Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 8:36 PM
It appears that many cyclists have some sort of a death wish, these days; the amount of near-misses of the last few weeks is reaching double digits, just because they don't watch out where they are going, they don't have anything that resembles a (working) lamp on their bike, or both.
Usually both.
I had two near-misses this morning; one guy suddenly crossing the street in the dark, and one guy taking the cake by popping out at high speed from between two cars waiting to take the turn, as I took my turn to the right, crossing his path, also in the dark.
Both of these morons didn't have anything close to a head lamp or something, not even those tiny LED-things (which are fine, by the way, for slow traffic, but they're very hard to spot when you're in a car, especially when it rains), but they depended on their reflectors to be seen.
For Pete's sake, people; get yourself some decent lighting! And get a light-coloured coat while you're at it, as for some reason, the people without lights tend to wear the darkest clothing available.
Probably the type of people who wear shirts like "I wear black, and I keep wearing black until they invent something darker.". ;)
Anyway, traffic can be dangerous, and no matter how much attention you are paying to your surroundings, it's bound to go pearshaped at some point. Let's just hope it'll take some time before it's my turn.
Cheers, K.
# re: To be, or not to be seen
1/23/2007 11:10 AM by
While I'm guilty of the dark clothing, I do try to use reflective strips as well. And of course I always have my lights on... The crappy thing is that, when it rains heavily, my generator slips a lot. That means that I can't fly my lights when I need them the most :(
# re: To be, or not to be seen
1/23/2007 8:00 PM by
Get yourself a new generator then. :)
I've been using an Axa HR-generator for years now, and it never failed me yet. It has a larger transfer wheel, which adds friction due to the larger contact area. It never slips, even with snow.
http://axabasta.intermix2.nl/offer/item_info.asp?itemcode=HR%20Traction%20Power%20Control
# re: To be, or not to be seen
1/31/2007 4:40 AM by
If only more people would watch out, Niels. ;)
I myself am guilty in a way too. In the morning, with my papers, I don't have my lights on because they are way too noisy, and make cycling too hard. I do, however, watch out, and wear a bright yellow jacket (no, not those roadworkers things, but a normal jacket). And I wave a lot when a car drives towards me. Must be a funny sight. :')
# re: To be, or not to be seen
2/1/2007 12:38 AM by
MK: One of those HR-generators might work for you too; the larger wheel, combined with a double number of coils also provides less drag, so it's not so hard to ride your bike with it. :)
You wearing something bright does help though. ;)