Get some Lights.

feaseyrider
feaseyrider Posts: 32
edited September 2008 in Commuting chat
hello all been away from here for a while
i'd like to start on a happy note but something annoyed that i needed to have a rant.....

w...,hilst on my 5am commute other morning i pedalling with good pace with my lights ahead guiding me and rear lights plus hi-viz making my trusty stead stick out like a sore thum in the dark 3 mile ride ....

but what is this appearing out of the darkness a fellow cyclist not a bit of light only his cigarette end telling me and others he place on the road....

now i would normally greet anyone with a hello or good morning, but this mindfull idiot got the brunt of "GET SOME LIGHTS" to which i got a "F*OFF" then a "TWAT" ......

the things you do to help some people just don't get it ?

regards
martin

Comments

  • AndyManc
    AndyManc Posts: 1,393
    It's none of your business what he does , he's not harming you, he'll just end up as road kill.

    btw , My light set up will make yours seem like a Davey Jones lamp covered in coal dust.
    Specialized Hardrock Pro/Trek FX 7.3 Hybrid/Specialized Enduro/Specialized Tri-Cross Sport
    URBAN_MANC.png
  • AndyManc wrote:
    It's none of your business what he does , he's not harming you, he'll just end up as road kill.

    btw , My light set up will make yours seem like a Davey Jones lamp covered in coal dust.

    Go take a look at my 3 million candle power monster matey :wink:
    Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
    2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
    2011 Trek Madone 4.5
    2012 Felt F65X
    Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter
  • prj45
    prj45 Posts: 2,208
    AndyManc wrote:
    It's none of your business what he does , he's not harming you, he'll just end up as road kill.


    I cycle through hyde park when it's dark. I know of somebody who sustained broken bones after colliding with an unlit cyclist

    Seeing people without lights in London is rare, but seriously, in an unlit park at night?

    I tell you, we'll be seeing how well somebody's bike fits up their a**se if I'm ever taken out by somebody with no lights.
  • prj45 wrote:
    AndyManc wrote:
    It's none of your business what he does , he's not harming you, he'll just end up as road kill.


    I cycle through hyde park when it's dark. I know of somebody who sustained broken bones after colliding with an unlit cyclist

    Seeing people without lights in London is rare, but seriously, in an unlit park at night?

    I tell you, we'll be seeing how well somebody's bike fits up their a**se if I'm ever taken out by somebody with no lights.

    Would this be a good piece of film for: You've been 'framed' ???? :roll:





    I'll get me coat. :D
    Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
    2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
    2011 Trek Madone 4.5
    2012 Felt F65X
    Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter
  • sc999cs
    sc999cs Posts: 596
    to which i got a "F*OFF" then a "fool" ......

    Not a cyclist but a pob. Leave natural selection to do its job. Harsh but true.
    Steve C
  • AndyManc wrote:
    It's none of your business what he does , he's not harming you, he'll just end up as road kill.
    [...]

    I don't agree Andy. The whole "there's no such thing as society / community" idea has done endless harm to the world. It is very much our business when we see people breaking the law - the willingness of so many people to turn a blind eye is why the world and the UK is in the mess it is currently in.

    Let's take this no lights scenario as an example. The rider may end up in an accident, causing an accident or simply giving someone a shock. Either way the general view is going to be "bloody cyclists". Guess who that affects? That's right, all of us.

    If you go onto the helmet cam thread and read some of the comments on the youtube links you'll be horrified by the attitude of so many non-cyclists toward us - even when the video shows the driver to be clearly in the wrong. Their defence is a long string of "cyclists jump red lights, cyclists ride on pavements, cyclists ride without lights" etc. Now, in comparison to what motorists do (killing three thousand peope a year for a start) it is small fry but the actions of stupid cyclists affect the way non-cyclists (inc those in power) treat us.
    Pain is only weakness leaving the body
  • On a dark night a few years ago, I was speeding home on one of the paths through Southampton Common when I saw two feeble flashing bike lights not far ahead of me, one red, one white. I lined up with the red light to give the approaching cyclist room to pass, intending to then move into his line so I could then overtake the other cyclist going in my direction.

    Now this was before the invention of blinding-bright LEDs, so my front light was doing its best at lighting up the path in front of me but was revealing no detail of the two cyclists ahead.

    At first I thought, rather scornfully, that the cyclist I was going to overtake was going pathetically slowly, then it suddenly dawned on me that the closure rates were totally wrong! Just managing to change my line in time, I shot between the winking red and white lights, realising that it was two people riding side-by-side towards me, one fool with a red light on the front of their bike... scared the crap out of me!
  • AndyManc wrote:
    It's none of your business what he does , he's not harming you, he'll just end up as road kill.
    [...]

    I don't agree Andy. The whole "there's no such thing as society / community" idea has done endless harm to the world. It is very much our business when we see people breaking the law - the willingness of so many people to turn a blind eye is why the world and the UK is in the mess it is currently in.

    Let's take this no lights scenario as an example. The rider may end up in an accident, causing an accident or simply giving someone a shock. Either way the general view is going to be "bloody cyclists". Guess who that affects? That's right, all of us.

    If you go onto the helmet cam thread and read some of the comments on the youtube links you'll be horrified by the attitude of so many non-cyclists toward us - even when the video shows the driver to be clearly in the wrong. Their defence is a long string of "cyclists jump red lights, cyclists ride on pavements, cyclists ride without lights" etc. Now, in comparison to what motorists do (killing three thousand peope a year for a start) it is small fry but the actions of stupid cyclists affect the way non-cyclists (inc those in power) treat us.

    QFT
    Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
    2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
    2011 Trek Madone 4.5
    2012 Felt F65X
    Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter
  • I agree - saying it's their problem not ours isn't true. They might be road-kill in the making but I don't want them to take me down in the meantime and I'd hate to be the person driving a car which has the misfortune to bounce over one of them.

    I cycle through a park on the way home. Regardless of whether it's sensible from a personal safety POV (south London, next to a rough estate, nights closing in, am I insane?), I have to find a different route from around this time of year until April.

    My lights are good (though not as impressive as Kieran_Burns' :) ) but I've been scared too many times by local teenagers on their cheap, full-sus MTBs casually cycling arond in dark clothes, no lights and impossible to see until you have to take last second avoiding action. Drives me potty and I have to change my route and take my chances on a busy road.
    Never be tempted to race against a Barclays Cycle Hire bike. If you do, there are only two outcomes. Of these, by far the better is that you now have the scalp of a Boris Bike.
  • AndyManc wrote:
    btw , My light set up will make yours seem like a Davey Jones lamp covered in coal dust.
    Is that like a Davy Lamp, but adapted for underwater mines? ;)
  • prj45 wrote:
    Seeing people without lights in London is rare

    That's the funniest thing I've read today!!!
  • prj45
    prj45 Posts: 2,208
    prj45 wrote:
    Seeing people without lights in London is rare

    That's the funniest thing I've read today!!!

    Badly put, I do see them every day, but they're in a tiny minority.

    Most of us put well decorated Xmas trees to shame, heck there's even a guy that rides around WITH Xmas tree lights on his bike.