Safe Speed Forums

How do you know that the bulb hasn't just failed? £30 is a bit steep to change a bulb, as has been discussed in another thread somewhere.

My car's manual recommends that even the tail lights are replaced by qualified service people. I do it myself, but it is quite technical work, especially getting the cover off, and for the fog lights you have to take the entire boot panel off from inside.

But it's ok to hit unlit bikes if going slowly. Gotcha.

On a related note, I passed a bunch of three or four cyclists on a lane at ~5pm last night, all equipped with lights of the standard of a motor vehicle.

Er no, but the slower you go the more chance you'll have of spotting an unlit object in the road in time to react in a controlled way to it.



All well and good, but some of those light sets cost like £400.00

But you said:



So it is a proper excuse to hit an unlit cyclist if you weren't driving too fast.

Just wanted to make sure I'd got it right.

Whatever the circumastances, it's always about the speed of the motorised vehicle(s) involved. And nothing else. Gotcha.

You should not own and operate a motor vehicle if you can not afford to maintain it in accordance with the law

_________________
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

I mean, if you're driving outwith the scope of your headlights.

If you don't see the unlit object ahead of you before it's too late to do anything about it, and you hit it, you were driving too fast.

Unless you weren't looking where you were going of course, but in that case more than 0mph is too fast really.

If you were looking in your rear view at the time, looked back and there's an unlit object infront of you and you hit it? Too fast.

If you were looking down and fiddling with your radio at the time, looked up and there's an unlit object in front of you and you hit it? Too fast.

It's not hard!



Well not quite, but primarily yes.

If you're driving your car in such a way that you cannot do anything but hit an unlit object in the road that looms out of the darkness, you're a bad driver. Not a recommended way to drive.

So basically nothing else matters than speed? You can run cyclists over providing it's done slowly?

Er, no?

I'm talking about people not seeing unlit objects in the road until it's too late, not people that go out and ram into a cyclist at 15mph then drive backward and forward over their head.

Only the cyclists who ride without lights should ride on the opposite side of the road.

_________________
Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

Quite correct. The same applies to cyclists. If you can't afford proper lights then don't go out at night.

_________________
Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Having spent several grand on a bike with the lightest components that the budget would stretch to, if some pencil neck then approached me with a license plate and a pair of self-tapping screws, he would find it shoved where the Sun does not shime.

Well, if licensing push bikes became a requirement they would ultimately send you where the sun didn't shine if you refused to comply, i.e. gaol.

Not going to happen though, it's utterly impractical and unworkable.

As a joke do I actually have a license plate on my hybrid bike. It is a pre-war Dutch one which I bought on eBay. Must have been workable then.

_________________
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Changing a light bulb should be as easy as changing a wheel. My car is relatively simple, but it is a bitch to change a headlight bulb. It's normally cold and all the plastic gubbins goes stiff and doesn't want to come appart. It doesn't have to be like this. How would you like to have to call out an electrician if the bulb goes in your living room? £30 to change a bulb is a bit salty.

And it is no easier to change a bulb or batteries in a cycle lamp on a cold, wet night. So show some sympathy for cyclists with failed lamps.


There have been occasions when, but my electrical training, I would have had to do that. Whoever designed light fittings where changing the bulb involves transferring force through a metal to glass joint should be shot (or, better, electrocuted)

_________________
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Maybe his point is that all road users should show respect by aspiring to minimise inconvenience to other road users, and by ignoring the bike lane and using the road cyclists can only expect less respect in turn? And whats a bit of debris when most cyclists ride off road bikes anyway? Are most cycles like chelsea tractors, build to conquer the himilayas but owned by people who think bumping up a kerb is extreme?



It's been 15 years since I last did a paper round, but I do believe a set of decent, bright bicycle lights, not these stupid flickering LED's you (barely) see today, but ones you can see and be seen using, wouldn't cost you more than about £20, and given the simple tech involved can't see why you'd pay considerably more than this now. yes, you can pay £400, in the same way you can pay £800,000 for a bugatti, it doesn't mean a £8000 ford can't do the job of getting you to work and back.

_________________
Fear is a weapon of mass distraction

Ha ha ha!

Next time I'm out on an NSL road going at 20mph on my pushbike and some passes within two inches of me at 80mph it's me that's being the inconveniencing one is it?



As highlighted, many "by the road" cycle lanes are practically impassable.

Cyclists do not have to use cycle lanes, there was a move a while back to mandate this in the road law, but after discussion it was canned.



Er, all well and good, and I've got a very good set of lights that cost about £20 each, but the ones described that are as bright as car lights can be upwards of £400.

Sorry Hairyben, you forgot: from weepej's perspective, It's Always The Car's Fault. Cyclists need make no attempt to ride safely or courteously for this reason becasue whatever happens: It's Not Their Fault.

They have a right to ride down a busy A-road in the dark with no lights on so everyone else just has to put up with it. Their force field of self-righteouness will offer some protection, after all.

Then thats an issue that obviously needs addressing, (perhaps cyclists could pay to have the lanes cleaned on a regular basis?)



You don't need anything as bright as car lights, it's irrelevant to the discussion. IIRC my front lantern was a 3" lens with about 20w (incandescent) and the rear 5w, which was ample to see and be seen in urban roads. The issue is with these little LED specks of light which compare poorly evan when they're the ones that aren't flickering.

_________________
Fear is a weapon of mass distraction