incredible piece of driving last night, about8 o clock, DARK ! East bound on M8, through glasgow,ford focus joins fromspringburn road junction, slips in behind me, doing 50. Focus has NO LIGHTS at all ! I switch and flash my rear fog, indicaters and brake lights, others toot horns and flash allsorts,still no lights !keep left onto M80 and focus follows me . I slow to about 40, on the motorway, focus stays there, still no lights, lots of others still flashing and tooting ! Focus eventually overtakes me, am back to 50, I lean out, toot and point at her focus, still no lights ! she pulls in front of me and i then proced to burn out her retinas with myheadlights, fog lights and auxilliarry driving lights, all six of them (it is a lorry !)at which point she gives me the bird and switches on her lights !Cars in this country should have dipped beam on at all times !
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
meanwhile, on the M80
(20 posts)-
Posted 12 years ago #
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Electronic gauges on dashboards have made driving without lights very common. Used to be the dashboard was illuminated only when the driving lights were on, now they are always illuminated and dim at night. In town the drivers reminder to light up (cannae see the dials) is gone.
Dipped lights ould be OK if the were set right, and why are 4x4s allowed to have headlights 1.5m off the road where they shine in your eyes whenever they are close?
All this is as nothing compared to the canal towpath lighting wars! Alternating between flouro-clad HID toting "look at me" types that leave you blinded and stealthy camo-clad night riders you can't see until it's way too late..Like the side marker lights though.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Dipped lights during the day - not good for peds and cyclists
Posted 12 years ago # -
I think your Focus driver has a something in common with the stealth bikers round Edinburgh too. You don't actually need lights to see where you are going, just to make yourself visible to others so there is no immediate need to switch on to make progress.That's where pedestrians loose out to cars (and bikes to an extent), lighting up isn't really an option.
Posted 12 years ago # -
"That's where pedestrians loose out to cars (and bikes to an extent), lighting up isn't really an option."
Not strictly true of course!
Periodically children are given reflectors on strings, which twirl when attached to school bags.
Road safety/'corporate social responsibility'/marketing.
I believe Volvo give them away in Sweden.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Of course some overly carefull parents dress their children up to be seen (or was this just them playing serious at being 'Bob the Builder'
These are our two btw.
Posted 12 years ago # -
properly adjusted lights ! thats the thing, if proper adjustment, and proper driving would mean the 4x4s ( a very generic term that i personally dislike, consider the suzuki swift four wheel drive !)wernt too close ! I hate the blue, led type lights that the new posing classes now seem to have on their audi and merc offices. In my truck, 10 feet of the ground, i still get blinded by these shows of wealth ! (insert your own description here ! )I do beleive that dipped headlights during the day would make motor vehicles more noticable, esp in bad/poor weather.I believe many euro countries, esp noirthern ones stipulate this anyway. I always drive with side lights on, and put dipped whenever i detect a need ! A grey car, on a grey day, on a grey road, not easy to spot out of the corner of your eye, but the dipped beam might just be visible !
be safe !Posted 12 years ago # -
Always a difficult balance to find, I was following a hatchback through the country roads towards Linlithgow tonight, normally sitting a safe distance behind would allow me to use a dipped headlight on the bike and see ahead enough for safety in their lights, (dipped headlight is normally pretty marginal on most motorcycles).
Unfortunately they had the now prevalent ultra high intensity brake lights and central high level brake light. Now these were introduced to (successfully) reduce the number of rear end shunts where dozy drivers failed to stop brakelights, but tonight on an otherwise black road they completely blinded me and left me guessing where the road was :-/ not comfortable at 40-50mph :-(I have to agree though that many car headlights are excessively bright in traffic, dim-dip should be made compulsory imho, oh and the Police would get no complaint from me if they started pulling people in to check headlamp aim and issuing mandatory rectification notices (can't remember the proper name for them!)
Posted 12 years ago # -
Periodically children are given reflectors on strings, which twirl when attached to school bags.
My son was given one at school yesterday !
Posted 12 years ago # -
"My son was given one at school yesterday"
Organised/sponsored by?
Posted 12 years ago # -
Does not appear to have any sponsers branding on it. It appeared on our kithen table so no further info currently on who organised it.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Is he going to use it?
Posted 12 years ago # -
Actually on that point of sponsorship, I seen a chap with a highviz tabard emblazoned with a couple of logos one sponsored by Lothian buses. Were these the ones being handed out a few weeks ago?
Posted 12 years ago # -
"
@TheBikeStationThe Bike Station
Clocks go back this weekend - free cycling hi-viz jackets to give away courtesy of @on_lothianbuses 4-7pm on the Meadows.
26 Oct via web
"I seem to remember they had about £3000 worth.
Obviously this is good PR for LB, but also a sound business decision - on the assumption that more 'visible' cyclists result in fewer crashes (not just bike/bus) and therefore fewer hold-ups to bus services (which can cost LB money).
Posted 12 years ago # -
I'm a bit sceptical about the efficacy of dangly reflectives particularly on peds. Better to teach good road safety in my book.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Having just said that:
@on_lothianbuses
Lothian Buses
We are Helping Cyclists Stay Safe this Winter. http://yourb.us/ueDw8q
5 minutes ago via webPosted 12 years ago # -
am sure we got tabards at primary school, white over the shoulder with red reflective glitter lolliepop signs ! We were also told to stay away from the bing as that was where the UFO had landed ! I kid you not ! It was just after abervan (sp ?) so we were being told anything so we would keep away from ours !My son, i think got a flashing LED thing for his school bag a few years ago ! High intensity brake lights ( not high level ) i thought they had to be of a certain intensity/wattage ?
scottPosted 12 years ago # -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberfan_disaster
Quite traumatic.
Bings can be dangerous especially if they are burning underground but biggest 'danger' is young kids on quad bikes (usually to themselves).
I lived in a couple of places near what would now be called landfill sites - rubbish tips in quarries.
We had bonfires and burnt things we found...
Posted 12 years ago # -
From a @on_lothinabuses, a tweet an hour ago promoting this sort of safety mentioned above:
"We are supporting the Bike Station's winter cycling campaign.
To show our commitment to bike user's safety, we have produced 500 Hi-Vis vests to be distributed to cyclists who attend the Bike Station's winter clinics.
Held at Middle Meadow Walk on 2, 9, 16 and 23 November between 4pm-7pm. These events will offer cyclists free bike maintenance from the Bike Station's Dr Bike mobile workshop plus safety advice, free lights, reflective leg bands, cycling information and the Hi-Vis vests.
Ian Craig, managing director said:
”We are delighted to be supporting this initiative from the Bike Station. As part of our Safety and Awareness programme, Lothian Buses is committed to enhancing our relationship with cyclists in and around Edinburgh. We hope these hi-viz jackets help to keep cyclists safe on the roads this winter."
Posted 12 years ago # -
I followed a cyclist yesterday that had red flashing led lights in each space in his h****t, a a light attached to his collar, one at his zipped up back pocket in his jacket, one on his seat tube, one one the frame above his mudguard, one on his rack, flashing high viz leg and arm bands too. You really could not miss him!! Not sure about the front lighting though...
Posted 12 years ago #
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