Just got knocked of the bike...

[Old Timer]

That's the sort of thing, OldT, same as me - I don't ride at nights, but want the sods to see ME in the daytime.

Any makes, names, of these assorted cheap Chinese types?

Allen.

Allen

These are what I have bought before, they look too cheap to work dont they! but they go well and I reckon I get a good 20-30 hrs out of a set of AA batteries. They can be set to flash or not to flash(that is the question
21 LED BICYCLE FRONT LAMP + 5 LED BIKE FLASH REAR LIGHT on eBay (end time 19-Aug-10 12:14:00 BST)

Dave

 

[Mussels]

Allen

These are what I have bought before, they look too cheap to work dont they! but they go well and I reckon I get a good 20-30 hrs out of a set of AA batteries. They can be set to flash or not to flash(that is the question
21 LED BICYCLE FRONT LAMP + 5 LED BIKE FLASH REAR LIGHT on eBay (end time 19-Aug-10 12:14:00 BST)

Dave

I had one of those ages ago and as a light it was OK but it was so heavy the mounting broke and it went bouncing down the road.

 

[Old Timer]

I had one of those ages ago and as a light it was OK but it was so heavy the mounting broke and it went bouncing down the road.

I think you must have had the 53 Led version cos these are fairly light and we have them on a few bikes with no breakages in 6 months.

 

[allen-uk]

Thanks Dave.

It's one of those products where you think that for a fiver, you can't really go wrong!

I have a dual approach to spending money. a) I have just bought a £1500 Wisper. b) I have just bought a £14.99 Cannondale helmet.

So it's not that I'm a cheapskate (my missus complains about the opposite) – I don't mind paying top dollar for top goods, and vice versa.


Allen.

 

[Apetito]

Having read all the replies and ideas to this thread I have invested in some very bright LED Front and rear flashing lights that I intend to keep on ALL the time i am riding.

 

[allen-uk]

Having read all the replies and ideas to this thread I have invested in some very bright LED Front and rear flashing lights that I intend to keep on ALL the time i am riding.

Very wise, apetito.

I've driven a car for 40 years, and although the roads weren't THAT much better in The Good Old Days, they are certainly WORSE now - driver behaviour, bad manners, disregard for other road users, especially cyclists and pedestrians, etc.

Like you, I go out on my bike making myself as CONSPICUOUS as possible. Bright yellow Altura jacket, whatever the weather, and as soon as they arrive, brightly flashing front and rear lights.

No, it's no guarantee at all, and some dozey git will one day tell me, like eddieo, that he didn't see me (how?), but it helps.


Allen.

 

[Apetito]

Coincidence .... Went out this afternoon on my Eagle to put a prescription into the nearest chemist (3 Miles each way) It was closed. Anyway on the way home I saw at a distance of a good quarter mile a cyclist coming towards me with a brilliant Flashing headlight. No one could have missed seeing him. As he passed his rear light was doing its bit as well.

 

[allen-uk]

They really work, don't they!

Apparently it's the CHANGE that's important, i.e. FLASH-off-FLASH-off etc.

So the yellow jackets are okay, but dozey motorist will get used to seeing one after a very short time. What we need are bright yellow jackets that turn from yellow to blue every other second, and back.

Inventors please note.


A

 

[flecc]

They really work, don't they!

Apparently it's the CHANGE that's important, i.e. FLASH-off-FLASH-off etc.

So the yellow jackets are okay, but dozey motorist will get used to seeing one after a very short time. What we need are bright yellow jackets that turn from yellow to blue every other second, and back.

Inventors please note.


A

Easy way, equip all vehicles with LCD see through windscreens, alternating blue and yellow tints.

Alternatively, clear LCD screens that alternate, 1/10th second blanked out for every half second clear.
.

 

[lemmy]

People don't disregard bicycles because they don't SEE them.

The people who pull out in front of you or turn left against you or overtake too closely do it because they are not concerned that you are there.

Flashing lights work at night because you are difficult to see otherwise. In daylight, why should a person who cannot see a two metre high by half a metre wide object, be able to see a yellow jacket or a light any better?

There's no reason not to use them but like so much we do nowadays, it is a simplistic knee-jerk answer to a complex problem. Driver training about the value and use of two wheeled vehicles would engender more respect for the people who use them and would achieve far more, more solidly.

If car drivers felt that a cyclist was simply one more human being sharing a road with them we would get somewhere towards making cycling safer. Instead we have a 'car driver' seeing or not 'a cyclist'. That's the problem.

This objectification is serious. If a car driver saw a cyclist as a person, they would in most cases be less willing to put at risk their lives.

 

[allen-uk]

If a car driver saw a cyclist as a person, they would in most cases be less willing to put at risk their lives.

Ah lemmy, indeed so. And if you could extend that awareness of all people seeing all other people as that, other people, then we really would be on the road to a better world.

But in the meantime I would still advocate the flashing lights (and bright jackets). They do work, as a wake-up call, by taking hold of the driver's sleepy reality inside the metal box and disturbing it. Enormously loud noise will do a similar job, but the problem with that is that it's hard to say where the noise is coming from. A bright flashing light DEMANDS the attention of the dozing (or dozey) driver.

But I am marching behind your banner, lemmy.

Allen

 

[thunderblue]

Ad campaign

If a car driver saw a cyclist as a person, they would in most cases be less willing to put at risk their lives.

Maybe we need to copy the recent motorcycling ad campaign. We should all wear bright yellow jackets with a light reflectant strip across the back, like the police wear. But instead of 'police' we should have words like 'mother' , 'son', 'brother', 'uncle', 'friend' etc. Maybe that would get their attention. And anybody with the funds to do a radio campaign ad at the same time whilst they are listening in their cars?

 

[overlander]

They would not miss this, 1850 lumens and flashing mode. But check out the price

Lupine Lighting Systems - Helmetlights - Betty 14

 

[Barnowl]

Unless they're mentally challenged (and some are) I'm fairly convinced that car drivers do see cyclists as people. The problem we have is the same as the one pedestrians and other car drivers have - people making mistakes and doing dumb things. I'm convinced you can make yourself more visible than the christmas tree at the German market on a dark December night and still not be seen by the one that hits you.
BTW I've written my name on my own vehicle so I should be OK..

 

[Old Timer]

I`m always pointing out to my wife the way cyclists(and pedestrians) go along darkish country lanes where they pass from sunlight to shadow and choose to wear clothes that could have been made to blend in with the surroundings. You really do have to stand out from the trees etc to be seen.

BTW as a future education to car drivers, when one comes up behind and holds back where it`s not safe to overtake me I always wave them on when it`s safe for them to pass and always give a thanking jesture hoping that my good manners will keep them as patient in the future. My thank you is the reward for there patience.

 

[allen-uk]

Inevitably, my smugness with yellow jackets etc. came before a fall.

Two lanes. Traffic lights. Traffic stationery in outer lane. I took inside lane, slowing to stop at red light.

Just as I got to the rear of (also inevitably) a white van, it decided not only to take my lane, but to cut right across it and take a left turn feeder lane instead.

I had my light on (not flashing yet, hasn't arrived), yellow jacket, white helmet, so was fairly conspicuous, but not quite conspicuous enough for said white van man.

I stopped, just, before he stopped me, and I yelled, but by that time he was away, quite probably never having looked in his wing mirror so blissfully unaware.

Another lesson learned, I suppose.


A.

 

[eTim]

As someone pointed out, marking you out as not being an ordinary cyclist might help the motorist with their respect issues.

E.G. if you happen on a cyclist with POLICE on the back of his/her high viz jacket, you automatically take more note and have a little more respect (well most regular people do), the same goes for PARAMEDIC, DOCTOR, FIRE etc.

I wonder if there is something that we could use ourselves, or if someone is prepared to try it as an experiment possibly in a busy city and on country lanes?

There is a sub-set of motorcyclists that enjoy riding motorbikes that are either ex-police or marked up very closely to resemble a police bike and drivers really do start to behave themselves when they spot these characters. Amongt the motorbike community these riders are classed mainly as nobs, but from a safety point of view, you can't fault them. To emulate police as a cyclists would have the same effect no doubt and it would be interesting to see the effect, you don't need to go the whole hog, but to wear some gear that might make you look like police on first glance might have an effect on the motorist.

 

[Morag]

As someone pointed out, marking you out as not being an ordinary cyclist might help the motorist with their respect issues.

E.G. if you happen on a cyclist with POLICE on the back of his/her high viz jacket, you automatically take more note and have a little more respect (well most regular people do), the same goes for PARAMEDIC, DOCTOR, FIRE etc.

I wonder if there is something that we could use ourselves, or if someone is prepared to try it as an experiment possibly in a busy city and on country lanes?

There is a sub-set of motorcyclists that enjoy riding motorbikes that are either ex-police or marked up very closely to resemble a police bike and drivers really do start to behave themselves when they spot these characters. Amongt the motorbike community these riders are classed mainly as nobs, but from a safety point of view, you can't fault them. To emulate police as a cyclists would have the same effect no doubt and it would be interesting to see the effect, you don't need to go the whole hog, but to wear some gear that might make you look like police on first glance might have an effect on the motorist.

Personally I wouldn't want to have Police printed on my back around here, I'd be more likely to be a target for getting smooshed !

 

[Caph]

But in the meantime I would still advocate the flashing lights (and bright jackets).

Seriously though, does any commuting cyclist not wear fluorescent these days? Every regular cyclist I see does round my way. You'd have to be stupid or have a death wish not to. I once saw a guy round my way (one off, probably dead now) cycling along in all black with no lights on at dusk. I had to double take I was so shocked.

The trouble is that being seen is only part of the battle (but the most important part in my opinion). Driver's impatience and self belief in their ability to "just" miss you is the part you can't do anything about. I'm glad I don't live down south though, every time I get anywhere near the M25 it seems like sanity goes out the window and you're lucky to escape with your life, and that's in a car! God knows how you south easteners survive on bikes. I take my hat off to you.

 

[eTim]

Personally I wouldn't want to have Police printed on my back around here, I'd be more likely to be a target for getting smooshed !

What about ARMY ??