About the fire truck that had to turn on its lights before anyone would let it out of the station -- well, of course. If it's not blaring its sirens, it must not be an emergency, so maybe it's just moving out into the driveway for some maintenance or something (not many people know what really happens inside the station). People might think, "Maybe they're just testing the lights..."
Originally Posted by
Bekologist
I would definetly take issue with that statement. riding past cross traffic waiting to enter the road you're riding on, making turns as vehicles approach, passing lines of motorists at stoplights turning onto the road you're travelling, are all instances where wheel reflectors and frame flecco tape heighten visibility and awareness of bicycling.
reflectors aren't all about 'imminent collision avoidance' but there's lots of ambiguous traffic conditions during which I'm glad to have an extra measure of nighttime visibility.
I keep a seat reflector on all my bikes to meet my state's laws about required bicycle equipment.
I'm not saying that they don't work, I'm saying that a lot of the time they don't matter. Riding past cross traffic -- they're not looking straight ahead, they're looking to the side for traffic crossing
their intended path, and their lights don't point to the side. Making turns as vehicles approach -- if you're turning close enough in front of them that they need to hit their brakes, you can cause problems behind them (whether people rear-end each other or change lanes to get around whoever suddenly stopped... and come around to hit you instead); wait some more and turn when it's safer for everybody. Passing lines of motorists at stoplights -- they're sitting at a stoplight and won't be coming towards you.
I don't think anyone here is dumb enough to rely on reflectors alone, though, so this probably isn't much of a problem anyway.