johnnymoses

Let's face it everyone, traffic lights in America are mere formalities and generally perceived by motorists as annoying nuisances put in place to impede their progress. Now place a bicyclist into this scenario and you have a moving target conveniently placed for drivers to vent their frustration.

B. Carfree

I get a sadistic pleasure out of asking people to roll down a window so I can tell them about a defective light. They are usually extremely nervous about interacting with someone on a bicycle. It just throws them for a loop when I pleasantly inform them that one (or two, or three) brake lights are no longer functional and it would be awful if some drunk ran into them because of it.

I was trained to check over the mechanical and electrical systems of any vehicle I operate. In fact, for commercial drivers this is a legal requirement at the start of each shift or vehicle change. I am amazed that so many people never check any of their lighting systems. I have even done counts as cars rolled past me at night while I was waiting for someone. Generally, about one in six has some lighting issue.