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Riding home from work today, going straight along a road, 1200 lumen front light attached to my bright green bike, with me wearing bright reflective clothes. Car pulls out from my left acrros my path to turn right, I slam on my brakes, turn my wheel when I am stationary otherwise they would have hit it! The woman then only notices me when she is along side me and speeds off...
left me a bit shaken about the fact they would have flattened me before they noticed if I didn't stop and their first reaction would have probably to drive off as well...
Is there anything i can do to make myself more visable... Not sure anything I can do to protect myself from these idiots.
Didn't even get a reg as they just sped off.
A siren?
Yeah, be really ****ing careful going passed left hand junctions.
Blues and twos?
[i]Is there anything i can do to make myself more visable... Not sure anything I can do to protect myself from these idiots.[/i]
There's only 1 thing you can do... drive a car.
These morons just DON'T LOOK. Which was the point I was trying to make on the "Hi-viz" thread. They are idiots, you just have to ride with that cautionary warning in your mind that ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. That way you're ready, like it sounds you were.
Similar thing happened to me last winter, lit up like a Christmas tree, car coming directly towards me, turned into my path. Just wasn't looking. (Woman too, 'coincidentally'.)
Someone tried to kill me today - i'm almost convinced of the fact.
Cycling up a quiet residential street that is the original road to the newer 50mph dual-carriageway immediately to the right of the original road.
Came towards a junction with said dual-carriageway and a small hatchback came around the right hand corner from the dual-carriageway at high speed - fast enough to be on the two offside wheels. The driver saw me in the middle of my lane (i was passing parked cars) and twitched his wheel over to aim for me, gesticulating out of his window and swearing.
I managed to dive between two parked cars, really, really shat me up.
Welcome to the world of Motorcyclists and SMIDSY's....
The problem with many of today's extra bright front lights (and the reason why they are not all legal for road use) is that they don't emit any light to the side making it difficult for drivers in side roads to see you. I bet you'd also taken off your spoke reflectors as well?
No side vis needed in this case - you are heading straight towards them and they can't even see that when they look right before pulling out....
Simply not true rockhopper.
Maybe the case with your china specials but not the lights i use.
Today seemed to be kill cyclist day.
I have footage of 2 people nearly being run down but erractic drivers , nearly got squished off the road at a no overtake point , a hyundai moved in On me deliberately to stop me progressing , so did a sprinter.
But i got home in the end
Luckily I noticed her a long way off so already slowed down but thought they must have seen me by the time I got to the junction...
Yesterday some idiotic person didn't give way when i was on a round about and nearly took me out as well...
Commuting home in the dark is going well so far! Less than two miles i spend on the road on my journey to/from work.
EDIT: rockhopper, my light makes a spot wider than my lane in the road much wider than both my car headlights pit together so don't see that being the case and no my wheel don't have relfectors bit not a valid reason when she should have been looking at the front of my bike not the side... Might have noticed them as I bounced over the bonnet I suppose!
Nearly got taken out by a stagecoach bus tonight,woman driver and stuck on right indicator.
Ist bus incident this year
so they saw only your superbright unfocused (dazzling) front light. Small emitter and reflector means what you look most like is a motorbike on full beam about 400yards away. Your light is so bright that they can't look fully at you, so they don't.1200 lumen front light
Want to be seen ? Wear a reflective top and shine a light on yourself
They look, but they don't see.
1200 lumen front light
so they saw only your superbright unfocused (dazzling) front light. Small emitter and reflector means what you look most like is a motorbike on full beam about 400yards away. Your light is so bright that they can't look fully at you, so they don't.
So the f@cking idiot STILL shodnt of pulled out
Want to be seen ? Wear a reflective top and shine a light on yourself
Stupidest post of the week?
and no I don't have my light aimed at everyone's faces it is aimed at an angle so lights a big spot on the road and throws plenty of light ahead of me ( have tested how it looks from a distance). Also by the stupid look on her face before speeding off she shat herself when only noticing after she was most of the way past me so just clearly didn't look when pulling out.
Love how my light is to blame for some ignorant bint nearly running me down!
Nothing. Car drivers just dont care about bikes... in the uk anyway. I got pulled out on once in similar fasion, after I caught up with the driver and asked did they see me she replied "oh yeah I saw you, i just went anyway" 😐
Is there anything i can do to make myself more visable... Not sure anything I can do to protect myself from these idiots.There's only 1 thing you can do... drive a car.
And that's where you're wrong. People drive into each other in cars just as much, just with less consequence. The worlds full of unobservent arses, and there's nothing you can do.
Be lucky!
deal exreme used to do 100 db sirens/ electric horns. Got one and it's brilliant. Nopt used it long term yet though. Very loud.
[url= http://dx.com/s/bike+horn ]electric horns galore[/url]
mines the black six alarm sounds one with the button on the bars.
The best ones are the ones that look you right in the eyes then pull out, had it done to me once as i was right on the junction, i kind of thought she looked like she was still going to go so i just managed to stop myself as i bumped her drivers door with my front wheel, she looked at me in amazement and asked me where i had come from then just drove off !!
I have £300 of Ayup lights and they don't emit a single lumen of light to the side and by that I mean light coming out at 90 degrees to the end of the light itself. That's nothing to do with beam spread or width of beam.
There's only 1 thing you can do... drive a car.
Nah, they do it to cars as well. Had to emergency stop in my car yesterday for a woman driver pulling out a side street on my left to turn right. She never looked right until her car was crossing my lane. At least unlike on a bike a crash would have hurt her (small hatch) more than me (Octavia).
When I looked at her and shook my head she didn't even apologise.
Excuse me, those who are saying I was "wrong"! I was answering this specific question:
[i]is there anything i can do to make myself more visable... Not sure anything I can do to protect myself from these idiots.[/i]
Read it again? Hmm. Now who is WRONG.
Not "completely" visible. "More" visible. And "protect myself". Ok?
In my experience it isn't so much SMIDSY as SMIDGAS so I pulled out anyway thinking you'd avoid me.
I still don't get your point rockhopper, I was 90 degrees to her right any light coming out the side of my light would be more than useless... the 1200 lumens out the front however would have been perfectly visible had she looked
I've pointed out that if a driver is dazzled by bright lights or can't tell what/where/how fast you are then they should use a bit more caution and you know look a bit harder. Other posters have pointed out that drivers will very rarely do this, however ****ed up that is, they may have a point.So the f@cking idiot STILL shodnt of pulled out
Road I used to ride would always be chocker and plenty of people turning right out of the left hand side streets across our direction of travel, cars on the main road would leave a gap so the emerging drivers would pull out looking right only, I'd be bearing down on them plenty of flashing lights and my head torch aimed right at them, not a single look. Doesn't matter if you are filtering inside or overtaking, dickheads like that will still cause you grief, most would finally look as they completed their right turn to see me mid emergency stop or stopped shouting and swearing at them and promptly jump in fright at the sight of me so close to them.
So many near misses mentioned above. I won't be road cycling again for reasons iv mentioned on other threds. shame really as I loved it, but not worth the grief I've been through and still enduring. They don't see you or don't care.(and yes I had all high viz gear on etc).
proper night riding lights are pretty lame for commuting, you want decent blinkers for riding in traffic, but probably wouldn't have made much difference [i]in this case[/i].I still don't get your point rockhopper
Poor light choice then rockhopper
Jimmy up a difuser cap similar to the joystick ones for use stuff
[url= http://dx.com/p/6-alarm-sound-bicycle-horn-with-mount-black-1-6f22-9v-100db-52764 ]seems to help[/url]
doesn't this screw up your peripheral vision? Had some, well not quite near misses, but it's taken a second look to spot a car whose dozy driver hasn't bothered to turn their lights on. Don't want anything affecting my vision.Want to be seen ? Wear a reflective top and shine a light on yourself
and I thought most reflective materials nowadays reflect straight back at the light source anyway? so [i]your[/i] lights hitting reflective strip won't "bounce" towards the drivers?
Bet they wouldn't just drive off if you put your cunningly hidden hammer / emergency glass breaker through their window
Adding to the 'it's not just bikes' thing - I had to swerve right up into the hedge whilst driving home just after lunchtime today to avoid hitting a car being driven in the middle of the road towards me.
Naively perhaps, but I'd have thought a big white LWB Defender showing it's side and (properly adjusted) dipped headlights in good driving conditions during the day would have been [i]fairly[/i] visible. 🙄
I'm assuming he was just a clueless driver with no idea about the size of his vehicle (which was only a small town car)...
I'd already had plenty of excitement riding around Plymouth city all morning too.
Oh no ocb - its worse than that. Its your in a 4x4 you can drive the ditch im not mentality. They dont even slow down round here. I dont do it any more. I just stop. Force them to slow down and manuver proper
i drive a bus, i get idiots doing it to me too, and in the car as well.
the problem is they dont look properly, the head turns (optional) but they arent actually thinking about anyone else.
if they are prepared to pull out in front of a 12 ton double deck bus, they are unlikely to G A S about a cyclist (IF they see him/her)
As long as car drivers are running into trees or headfirsting into trucks, cyclists don't have a chance. 🙁
Yeh, imagine that - a driver doing something you don't want them to doSo the f@cking idiot STILL shodnt of pulled out
(I'll put that on your gravestone shall I ?)
Yeah, if you like 🙄Want to be seen ? Wear a reflective top and shine a light on yourself
Stupidest post of the week?
I commute by car and I'm aware of how drivers (seem to) perceive the dicks with their megabright lights. I know this because I watch them. They don't look at you and they assume you're ages away because your light looks really small even though it's bright - even if they did look at you, all they can see is your million lumens you're so proud of; no "person" at all.
I've not tried it but when I start commuting by bike I will do it for sure. I won't need any sort of bright light for this - it's only shining from 2-3 feet away at mostdoesn't this screw up your peripheral vision? Had some, well not quite near misses, but it's taken a second look to spot a car whose dozy driver hasn't bothered to turn their lights on. Don't want anything affecting my vision.
Depends on the angle of incidence of the beam, surely (and the jacket wouldn't be a plane surface so I'd suspect it'd be always reflecting from some part of it (I'm not sure it really needs to be reflective either - hi-vis would do OK if you're illuminated, I think)and I thought most reflective materials nowadays reflect straight back at the light source anyway? so your lights hitting reflective strip won't "bounce" towards the drivers?
Looking properly, driving at the speed limit, waiting till there's space for your vehicle before you pull out, all seem out of fashion at the moment.
Doing what suits you and then having a strop at anyone who's in your way seems more fashionable.
We need traffic police back on the road, pulling people over and giving them a damn good bollocking/fines/points etc.
I don't remember it being this bad since I passed my test in the mid-90s
Amen, brooess
Though, since I'm a stroppy git with a hobbyhorse, I'd include "riding with inappropriate lights that blind other road users" in your list
Until everyone on the planet is aware of saccadic masking and how to combat it, we are all ****ed.
it's not just when cycling you have to be careful. Recently had a few cars almost rear end me whilst driving as they tried to jump lights, although i was stopping for an amber and infront. Just assumed I'd go through the red, so they would too.
[i] Looking properly, driving at the speed limit, waiting till there's space for your vehicle before you pull out, all seem out of fashion at the moment.
Doing what suits you and then having a strop at anyone who's in your way seems more fashionable.[/i]
+ a million
I'm not saying I'm the best driver in the world but I like to think I'm patient & I make every effort not to drive like a dick.
However, the sheer no of people ive witnessed lately pulling dumb ass manoeuvres is mind boggling. Like the billy stitch earlier who instead of driving behind me decided to pull out into the right hand turn only lane beside me, only then to floor it & cut back in front of me before slamming on her brakes 🙄
left then immediate right - typical rat run manoeuvre - probably saw you but chose not to bother to correctly judge your speed or care a toss - cyclists can slow down for proper traffic
On a helpful note....
In my London commute I use a small knog light(4 LEDs) and a very focused Lenzye Super drive (450 lumens?) on my helmet. I have the Lenzye pointed down so not to dazzle people. When ever I feel there is a danger though I shine it back and forth over a drivers eyes. Works wonders to get there attention. It's the equivalent to eye contact in the day time.
As I merely flash over there eyes I don't think this is dazzling but kit makes sure they acknowledge me.
Be safe y'all.
At least you have a chance with cars emerging from junctions, you can sense what they are about to do in a lot of the situations. It happens fairly often on the motorbike - like the TV ad.
Its the people overtaking you on the major road to turn left into the minor road that annoys the hell out of me! twice recently that has happened, causing me to slam the brakes on. I mean, WTF? You've obviously seen me to overtake me?!
I dont ride my pushbike too much on the road nowadays, it tends to be getting to my trail centre or occasional commute, but considering the amount I do, it amazes me how many poor drivers there are out there, trying to get to their destination with little regard for others.