip.
Riding on country roads at 8 pm in the dark is exponentially safer than commuting at 6 am in the dark. I mean, in the morning you've got barely awake and distracted drivers, and more of them. It's no contest.
Not being dismissive. I go on joy rides all the time, but I wouldn't do so in the dark, and certainly not in winter when a puddle in the afternoon could turn into a patch of invisible ice by 8PM.
I am not going to argue with you whether it's safer to ride at 8 PM on darkened country roads with 80 kph limit or on the wide, well-lit secondary/residential roads with 50 kph limit, but I will say that there are distracted drivers out at all hours of the day. I don't know if they are more distracted at 6AM or 6PM, but there are certainly more of them at 6PM.