chephy

The guy may very well think lights are lame and you are a dork for having them. We had a hilarious poster here a while back who tried to convince us that cool cyclists don't use lights. (He also said car drivers were awful because one almost ran into him while he was speeding away going the wrong way on the sidewalk - or something along those lines).

Here in Toronto I do stop and ask people who're having mechanical troubles if they need help. But when I'm out at night close to a half of cyclists I see have no lights or pitifully inadequate barely visible lights. I'm not gonna escort each one of them home to safety.

For a short unenlightened, so to speak, while there I rode without lights at night myself. That was before I became a regular commuter, so it only happened a handful of times. I did not consider myself to be in any danger, figuring street lighting and car headlights are sufficient for lighting me up. I'd've been surprised at any offer to light me up; maybe would even have become defensive and angry. I suspect most people riding lightless are this way. They gotta figure this out on their own.

newbojeff

I generally wouldn't slow to help light someone's way, but I did pull up behind someone on the MUP on Memorial Drive (goes up the Cambridge side of the Charles river) for a while. They looked very nervous to have so much light coming from behind them. I hope this shows other riders how good bike lights can be.

As for fellow cyclists with mechanical problems, I always slow and ask if they need any help and they have everything they need (patches, pumps, phones). I've even tried to give away tubes before, but, so far, no takers.

truman

I always offer to help if something appears broken. However, last time I did this, I fixed a guy's broken chain, then failed to zip up the seat bag and lost my dang multi-tool.

offering to 'light one's path' seems a little presumptuous to me, both literally and metaphorically, but I'll certainly consider sharing my enlightenment when asked...