New Cycling Trend

thescouselander

Now that the evenings have been getting darker a new trend seems to be developing where some cyclists are putting front lights (as in a white light) on the back of their bike. This week I have seen this on three separate occasions. Does anyone know what this is all about?

gethinceri

Got a feeling it's against the law.

Edit, from Gov.UK:
60
At night your cycle MUST have white front and red rear lights lit. It MUST also be fitted with a red rear reflector (and amber pedal reflectors, if manufactured after 1/10/85). White front reflectors and spoke reflectors will also help you to be seen. Flashing lights are permitted but it is recommended that cyclists who are riding in areas without street lighting use a steady front lamp.
Law RVLR regs 13, 18 & 24

thescouselander

Yeah, its definitely illegal but there seems to be so many people doing it so it much be intentional.

rickeverett

Think its another example of the rise in totally foolish inexperienced cyclist behaviour.

Had a look on YouTube at cycling behaviour in London and its shocking so this doesn't surprise me.

GGBiker

So I'm assuming you all have reflectors on your pedals and a red reflector on the back of your bike? Otherwise why criticise someone else flouting the law?

Buckie2k5

GGBiker wrote:

So I'm assuming you all have reflectors on your pedals and a red reflector on the back of your bike? Otherwise why criticise someone else flouting the law?

come on this isnt about law this is about common sense.

crankycrank

The problem with a white light on the rear is that it confuses people. If that's all they can see they may think you're riding towards them and react unpredictably. Many peoples night vision tends to deteriorate after the age of 50 as well creating even more confusion. Think of the pissed drivers who can't stay in the proper lane in the best of conditions and then point a white light at them. Anything but white on the rear IMO.

diamonddog

crankycrank wrote:

The problem with a white light on the rear is that it confuses people. If that's all they can see they may think you're riding towards them and react unpredictably. Many peoples night vision tends to deteriorate after the age of 50 as well creating even more confusion. Think of the pissed drivers who can't stay in the proper lane in the best of conditions and then point a white light at them. Anything but white on the rear IMO.

^^This

Tiltzey Boy

Well, chatting with a colleague at work yesterday, he mentioned that driving home on Monday night this week, on a busy A road he uses, it was obviously pretty dark, he saw a cyclist riding along with a red light on the front of his bike, no other lights, or reflectives or anything, just a single red light at the front!

Makes me wonder what part of doing something like that do these people think is sensible, he probably thought "the wrong light is better than no light at all"!!

The mind boggles!

spen666

Darwin Awards candidates

lc1981

I've never seen this, but yesterday on my walk home from work I saw a cyclist (in the loose sense of the word) with a flashing rear light on his handlebars and no light on the back. This seemed doubly crazy because if you've only got one light, you're going to want it to be on the back so that traffic can see you, and it also temporarily confused me as I thought he was moving away from me when he was actually getting closer.

Greenbeetle

I just use a candle most nights.

It's not perfect...

gozzy

I passed someone last night with a static green front led; riding down a narrow, dark street.
From that experience, I wouldn't advise using green leds.

gary.hounsome

I've seen people on pitch black roads with a flashing front light, 1 how do they see the road 2 it's distracting for drivers.

I only use my flashing lights on overcast days and as the sun comes down, as soon as it's getting dark I switch them to constant, nothing more annoying than sat behind a cyclist with a flashing rear led, just as annoying as a car with its rear fogs on when it's not foggy!!

fatsmoker

gary.hounsome wrote:

I only use my flashing lights on overcast days and as the sun comes down, as soon as it's getting dark I switch them to constant, nothing more annoying than sat behind a cyclist with a flashing rear led, just as annoying as a car with its rear fogs on when it's not foggy!!

Overtake them then!

I was driving behind a cyclist at about half past 3 today. Fairly overcast day, but certainly not dark. He didn't have a rear light on, but really needed one as he was dressed in black and wasn't easy to see - lights on all day in winter for me - batteries are cheap. Rechargable lights are even cheaper in the long run.

tootsie323

Lights the wrong way around on a bike? These are the sort of people I'd quote an old friend to... would not trust them to sit the right way on a toilet.

neeb

Gozzy wrote:

I passed someone last night with a static green front led; riding down a narrow, dark street.
From that experience, I wouldn't advise using green leds.

Must be an old one - back in the 90s a lot of green LED front lights were sold, because blue and white LEDs hadn't been invented yet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-emit ... _white_LED

But yes, the green ones were cr*p!

lewiskinch

Personally I think flashing lights are much safer, especially in the city as it drawers drivers attention to you better.

I've used white lights paired up with red lights on the rear before when I felt just the red was not sufficient. If you put them next to each other in flashing mode it's obvious that it is a rear light but gives better illumination.

rickeverett

i wouldn't dream of putting any white light on the rear, what a retarded thing to do !

Also never see the point in a single flashing red light - they have to be merged with a solid. Dont get me started on those that have a single white flashing light on the front.

Pross

rickeverett wrote:

Also never see the point in a single flashing red light - they have to be merged with a solid. Dont get me started on those that have a single white flashing light on the front.

Why?

michael_roadie

rickeverett wrote:

i wouldn't dream of putting any white light on the rear, what a retarded thing to do !

Also never see the point in a single flashing red light - they have to be merged with a solid. Dont get me started on those that have a single white flashing light on the front.

I have a single flashing red light at the rear and a single white flashing light on the front. What's the problem.

jameses

My preferred setup:

Riding around a well-lit city at night - flashing white on the front, flashing red on the rear (because the flashing draws attention and there should be enough ambient light for a driver to see you)

Riding along country lanes in the dark - flashing red on the rear, flashing white on the front (same reasons as above) and an extra solid white at the front (pointed at the road about 5m ahead to check for road obstacles but not blind oncoming traffic)

Drivers should be accustomed to associating flashing lights with cyclists, and react accordingly. Solid lights and nothing else, you could be mistaken for a motorbike/scooter and the car would be on top of you before the driver realises. Lights the wrong way round is confusing and asking for trouble.

awavey

michael_roadie wrote:

rickeverett wrote:

i wouldn't dream of putting any white light on the rear, what a retarded thing to do !

Also never see the point in a single flashing red light - they have to be merged with a solid. Dont get me started on those that have a single white flashing light on the front.

I have a single flashing red light at the rear and a single white flashing light on the front. What's the problem.

the lighthouse effect, you can spot flashing lights as they attract your attention, but you cant always judge the distance accurately because by the time youve focussed on it, its blinked off and disappeared and the next time you see it certainly with moving objects and a bike thats moving, or stopped as well, the distance will have changed.

its better IMO to go with a steady fixed light point and have the flashing as an additional protection light on the rear, so the other road users attention is attracted, but they can work out where you are still

on the front I dont see that a flashing light really helps at all other than be a distracting nuisance to other road users,there is probably a good reason why we dont fit cars with front strobe lights (thoughI think some of the new Audis/BMWS rear lights do strobe if the driver is making an emergency stop) but its that old age thing about it being better than nothing I suppose, but Id always go again steady front light, and possibly flashing only as an additional.

which brings us on this white lights on rear, red lights on front thing, yep seen it and I think its more noticeable this year on my commute than previous years. but my impression is they are very inexperienced new bike riders, certainly the ones ive spoken too about it where I could were total newbs and werent that sure about riding in the dark anyway, but again I think theyve picked up the emphasis its better to have some lights instead of no lights which is fine I wouldnt want to discourage that message getting across but it needs to be reinforced with and this is what you need to do ,as they genuinely arent aware what they are doing was wrong at all.

neeb

awavey wrote:

the lighthouse effect, you can spot flashing lights as they attract your attention, but you cant always judge the distance accurately because by the time youve focussed on it, its blinked off and disappeared and the next time you see it certainly with moving objects and a bike thats moving, or stopped as well, the distance will have changed.

Depends on the frequency of the flashing. Most modern LED lights flash very rapidly, or even cycle between several LEDs so that there is never a point when there is no light being emitted. It may have been a problem with older/cheaper LED lights in the past however.

lewiskinch

Flashing for city riding for sure, steady for country lanes

Big Geordie

I think people new to riding in the dark might think that a brighter light is a better light, whatever the colour, and because white lights are brighter than red ones they put the brightest light they can find on the back. Partially explained by the obsession the advertisers have with lumens.

Just a thought.

MattC59

I don't think being a novice as any excuse. Useless you've been living in a hole all your life, surely you'd have noticed the hundreds of thousands of other vehicles on the road, bikes included, with red at the rear, white at the front ?

I suspect a lot of it is down to sheer idiocy.

neeb

It also gives fuel to the arguments of those who think that cyclists should be licensed and have to pass a basic competency test. Although really, I think this sort of basic stuff should be taught in schools. When I was at school I did the Cycling Proficiency Test (I still have the little triangular badge somewhere), which Wikipedia now tells me has been superseded by something called the "National Standards for Cycle Training" in England at least. How many kids do this though?

term1te

I saw a bike last week with what looked like a single light on the back which was flashing alternately red and white, first time I’ve seen anything like that. I don’t like flashing front lights, especially the really bright ones that are aimed at head height, as someone has said it is very difficult to judge their distance, and on a narrow dark cycle path they are almost blinding to anyone coming towards them.

The police over here occasionally set up road/cycle path blocks and check every bike for correct lights, etc. on the spot fine of around £40 for the wrong or no lights.

hangeron

I don't put white lights on the rear...I run a cateye cherrybomb there, and I've never seen someone with a white light at the back....however...thinking about it (never mind the legality of it)...it may have some merit in congested areas where there a lot of red lights around.

A row of red lights in front of a driver will tend to induce complacency, after a while he may be seeing the red lights but he won't be looking at them....then if he suddenly becomes aware of a white light (remember white is a signal something is coming towards him) amongst a sea of red...then that light has his attention immediately - it jolts him out of complacency.

A similar technique is used by police when they stop on motorways to prevent drivers ploughing into the back of them.. the rear of all cars look the same on a motorway whether they are doing zero miles per hour or 80 miles per hour...a car parked diagonally on the motorway jumps out at a driver because it is so different - it has a different profile to all the other cars the driver can see in front of him on the motorway - something looks "wrong", and the driver pays more attention to it, rather than just ploughing straight into the back of it.

As I say...I don't condone it...but as an aid to being seen as opposed to being visible...then running a bright rearward facing white as well as a red may "work".

hangeron

neeb wrote:

which Wikipedia now tells me has been superseded by something called the "National Standards for Cycle Training" in England at least. How many kids do this though?

pointless...even if my kids had done it I wouldn't let them cycle to school amongst the HGV and the yummymummy 4*4 anyway.

Cycle training for kids isn't going to get anyone cycling...its just pointless handwringing, seentobedoinggoodism and an admission the urban environment is utterly clusterfecked.