General Chat

Could not believe my eyes, never witnessed such a thing before - a cyclist with a light front and rear :-S :-S :-S

Safety helmet too?



:-D

Phone the MOD immediately............it's most likely a UFO :-D :-D :-D

Nearly as good as seeing a car with all its lights working........there are many one eyed monsters around , where I live.........headlight out......so they put on fog lights!!!

My o.h. is good about using lights on his bike and checks them regularly but he won't wear a helmet. He bikes to work when the weather is ok but has gone off this morning in the car as it's raining and sleeting. When he doesn't bike for a few days he notices it and feels better when he gets the exercise, it helps his diabetes too.

I am fed up with coming across cyclists unlit and wearing dark clothes, they are stupid to risk their lives and those of others who might swerve at the last minute to avoid them and hit someone else.

Lizx

I know who it was Ann!

It's the one who rides on the pavement and then swerves out in front of you as you approach the traffic lights and then weaves between all the cars to cross the road!


A couple of years ago, I was driving a long a busy road at night and I knew there was a pelican crossing just ahead of me and I could dimly see a cyclist 'loitering' on the pavement on the pavement on the left just before the crossing.

As I neared the crossing, he suddenly went into speed mode and shot out in front of me with a grin on his face.

Obviously, he thought it was hilarious as he rode off into the dark.

Too much testosterone........ :-(

had a row with a couple of hobby bobbies a while back as they road there bikes along the pavement
asked them if during their training they had been taught it was illegal to cycle on the pavement

Am seeing a lot more horses on road this year than ever before. Is it the triple dip perhaps. Horses cheap to buy at moment? Drivers in South Wales valleys behave very differently to Northants. In Northants, you ram your foot on brake when you see one (which is very often) then make sure you have a clear mile of road ahead and drive slowly round waving and smiling at the rider.

In South Wales you pull up as close to horses buttocks as possible, slam your foot on accelerator whne you have more than 20 yards of clear road and give rider a frosty glare and some advice. :-(

.......and......horse riders don't have to clear up after their horses either.... :-|

As someone who regularly drives at night (very early morning) I am often tempted to stop and ask those few cyclist who do have lights (1 or 2 out of every 10)

Why have a really bright light on the front of your bike, but a piss poor albeit useless one on the back. You are more likely to be hit from behind than someone careering across the road and hit you!!!

Oh and do you not know any hand signals, I have twice in the last few weeks had
1: a cyclist pull out of a side road straight across the front of my car to a road on the other side
2: a cyclist in a cycle lane do something similar

My father was a cyclist so I am always aware that they are about, but in many cases they just do not help themselves.

And stop using the lights with a dynamo that runs the lights from pedal power, unless your legs are going nineteen to the dozen they are totally useless. And get a bell..

I wish all cyclists would do the same as the one I saw recently. Saw him miles away (well a good distance up the road) he had red lights flashing all around him. Wondered what it was at first but it certainly alerted my attention.

Some of these car drivers could do with a lesson in when to turn their lights on also - grey day, grey road, grey car. They seem to think they'll somehow run down their battery perhaps.

Vera

My bug bear is that now all new cars seem to have really bright lights, so bright that a night it often looks like they are driving on full beam. They blind oncoming traffic.

Then you get the eejits, who do drive on full beam, if they need them on the main roads in London they should not be driving they must be blind!!!

what annoys me is cars/ lorries parked up with headlights blazing....often on the wrong side of the road..

why do you need headlights on, in nose to tail traffic? or while at a standstill?


yards and yards of cars stationary, indicating in dedicated lanes where you cant do anything other than turn off?

Ann, You have roads? all we have are "Potholes" :-D

we do have potholes as decorative features too :-D

Just driving home tonight in half light near Bridgend. First I saw a bike comin g with a very bright white flashing light. No problem there, but then noticed another completely unlit bike was overtaking him!!!!

And a horse. At 6.40pm in March. No light on his nose, no light swinging from tail and the young lady was wearing all dark clothes. Some Goth make up would have helped me see her :-)

If the bicycle was a new invention almost certainly health and safety would not allow them to be used on the road. No rider training or ability test. Poor rider protection, unable to keep pace with fast moving traffic, poor visibility in rain and hail, poor braking in anything but ideal conditions and very vulnerable to pot holes and drain covers. They would probably be restricted to off road use for sport and recreation only.

Liz, please pass on my experience with helmets to you OH.

We insisted that our girls wore them to school despite name calling, but fortunately they listened to us, one of them fell off and hit her head on the edge of the kerbstone apart from a chipped tooth the only damage was a nasty dent in her helmet.

Mayfield

safety helmets are a must - believe me I know - I worked on an Acquired Brain Damage Unit for years and saw the results of head injuries - not good

Mayfield, I have told him of that probablity many a time, he has fallen off a couple of times but luckily didn't hit his head. He uses pannier bags so they help keep the bike from falling flat but even so I think a helmet is a necessity. He does wear a high vis coat or waistcoat as has them issued at work and uses them when travelling to and fro on his bike. He only uses the bike for work.

My son is as bad - he was brought up with bike means bike helmet and has two of different sizes, but doesn't wear one these days. He has ridden a moped and scooter etc so knows the dangers and wore a helmet then but won't use a bike helmet.

As he doesn't live at home and is 30, there's not much I can do about it.

Lizx