61–70 of 194 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Saying cyclists should wear bright clothing is blaming the victims of vehicle violence. https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/stop-victim-blaming-cy...
We blame the drivers of cars without headlights on for night time collisions, why would cyclists be any different?
In the past at a dangerous junction with limited visibilty owing to corners and high speed traffic I found myself looking one way then the other repeatedly before moving. Now I look to one side until I'm certain it's free I look the other way and if I see nothing, I go. It feels like I'm fighting my instincts but so far so good!
I have to admit I don't remember the explanation I was given then but it made sense, and as far as I know everyone's taught to do that here.
In a car or on a bike, it doesn't matter. You also do that at pedestrian crossings.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We blame the drivers of cars without headlights on for night time collisions, why would cyclists be any different?
Sure, and in the UK at least it's a requirement to have lights on when riding at night.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Saying cyclists should wear bright clothing is blaming the victims of vehicle violence. https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/stop-victim-blaming-cy...
We blame the drivers of cars without headlights on for night time collisions, why would cyclists be any different?
Interesting read, up until this point. “[As a cyclist], look at the head of the driver that is approaching or has stopped. The head of the driver will naturally stop and centre upon you if you have been seen.“ Please, please do not rely on this. Correlation is not causation, a driver’s head might face your direction for lots of reasons (focusing on something behind/in front of you, spacing out, looking at their phone…
It's not just the face, I always aim for eye contact. But also as they say in the article it's about judging risk. If the face is towards you you're very unlikely to be in the peripheral vision, so there is a good chance the driver saw you.
I do the same. It failed me once though: a young woman in a SUV was looking me in the eye and drove forward; I managed to stop in the last moment.
> Remember, lights are just as much about being seen as being able to see I cannot emphasis this enough. It's terrible the amount of drivers who think "I can see fine, I don't need to put on my headlights". Whenever I'm driving on open roads (100 km/h areas) I'll always turn my headlights on. Like aeroplanes, I think that anything on the road should have lights on it for visibility.
This is sound advice. The only time I've made contact with a moving car as a cyclist was when I was going past an off-ramp. The weird thing was that I thought the driver "saw me". It was late morning, no problem with visibility. From my POV, she was looking right at me. In fact, she was looking "through" me. She simply was expecting other cars and a person on a bike was not what she was looking for. Human attention i…
Off-ramps exist on separated-grade highways, which by definition exclude bicycle traffic. What were you doing on such a highway?
Yes, it's possible that they're using language wrong. But there are almost always more charitable interpretations.
This was eye opening (pun not intended) and make me a bit worried as a recreational cyclist - many of my clothes are dark and it seems worth investing in brighter ones. As a driver, I found that using BGE setting of the side mirrors (it's wider out, slightly overlapping with rearview mirror), coupled with keeping an eye on the road gives me a much better situational awareness, and prevents the need to turn my head in…
Saying cyclists should wear bright clothing is blaming the victims of vehicle violence. https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/stop-victim-blaming-cy...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, and in the UK at least it's a requirement to have lights on when riding at night.
Can't remember the last time I saw a cyclist with lights. They seem to think that they don't need them if in a cycle lane, even when there is nothing separating it from the rest of the road.
This was eye opening (pun not intended) and make me a bit worried as a recreational cyclist - many of my clothes are dark and it seems worth investing in brighter ones. As a driver, I found that using BGE setting of the side mirrors (it's wider out, slightly overlapping with rearview mirror), coupled with keeping an eye on the road gives me a much better situational awareness, and prevents the need to turn my head in…
Saying cyclists should wear bright clothing is blaming the victims of vehicle violence. https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/stop-victim-blaming-cy...
I have outstanding night time vision, I've had it checked, and I have outstanding depth perception, also checked.
If seeing in the light is tricky, darkness is probably 10x worse.
Just last night I had a guy crossing wearing a black hoodie, black pants, and black shoes, he was crossing along a stretch of 2 lane road where there are apartment buildings but no street lights, or cross walk. I saw him but only because the two cars in front of me illuminated him. The guy was walking on the shoulder near the white line, I don't think the cars in front of me saw him at all, even when they passed him because he almost got clipped by the mirror of the car in front of me. I guess that was too close for him so he just turned and started crossing, he never looked, and I was maybe 30 yards away driving the speed limit which was 40. Luckily I had seen him and was fully expecting him to do something stupid so I was ready when he started to cross.
I live near a university, and there is a street that runs right through the middle of the school. It has 3 different types of lights, high pressure sodium, LED, and Halogen all in about 50 yards, the section of the street is well lit, but because of the different lights and the color of the light it's damn near impossible to see students when they are darting out from between cars. A lot of people I know avoid that street at night because they feel like they can't see anything event though it's well lit. I've notified the university, and they don't even respond to my letters.