On a bike?

Occasionally see a chap commuting along the main road down the hill from me with a well lit front end, lots of well positioned reflective stuff. All good.

His only rear light is one that flashes red and blue. Very bright, big blue.

Legal?

Probably not Legal but then there’s plenty of tossers breaking the Law on there mobile phones texting while driving, like I saw this morning.

Argos used to sell them.

It was posted on here. I believe they were adamant that they were road legal?

I’m not so sure. Must freak out speeding motorists way behind him though.😊

Wonder if he has a little button on his bars that he can press to make siren noises. My little lad has one of those. Not on the back though, that’s just silly.

Cycling UK have a useful guide to lighting:

https://www.cyclinguk.org/lighting-regulations

Must freak out speeding motorists way behind him though.😊

Most drivers seem unable to spot the huge flashing lights and wailing sirens on a full sized emergency vehicle. A little blue light probably doesn’t even register in their thought process.

I see a bloke riding around Milton Keynes with a red flasher on his handlebars. I wondered how I was catching him so quickly, then realised he was riding towards me.

I saw one of these the other day. Legal? I dont know, but it did make me lift off the gas as i approached it as i figured out if it was the cops or not. So effective, yes.

I see a bloke riding around Milton Keynes with a red flasher on his handlebars. I wondered how I was catching him so quickly, then realised he was riding towards me

Exactly this the other day on the Chester Greenway. As I was overtaking a slower cyclist, and nearly had a head-on. Bloody stupid.

I was just riding along on my motorbike, at night, I saw one or two, in Thailand, had a red light for a headlight on their scooters
A lot of them dont use headlights at night, even on dark country roads, but yes, a red light coming towards you is mental

Have these gone on sale somewhere popular recently? I saw two guys last night with red & blue flashers on helmet and bike. Eyecatching yes but its not a good look trying to fake that you’re an emergency vehicle and likely to aggravate some drivers once they realise what’s going on.

What’s the actual concern though? Are we worried that people will mistake them for police, and actual observe the law rather than choose to speed? Sounds like a win to me.

Mrpotatohead i was not speeding when i saw one up ahead, it just made me reduce my speed further and be more cautious when i saw a blue light up ahead. Do we not all change our approach if we see a blue light ahead? I know I do.

I guess that’s my point. If we see a blue light do we become better or worse drivers? If people drive better as a result, they can only be a good thing.

I am on tne fence. Help to make cyclist safer is good thing but if they become popular Flashing blues all over the place would not be a good thing IMO.

Mr.p- had a similar experience-had a minor problem after setting off from the pub stop so stopped for a few minutes, saw tail lights in the distance and started to chase the group down, couldn’t understand why I wasn’t catching up at all then after a considerable time realised I had been chasing the light on top of Addenbrookes Hospital. The group had stopped however but were in a dip and out of sight so got there eventually. The Power of beer ‘eh

They only ‘work’ if they are uncommon and then only for a brief moment until the driver realises what they actually are. Fundamentally though I’d say that impersonating the emergency services is just being a dick, being on a bike is no excuse and plays to the narrative of bike riders disobeying the law when it suits them.

Turns out that there’s actual laws about this
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1796/regulation/11/made

And they were amended to include pedal cycles to extend the protection that a blue light might provide to cycle paramedics for example.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/2559/regulation/3/made

So if it ever becomes a common sight expect a crackdown and the usual headlines.

No, not legal. Lights facing forward need to be white or yellow. Lights facing backward must be red or white, or yellow. Anything else is illegal, as a kind officer let me know with a copy of the law in paper form and a fine for £30, when I was a young adult.

I guess that’s my point. If we see a blue light do we become better or worse drivers? If people drive better as a result, they can only be a good thing.

Neither, more cautious. That doesn’t mean better if you were sufficiently cautious in the first place, it just means inefficient. Faking emergency vehicles just means you’re reducing the effectiveness of *real* emergency vehicle lighting – this is a bit daft.

A guy I know has one, it annoys me when he’s got it, so this might convince him to ditch it.

it just made me reduce my speed further and be more cautious

i’d prefer a car coming up behind me to do both of those things so i can’t see how its an issue and you don’t want to do it. surely backing off and being more cautious is the correct approach when encountering a bicycle or any slower moving road user?

Quite a few on Amazon currently – for example – https://www.amazon.co.uk/BYBLIGHT-Rear-Bike-Light-Rechargeable/dp/B075ZQQTK6/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1547888358&sr=8-9&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=byblight

Clearly not legal, but surely anyone actually worried enough to change their driving when they see a blue light ahead might want to reassess how they drive ‘normally’?

Just looked at those reviews for the Amazon one. I don’t think even one person questions the legality of the light.

I reckon we are going to see many more of these and similar on the roads. Until the clamp down as someone says.

Most drivers seem unable to spot the huge flashing lights and wailing sirens on a full sized emergency vehicle. A little blue light probably doesn’t even register in their thought process.

very much this. still amazes me that some drivers have their mirrors full of a white fire appliance lights and horns on, when it does finally register with them their first action is to stand on the brakes and bring everyone to stand still.

A couple of my MTB group have these rear lights. They don’t seem fussed about the legality of them. I must admit that motorists seem to take notice.

Familiarity breeds contempt.

Say you had them on your bike for commuting, and every day drivers gave you a little less of the room you originally fooled them into giving you as you just fade back into the background of information in their mirrors. Then one day you keel over on your doorstep having a heart attack after going all out for your commute KOM. And the ambulance is a few seconds later than it would have been because the blue flashing lights weren’t as eye-catching in the mirrors of the queuing cars on the route to your house.

Same reason motorcyclists campaigned against compulsory DRLs on cars despite them being common on bikes.

Same reason highways designers prefer give way lines in this country, if they were all stop lines would drivers still stop for the few percent that actually merit a stop line?

Teaspoon is right to avoid any confusion here’s a reminder.

This is an Ambulance

This is a pushbikE

Hope that clears it up.

Maybe we just need our own colour to stand out more. Red blue green orange all taken. How’s about Purple?

I am disapointed.I thought the post was going to be about fake blue sirens for bikes.