Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Cyclists without lights

I drove out of London late last night through Lambeth, Brixton etc going westward and counted seven cyclists weaving through traffic without any form of lighting and wearing dark clothes. If I’d done that as a youth, apart from other road users bellowing “fix yer lights”, officer Dibble would have pulled me up and made me walk home. What’s happened to common sense?

Common sense departed years ago.

Then you have cyclists with lights - the super bright LED ones pointing straight (in this case) at my eyes on a dark country road. I was temporarily blinded to the point I had to come to a standstill. I guess being in the Morgan didn't help but still no excuse.

Linked to the dependency on sooshal media

I am a keen cyclist, mainly off road, these people drive me mad, it should be the rule no lights "knock em down"

As a cyclist in urban environments I have lots of lights , even during daytime, otherwise I just get ignored by motorists.

I adjust them for max lumens during daytime riding and turn them down at night.

I also wear a lot of high viz clothing over my cycling gear, with reflective patches everywhere. OK I probably look like a Christmas tree, but at least I am still alive after 10,000 miles of urban travel.

There is a narrow single lane road with passing places on the way to my village. Cyclist are directed by signs to the adjacent cycle path..
The road is used by buses and tractors with trailers that only just fit. Yet cyclist insist on cycling down it. The cycle lane was resurfaced in Dec as part of the A14 upgrade so is perfect. They just seem to like the risk.

Ah, the cyclist vs. motorist rabbit hole! Not going there. I am a keen cyclist but pay attention to lighting and the rules of the road. I did, however, get caught out in Glasgow years ago. Going for a drink with colleagues after work turned into several, and when the time to leave came it was dark. I had no lights with me and decided to ride home on a rarely used back street rather than the parallel main road--as I turned into it, however, I ran into a posse of a dozen or more policemen standing in the road ready for some sort of raid! I accelerated through them followed by lots of shouting but escaped.

Driving home late one night I found an accident between a mature lady and a cyclist, no lights, all black/dark clothing and not a reflective strip in site. B road so no lighting.
She was absolutely distraught that she had hit him and it affected her very badly. I knew the family and a year or so later met one of them. She had given up driving after it as she felt she was unsafe.

It's a care for each other thing.

The adults seem to be compliant around these parts but of course there is always the youngsters around that do exactly the same as we did saving the cost of lights or batteries to be aware of, it terrifies me the thought of hitting a cyclist due to the disparity of masses and zero protection and I fully understand your lady giving up driving.

Our village Bobby used to creep up on us all on his silent but deadly LE Velocette and give us all an earful from time to time.